Weatherford loses opening game 31-21

The Weatherford Roos football team lost its season opening game Friday, Aug. 28, against Burleson Centennial at home, which also featured senior night.
The Spartans won 31-21, sprinting out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter before the Roos picked up the intensity.
Weatherford comes into this season hoping new coach Marshall Williams can help break the four-year playoff drought or at least have the team compete better than last year's 1-9 squad.
Centennial squeaked into the playoffs last year and finished 4-7 despite starting several sophomores and came into this season hoping to build on a good stretch that ended last year's season.
The game did not start well for Weatherford. Centennial returned the opening kickoff to the Roos’ 31 yard line. Two plays later the Spartans were in the end zone when Ryland Wilson took a handoff and ran it up the middle for 14 yards. Centennial was up 7-0 not even two minutes into the game.
Weatherford could not respond. After a three-and-out, the Spartans drove down the field, with their many reverse handoffs to the perimeter, giving the Roos defense trouble. Eventually Centennial saw Wilson score on a short run to put the team up 14-0 only halfway through the first quarter.
Things did not get better. Weatherford's next drive saw the offense fumble the ball away trying to run for extra yards at its own 38 yard line. Two plays later, the Spartans scored on a 30-yard reverse run by Davion Sullivan. Centennial led 21-0.
The Roos showed some life on their next offensive series. On their first play, Weatherford ran its own reverse to a receiver, Jakob Hemphill, who got loose down the right sideline before cutting back and scoring on a 75-yard run, cutting the deficit to 21-7.
Weatherford's defense also got a big lift. A pass was tipped before Hunter Ferguson made a diving interception at the Roos’ own 37 yard line as the game advanced to the second quarter.
The quarter did not prove to be as action-packed. The Roos offense had a tough time keeping drives going with negative plays getting them off schedule. However, the Weatherford defense was starting to limit the big perimeter runs.
In the final two minutes, the Roos threw an interception that was returned 15 yards to the Roos’ 20 yard line. It almost looked like Weatherford's defense was going to hold out with the clock down to less than 20 seconds and Centennial facing fourth-and-one.
The Spartans converted and then quickly ran another play where quarterback Derringer Adrion found running back Juan Alvarez on a 2-yard pass. Centennial went up 28-7 heading into halftime.
The Roos came out in the third quarter looking good. The offense got the ball and had its best sustained drive of the game. They stayed on schedule, not allowing any negative plays and controlled the tempo. It ended with running back D.J. Quimby scoring on a 4-yard run to cut the lead to 28-14.
Weatherford's defense was able to get some stops as the teams exchanged punts. The Roos were dealt a big blow when Quimby went down with an injury that limited him for a bit.
Later in the quarter Weatherford's  special teams made a mistake with a long snap going over the punter's head into the end zone. He was tackled at Weatherford's 2-yard line.
The defense stepped up as the Roos forced the Spartans to kick a short 23-yard field goal to make the score 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Midway through the final period Weatherford's offense drove down the field. In the end Quimby, who had come back into the game to split carries with Caylin Pope, scored on a 4-yard run.
The Roos had cut the lead to 31-21 with 6:11 left in the game, and it seemed like plenty of time to try and score twice.
It looked like the defense was able to stop the Spartans, but Centennial converted a fake punt and ran for about 20 yards into Weatherford territory.
Later in the drive, with 2:18 left in the game, the Spartans were facing a fourth-and-11, but were still too far away to kick a field goal. Centennial converted on a pass down the middle and were able to run the clock out from there.
It was a tough way to lose a game for a mostly new team. With the team down 21-0 in the first quarter, the team could have easily folded. Instead the Roos rebounded to outscore the Spartans 21-10 after that and 14-3 in the second half.
Williams said he was proud of how his team responded to the adversity, but knows both the players and his staff have a lot to fix and get right.
"There are no excuses, but everything that we did that was negative can be corrected," Williams said. "I am really proud of these kids and this coaching staff. They never gave up. We turned the ball over; we had some jitters to get out of the way and things to shore up."
Williams pointed to special teams and the offense needing to take care of the ball as some of his biggest takeaways from the game.
Weatherford is scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 at Azle.