The very experienced and talented Blanco Panthers overwhelmed the Llano YellowJackets Friday night at Jacket Stadium to match the record of SA Randolph in tough District 13-3AAA. Blanco and Randolph each have one loss in District play. SA Cole also has only one loss, that being the 37-0 YellowJacket win back on September 22nd. It will come down to the final two weeks of play to determine the State Play off teams.

The 55-24 loss Friday night was the worse loss for the Jackets on their home field in four years. Llano is now 4-5 for the season, and 2-3 in District play. Llano is off this week. The final regular season game is in two weeks, November 3rd, at Ingram. The Jackets will need help to make the play offs. SA Cole needs to beat Marion this Friday night. And, Llano must beat Ingram. Ingram too has a path to the play-offs. Should they beat Llano and Lulling, they too would have a 3-3 district record.

All of the inexperience of the Jackets showed up Friday night. Llano never got untracked. Blanco kicked off to Llano, and in his first varsity start, freshman Luke Davis at quarterback completed two passes to senior Charlie White for 15 yards and a first down. From there, everything seemed to go bad. Three plays and out. Senior Cooper McWilliams punted for 51 yards, and good coverage by Kaleb Payten and Fitz Kennedy seemed to have penned down the Panthers on the 8 yard line. But on first down, the Blanco quarterback went 92 yards and the first score of the game.

Llano had three plays, and another solid 43 yard punt by Cooper. Blanco scored 6 plays later. Junior Tate Morgan blocked the extra point, so the score was 13-0. Tate also blocked another Blanco extra point in the second quarter.

On the Jackets third possession, senior Kaleb Payten returned the kick off 54 yards. Senior Jackson Hoot had a key block. On first down, Luke hit senior Alex Kachura for a big 32 yard gain and first down on the 18 yard line. Fitz ran twice, and Luke once, and on fourth down, Tate came in and kicked a 26 yard field goal to make the score 13-3, Blanco.

The Jackets defense played inspired football at times. The Jackets held Blanco on their next possession. Strong play by sophomore Brayton Shaw and junior Carter Bickett showed great promise. A sack by Tate, and Charlie White was outstanding in the secondary. Trey Mote, when not carrying the football plays hard at linebacker. Sophomore JD Friday was in on several tackles, as was junior Wesley Whitaker and junior Logan Van Pelt. As always, seniors Buddy Machuga and Hunter Brown played very good at defensive tackle. Senior Charlie White ended the night with 7 tackles, and senior Dusty Miller had 5 stops.

Blanco took a 35-10 half-time lead. The Jackets were able to score its lone TD in the second quarter. Luke found Alex for two catches and 45 yards down to the 5 yard line. Then on second down Luke hit Alex again for the 7 yard scoring pass. Tate kicked good for the Llano total of 10. Alex ended the night with 5 catches and 93 yards. Charlie White lead the Jackets with 7 catches and 101 yards, the best of his career.

The Yellow Jacket special teams have had a very good season. Junior RJ Coplin has run back two kick offs for TDs. Senior Kaleb Payten has had several long returns this year. Tate’s blocking kicks has been with tremendous effort, as well as his near perfect kicks on extra points. Senior Cooper McWilliams has had a very good year punting the ball, with several kicks over 50 yards. And coverage has become a source of pride. Wesley Whitaker, Jose Silas, Jacob Hernandez, Fitz and Kaleb have been tremendous. Junior Carter Bickett and Charlie knows the importance of getting down field to cover. Special effort by all.

The Jackets get this week off. More will be known after this weeks games. Who, what, when and where. We do Know Llano needs to beat an improved Ingram team. Getting to 5-5 for the season makes many things possible. Beating Ingram is a must.