MINEOLA – The Mineola YellowJackets took advantage of early Bullard turnovers en route to a 31-17 win on Friday night at Meredith Memorial Stadium.

“We knew we had to weather the storm at the first road game,” said head coach Shannon Wilson. “They also did some things defensively that they had not shown but, we really need to eliminate our mistakes and focus on the things that we do better.”

The Panthers just weren’t ready for lightning to strike on the first offensive drive.

After Mineola’s, Trey Boyd recovering a fumble for Mineola at the Bullard 22 yard line on Bullard’s first possession, running back Alex Kerby bulled in from nine yards out to get the scoring started.

YellowJacket kicker, Matt Shade was good on his first of four PAT kicks in the game, and a 7-0 lead.

Mineola quarterback, Erik Galaz hooked up with Shade on a 31-yard scoring strike to up the count to 14-0 after one period.

Above left, Hayden Bryant, Hunter Skelton, and Colton Mebane team up for a tackle in the Mineola loss, 31-17 last week at Meredith Memorial Stadium in Mineola. Above right, in a mad scramble for a fumble, D.J. Diduch ends up at bottom of the pile but comes up with one of two Panther fumble recoveries in the game. Other players in on the scramble include Ja’Kory Hunter, J.P. Hendrix, Alec James. and Tanner Schmidt were making it happen with addditional help. The Panthers play the Panthers (Westwood) in Palestine at 7:30 p.m. (Banner Staff Photos by Susie Moore) Shade booted a 37 yard field goal after an eight minute drive opened the second quarter.

Galaz hit Justin Clayborn for a 34 yard gain, to the Bullard one yard line. Galaz rumbled in from there for a 24-0 halftime lead for Mineola.

Mineola held a 193-80 advantage in yardage at the intermission.

Bullard’s, Colton Mebane recovered a fumble on Mineola’s first second half possession at the 22 of the YellowJackets.

Five plays later, Joe Ganaway ran in from three-yards and Weston Gray booted the PAT for a 24-7, Mineola lead.

Kerby scored his second TD of the game to answer back for Mineola and a 31- 7 score after three periods.

Ganaway put one more touchdown on the board for Bullard in the final quarter, and Weston Gray added a 24-yard field goal for the 31-17 final score..

Mineola was paced by Kerby with 83 yards in 22 carries. Erik Galaz ran for 51 yards on ten carries and threw for another 150 yards, good for one touchdown and two interceptions.

Bullard signal-caller, Kirk Bryant led the Panthers with 169 yards on the ground while being held to only two completions in the contest.

When Wilson was asked about the progress of his Panthers the mentor was still positive saying, “We are in good shape for this point of the season and we play the whole game,” the coach added, “however I believe that we can play much harder and we have to correct some basic mistakes and play better technically.”

Wilson also mentions offensive production leaders Kirk Bryant , Matt Wood, and Holden Bryant, and defensive leaders J.P. Hendrix, D.J. Diduch, Zack Holiday.

Colton Mebane (one fumble recovery), and Hayden Bryant played well in the secondary, and Jeremy Wellmaker has done a great job as deepsnapper and made a few key defensive stops for us.”

The Panthers (0-2), will look for their first win as they travel to play at Palestine- Westwood next Friday.

The Westwood crew fast was a 35-26 loser to Frankston.

“Westwood has a good quarterback, Dominique Mickens, they have one exceptional receiver, and a good running back. Keke Hicks that can catch the ball,” Wilson said about this week’s opposition. “They are gonna come at us with a spread offensively, and set up and run out of a 3-4 defensively.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Panther Stadium in Palestine.

Mineola (1-1), will entertain Kemp next week on Friday night in non-district action.

Wilson said in conclusion,” we talk about playing hard the whole game and never giving up, and we would like to thank our fans for doing the same thing. “The support means a lot to our players.”

ATTACK PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The BHS ‘Attack Player of the Week’ went to Jacob Wall for his efforts in the JV win. He was honorary captain for the varsity and suited up for the Panthers.
Non-District Football
Mineola 31, Bullard 17
Score by Quarter
Bullard 0 0 7 10 - 17
Mineola 14 10 7 0 - 31
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
M: Alex Kerby 9 run, (Matt Shade PAT kick
good), 10:12
M: Erik Galaz to Matt Shade, 31 pass, (Shade PAT
kick good), 1:37.
Second Quarter
M: Shade 37 field goal, 4:18.
M: Galaz 1 run, (Shade Pat kick good), 1:45
Third Quarter
B: Joe Ganaway 3 run, (Weston Gray PAT kick
good), 7:26.
Fourth Quarter
B: Ganaway 5 run, (Gray kick good), 11:41.
B: Gray 24 field goal, 1:03.