Buffs score last 70 in 70-7 victory over Jarrell Posted On: Saturday, Oct. 17 2009 05:36 AM By Nick Talbot
Killeen Daily Herald

JARRELL – Rivalry games are personal.

Friday night, Florence made a personal statement as it crushed Jarrell 70-7 at Cougar Stadium – the Buffaloes are not the doormats of Central Texas, anymore.

"There was a comment made that nobody would ever want to play football

at Florence because we were sorry and we took that personally," said Florence coach Paul Smith. "That is why we came out here and played our butts off."

Coming into the game, Florence (2-5 overall, 1-2 in 25-2A) had lost five straight games, the closest a 22-14 loss to Blanco. The worst was getting blown out 55-7 by Rogers last week.

Worse though, they had lost 13 straight district games. The Buffaloes last district win was a 14-12 district opening win over Lago Vista in 2007.

Smith, though, had claimed the Buffaloes program was headed in the right direction all season.

For the first time this season, it really showed. And for the first time this season, the team felt like it had proved itself.

"Nobody believed in us," said cornerback and running back Michael Ramirez.

Fullback and defensive linemen Travis Applequist added: "We have finally turned it around."

Quarterback Doak Hensley went one step further.

"It feels beautiful honestly," he said. "I kind of want to kiss someone."

It is almost easy to see why.

Florence dominated on the ground, piling up 374 rushing yards, including a whopping 217 from Brian Ross. Ross ran for the majority of his yards (163) in the second half, when the game went from a blowout to an outright slaughter.

"Rogers is a good football team and they played well and we didn't and that is the bottom line," Smith said. "We played Salado one half of football and I felt like we should have had a chance there … hopefully we will grow from this and get better every week, get into the offseason and get this program turned around."

Jarrell opened the game strong, actually scoring on its first possession and taking the early lead when Dwight Culp connected with Clayton Kovar for a 37-yard touchdown pass.

To say Florence responded would be a vast understatement.

"We jumped up on Rogers last week 7-0 and they came back and whipped us, so we knew anything could happen," Hensley said.

The first two touchdowns came quick.

Hensley, who was 15-of-20 passing for 214 yards and 3 TDs, hit Emilio Ramirez for a 43-yard pass across the middle to set up the Buffaloes at the 8-yard line. Then Ross took it in for the score.

Florence caught the Cougars off guard with an onside kick and recovered it. Seven plays later, Ross scored from 4 yards out for Florence's first lead (12-7).

On its third drive of the night, Florence had to start at its own 18.

Neither the poor field position nor the Cougars slowed them down. Gilbert Ledesma broke off a 20-yard run on an end around to push Florence past midfield, Travis Applequist had a big third-and-2 run and Hensley hit Emilio Ramirez for a 13-yard gain.

Applequist then finished off the 15-play, 82-yard drive with a 2-yard dive for the score.

Florence recovered a Jarrell fumble right before the half and quickly extended its lead. Hensley and Emilio Ramirez connected for a third time – this time a 37 yarder–and Michael Ramirez scored on a 10-yard run to put the Buffaloes up 28-7 at the half.

On his first carry of the second half, Ross burst up the middle of the field, broke a tackle and ended up with a 72-yard touchdown run.

"My line just was ridiculous," Ross said. "That was the best job I have ever seen them do."

It only got worse from there.

After getting the ball back on the Jarrell 48, Josh Herring got free on a post route in the middle of the field and Hensley hit him in stride for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

"One of their coaches was talking smack on us, so we just had a pep talk and buckled down and executed," Ross said. "This is insane. We have never done anything like this before."

The next four Florence possessions ended like this: Michael Ramirez 13-yard touchdown run, Trey Simpson 35-yard touchdown pass from Hensley, Michael Ramirez 13-yard pass from Hensley and to cap it all off, Ross scored with less than a minute remaining from 2 yards out. Brian Juarez kicked the extra point to put the final margin at 63.

"One of their coaches was talking smack on us, so we just had a pep talk

and buckled down and executed," Ross said. "This is insane. We have never

done anything like this before."