The Dublin Lions faced a big fight Friday night as they hosted the Millsap Bulldogs on the Bob and Norma Cervetto Field.
Millsap came out to an early lead in game with long runs, leading to 10-0 in Millsap’s favor at the end of the first quarter. The game ended 38-12 in the visitors’ favor.
Dublin Athletic Director/ Head Football Coach Greg Hardcastle said there were five major runs (including drives across the field), but the Lions had bright spots defensively and offensively.
“Other than [those five runs], we held them pretty well,” he offered. The defense was led by Cameron Patton (with nine tackles), Jacen Hines (eight tackles) and Francisco Garcia, Cooper Pickett, and Jake Southall, who each had four tackles.
Hardcastle also praised quarterback Kaden Gaitan (who took over for Chris Teten as he recovers from earlier injury) for improvements in his passing game. Gaitan had a 73 percent completion rate in his passing game for 237 yards. (He also rushed in one of the Lions’ touchdowns.)
Hardcastle also pointed out that Dublin had eight receivers complete passes Friday night. Kevin Patton led the passing game with 71 yards, followed by Sev Ruiz with 61 yards and Dalan Rasberry with 46.
“We were better on some of our fundamentals and you could see that,” Harcastle said, saying they will continue to work on improving for this Friday when they travel to Comanche to take on the Indians.
Comanche is coming off a big win against Jacksboro from last week and is 6-1 for the season.
“We’re expecting a bigger fight this year,” Hardcastle said in comparison to last year’s bout between Dublin and Comanche.
Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.