Cardinals capsize Pirates, 49-20

By Tommy Mann Jr.

Special to The Orange Leader

BRIDGE CITY – The Cardinals utilized all three phases of the football game to dominate the Vidor Pirates on Friday night and secured an important 49-20 win in District 10-4A Division 1.

On its second possession of the game, the Pirates struck paydirt when running back Skylar Stankovich rumbled 59 yards up the middle for a touchdown and a 6-0 Vidor lead after the failed extra point kick with 8:31 remaining in the first quarter.

Bridge City showed how explosive the team can be when Abraham Mungia received the kickoff, hit the right sideline and roared 85 yards for a touchdown and a 7-6 Cardinals lead following the Kasen Watts kick.

A little later in the quarter, Vidor took over at its own 14 yard line. The Pirates fumbled on consecutive plays on what appeared to be mishandled snaps between the quarterback and center. Facing third and 14 from the 10-yard line, quarterback Jett Brucia dropped back and hit receiver Dallas Pachuca across the middle for what appeared to be a first down at the 26-yard line, but the Cardinals defense smacked the ball out of Pachuca’s grasp. Defender Braxton Lynam scooped up the ball and zipped in for another Bridge City touchdown and a 14-6 lead after the first quarter.

After the Cardinals defense forced the Pirates into a three-and-out, Bridge City quarterback Hutch Bearden and the offense decided to make a contribution to the game and only needed three plays. The big play of the drive was a 41-yard plass from Bearden to Austin Bellanger down to the Pirates 9-yard line. Bearden ran around the left side on the next play for the touchdown to make the score 21-6, Bridge City.

Another three-and-out by the Vidor offense gave the ball back to Bridge City. This time the Cardinals only need 64 seconds to get on the scoreboard as Bearden connected with receiver Hunter Ford on a 25-yard touchdown pass. Bridge City lead 28-6 at halftime.

The Cardinals took the opening kickoff of the second-half and used a strong running game to pound the ball into the heart of the Vidor defense as running back Ashton Sumrall had several key runs on the drive to keep the chains moving and the clock ticking. Bearden finished off the nine play, 66-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to extend the Cardinals lead to 35-6.

Vidor looked to respond and had a promising drive which started at its own 20-yard line. However, the six-minute drive failed to produce any points with a turnover on downs at the Bridge City 47-yard line.

Bridge City made few mistakes on the night, but a Bearden pass two plays later was picked off by Vidor defender Aiden Villafano and returned to the Cardinals 16-yard line. From there running back Daigan Venable rumbled in for the touchdown on the first play to make the score 35-12 in favor of the Cardinals.

Vidor attempted an onside kick, but despite a favorable bounce it was recovered by the Cardinals at midfield. Bridge City then used its running game, powered by a bulldozing Sumrall, and moved the ball 50 yards in nine plays while consuming nearly six minutes on the clock. Sumrall punched the ball in for the score from the 1-yard line for the 42-12 lead.

On Vidor’s next possession, another fumble resulted in a Cardinals touchdown. This time it was defender Trey Bradley scooping the ball up at the 28-yard line and rumbling through the Pirates offense for the Bridge City touchdown and a 49-12 lead.

Vidor would add one more score midway through the fourth quarter as running back Marcus Harris took the handoff up the middle and dashed downfield for a 61-yard touchdown run. The two point pass from Brucia to Brody Stankovich was good to make the final score 49-20.

Bridge City churned out 308 total yards of offense on the night, which included 94 passing yards and 214 yards on the ground. Bearden completed 5 passes on 10 attempts for 94 yards and 1 touchdowns, while adding 50 yards on the ground on 10 rushes with 2 touchdowns.

Ford caught three passes for 36 yards and one touchdown on the night, while Sumrall carried the ball 18 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.

The Pirates offense tallied 254 total yards on the night, including 222 yards with its running game. Harris lead all Pirates rushers with 104 yards on six carries and a touchdown, while Venable had 65 yards on 13 totes and a touchdown and Stankovich added another 65 yards and a touchdown on five rushes.

The Cardinals (5-0, 2-0) will travel to Sour Lake next week to take on the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks (3-2, 1-1), which lost to LC-M 49-13 on Friday night. Vidor (1-4, 0-2) will return home to the confines of Pirates Stadium to face the high-powered offense of Huffman-Hargrave (5-0, 2-0). The Falcons smashed the Lumberton Raiders, 38-7, on Friday night.

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