Matt Tillson
RYAN — RYAN — The Ryan Cowboys had much to celebrate on Senior night Friday. The Cowboys finished their regular season undefeated with the District B-2 title already in hand. They also celebrated with a 46-0 win over the Central High Broncos.
Ryan head coach Stan Mueggenborg said that he was nervous going into the final game before playoffs.
“When you have a season like we have had you get scared on how your team will perform before playoffs,” Mueggenborg said. “You get nervous that someone will get injured or that the players won’t play as hard for you.”
Mueggenborg had his nerves calmed on the opening drive for the Cowboy offense. With the ball in Broncho territory, sophomore running back Zack Wiest juked his way into the end zone on a 20-yard run for the first points of the game.
Broncho head coach Glennis Ring said that his defense prepared for the running game but did not execute.
“We made too many mistakes early on,” Ring said. “We knew that they liked to run the ball, we just were not able to stop it this time around.”
The Broncho defense looked to have no answer for the Cowboy’s running offense. The Ryan offense had 227 yards rushing on 25 carries, led by junior running back and team rushing leader Trevor Bettis with 162 yards on only 11 carries.
“Bettis is a strong runner, he shows that every game that they have played,” Ring said. “There is a reason that he leads his team in rushing yards, he gets the job done.”
Though the Bronchos had trouble finding an answer for the running game, their offense was unable to find a way to get past the strong Cowboy defense.
Coby Martain and the Cowboy defense held the Broncho offense to 122 total yards. Central High quarterback Kyler Newton was held to only 48 passing yards on 21 attempts with only six completions and two interceptions. Newton also led the team in rushing with 46 yards on 13 carries.
Another big factor in the Central High loss was the amount of penalties. Central High gave up 55 yards on nine costly penalties. Two of these costly penalties resulted in the ejection Coach Ring. Ring was ejected after two unsportsmanlike penalties were called on him, following a penalty against the Bronchos.
The Central High Bronchos finished their season with a 4-7 record. Ryan will be moving on to the playoffs where they will be hosting the Pond Creek Panthers in Week 11.
