Published: August 28, 2009 11:47 pm      

Cardinals use big plays to down Panthers, 23-15

BRIDGE CITY — Cameron Dishon made sure it was going to be a good night at Larry B. Ward Stadium Friday night and he did it on the opening kickoff.

Dishon scampered 85 yards to start the game and the home team Cardinals held off the Liberty Panthers 23-15.

Bridge City (1-0) now leads the overall series against Liberty 19-10.

“Cameron set the whole tone for the game,” Bridge City coach Cris Stump said. “Then I was surprised we were able to do it again.”

Stump would be referring to a play after Liberty tied the score 7-7 with 58 seconds left in the first half.

Cale Hyde then joined Dishon in the big play category with a 73-yard kickoff return.

A failed kick made it 13-7 Bridge City at the half.

“That was awesome,” Dishon said of his kickoff return. “I saw a hole, just ran and went untouched. It feels great to get the win and set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Dishon lit up the score board again in the third quarter on a nice trick play called by the Bridge City coaching staff.

Quarterback Josh Lemoine handed off to receiver Luke Rhodes who was in motion and the Liberty defense bit on the play.

Rhodes stopped and threw the ball to Dishon who caught it on the Panthers’ 45 and never looked back as he ran in for a 73-yard touchdown to make it 20-7.

“Luke had the same kind of play last year,” Dishon said. “I saw a lot of people around him and really could not see him. Then I saw the ball in the air.”

Bertrand pushed the score to 23-7 with a huge 45-yard field goal in the third quarter.

The Panthers were not done as Tevin Braxton, who had 15 catches for 153 yards, hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeremy Dickey with 1:33 left on the clock.

Liberty was able to convert a two-point conversion to make the final score.

It was the second touchdown of the night for Braxton who was all over the field.

Braxton tied the game at 7-7 in the second quarter on a 33-yard touchdown reception from Dickey.

“He kept running the same routes and they kept hitting him,” Dishon said. “It was crucial each time our defense came up with big stops. That always allowed our offense to go back out and score again.”

Liberty had 66 yards on the ground in the first half on 20 carries. Dickey passed for 71 yards in the first half, all to Braxton.

The only pass Dickey did not throw to Braxton in the first half was intercepted by Mitchell Hubbard.

The Panthers had a nice drive leading up to the interception with 13 plays. The drive started at the Liberty 46.

The Cardinals had two long runs taken away by holding calls in the first half.

Bridge City had 51 yards rushing in the first half, 28 by Lemoine and 21 by Menard.

Stump was more than impressed with the play of the Panthers.

“They are a strong, big team and they are all athletic,” Stump said. “Just look at No. 32 (Byron Webb), I mean they are all 5’8 and 240 pounds. Plus they can all run. Our team played touch and fought the whole game.

“Liberty came out and decided to smash us and they certainly have the people for it. We were lucky to stall them a few times and get the ball. It had to be demoralizing for them to have the ball for seven minutes and not come away with anything.”

The Liberty offense had three series which had at least 10 plays in which the Panthers did not score.

Mitchell Hubbard ended the first one with an interception and the second ended on a turnover on downs.

The third also ended on a turnover on downs when Hyde tipped a pass aimed for Braxton in the endzone.



Bridge City 23

Liberty 15



BC 7 6 7 3 — 23

Lib 0 7 0 8 — 15

Scoring summary

Bridge City — Cameron Dishon 85 kickoff return. Devin Bertrand kick.

Liberty — Tevin Braxton 33 pass from Jeremy Dickey. Devonte Fountain kick.

Bridge City — Cale Hyde 73 kickoff return. Kick fail.

Bridge City — Dishon 73 pass from Luke Rhodes. Bertrand kick.

Bridge City — Bertrand 45 field goal.

Liberty — Braxton 11 pass from Dickey. John Allison pass from Dickey.



———

BC Lib

First downs 9 17

Rushes-yards 21-83 42-157

Passing 118 172

Comp-Att-Int 4-10-0 17-29-1

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 4-45 3-22



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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—BC, Matt Menard 13-53, Josh Lemoine 7-28, Cale Hyde 1-2. Liberty, Jeremy Dickey 17-68, Byron Webb 9-43, De’Jonge Robinson 7-28, Chris Hardy 5-10, James Freeman 3-10, Damin Edwards 1-(-2)

PASSING— BC, Lemoine 3-9-0 45, Luke Rhodes 1-1-0 73. Liberty, Dickey 17-29-1 172

RECEIVING—BC, Menard 2-14, Cameron Dishon 1-73, Mitchell Hubbard 1-31. Liberty Tevin Braxton 15-153, Martin Sterling 2-6, De’Jonge Robinson 1-13.