About the only thing which went awry for the Mineola Yellowjackets last Friday was their initial play from scrimmage when a shotgun snap shot past Dawson Pendergrass. For the balance of the evening, it was an orange wave of offense and an aggressive defense which registered a 68-20 win over the visiting Bonham Warriors. 

The Yellowjacket offensive line walled off the Warrior defense throughout the game, providing Yellowjacket halfbacks with plenty of gaps to exploit. Pendergrass carried the ball 21 times for 274 yards. He spent the first three quarters cutting through the defensive line and rampaging through the second and third levels of the Bonham defense. 

Mineola had 12 possessions in the game. They were forced to punt twice – on their initial possession and again late in the fourth quarter. Between those two punts, Mineola scored on nine consecutive possessions.    

The scores came as follows: Pendergrass 54-yard run; Pendergrass 1-yard run; Pendergrass 7-yard run; Braydon Alley 68-yard score on a post route (pass from Pendergrass); Pendergrass 18-yard knifing run through the left side; 38-yard field goal off the foot of Noah Turner; JaMarcus Kennedy 64-yard score on a wide receiver screen (pass from Pendergrass); Pendergrass 5-yard push over the right side; Cason Davis 55-yard slashing run through the left side; Kennedy 46-yard fumble return for a defensive score.

Mineola generated 565 yards of offense from scrimmage. It was a dominating win over a Bonham team which has suffered similar results against Commerce, Mt. Vernon and Pottsboro. 

Such a game allows an opportunity to highlight some individual performances which can be lost when discussing more closely-competed contests. 

Foremost on that list was the performance of Yellowjacket center Tanner Crenshaw. The snapper faced one of the most explosive nose guards in the entire district. Big, quick and extremely fast off the ball, the Bonham noseguard was a handful. Crenshaw took the initial explosive contact on practically each snap throughout the game and more than handled the challenge. He neutralized one of Bonham’s defensive stalwarts.   

Crenshaw was also part of the kicking team that went 7 of 7 on extra point attempts and a field goal. The placeholder in that kicking team was Hunter Werneke and the kicker Noah Turner. 

JaMarcus Kennedy had a big game by using his speed and his smarts in recording two scores. The wide receiver screen on which he scored was excellently blocked at the line of scrimmage by fellow receivers Mario Bautista and Braydon Alley. 

On Kennedy’s defensive score, he was the first player on the field to recognize that the Bonham pass attempt was actually backward, and he wasted no time in scooping that ball. Moments later he was in the end zone. 

Alley had a memorable moment of his own. After hauling in a post route toss, he was running free in the secondary. One Bonham defender had an excellent angle on him and appeared to be in perfect position to make a tackle. Alley used a quick deceleration/acceleration to defeat the defender and race the distance.

On the defensive side, Edgar Rubio and Chris Rossie feasted on the Bonham offense especially in the first half. In an interesting comparison, the Bonham defensive ends rushed directly up the field, allowing Yellowjacket running backs to simply cut inside of them. Rubio and Rossie closed the backfield as they rushed, often bringing them directly to the Bonham ball carriers. 

Also on the defensive side, Isaiah Gardner applied pressure all along the line as well as in the backfield throughout the game. His energy level was tough for Bonham to handle. 

Adam Blalock and Moses Medellin also registered excellent playmaking on the defensive side of the ball.  Late in the game, Juan Villanueva shot into the Warrior backfield to recover a fumble at the feet of two Bonham players five yards deep in their backfield. It spoke volumes about the effort from the whole team last Friday

The Yellowjackets are 1-2 in district, but with three games yet to play their season (and playoff chances) are far from over. Mineola travels to Winnsboro Friday, hosts Rains on Oct. 28, and finishes the regular season at Commerce on Nov. 4.