GRADY – A hiccup in the second quarter kept Grady from a home victory over Buena Vista last Friday at M.W. Tunnell Field in Grady.
The Wildcats started strong answering Buena Vista point for point in the first quarter. Unfortunately, an injury in the second quarter pushed Grady into turmoil and allowed Buena Vista a 32-16 halftime lead.
Grady coach Jourdin Mata rallied his team and put together an impressive second half. But it would not be enough to overcome the earlier struggles and Buena Vista won 56-40.
At quarterback, Austin Aaron completed one pass for the Wildcats for 30 yards before being taken out of the game for injury. Hunter McAnally stepped in and completed five passes for 57 yards.
On the ground, Gunner Cherry did the heavy lifting with 25 carries for 229 yards and six touchdowns. McAnally added five carries for 21 yards and Kody Cates pitched in with six rushes for 30 yards.
On the outside, Cooper Wallin hauled in four passes for 70 yards to lead the receivers and Hunter Blaylock caught two passes for 17 yards.
The Wildcat’s defense was led by Cates with double digit tackles of 10. Wallin brought down nine Longhorns while Blaylock tackles five and Cobe Cotez wrangled four.
McAnally and Matejo DeAnda ended the game with three tackles each followed by Cherry with two, Fabian Cruz one, Marcus Brown one, and Aaron one.
Grady will be off this week in preparation for the District 6-A DI opener at Rankin on Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Other teams in the district were: Garden City and Rankin off last week; Midland TLCA lost to Marfa 56-6.
Garden City will host Marfa this week and Rankin will be at Lubbock Titans. TLCA is off.