Thriller in C-Town; Sonora Erases 20-Point Deficit Against Christoval

CHRISTOVAL, TX — The Sonora Broncos showed some fight tonight against the Christoval Cougars by fighting out of a 20-point deficit to win their second district game, 40-32.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. Either one of these saying would fit the Sonora Broncos tonight. About 10 minutes before kickoff, the rain started and the weather radar showed it wasn’t going to stop.

In his initial thoughts on the game, Bronco head coach Blake Weston said, “That’s a big one. Sloppy night tonight weather wise, and that's what I was telling the team after the game. It doesn’t bode well for what we do offensively, but it was great to see us run be able to run the football between the tackles and be physical and do that stuff. Overall, it was a great night.”

Last week, Bronco senior quarterback Aaron Segura won two statewide honors for throwing the football. Tonight, the rain made that really difficult.

With the rain, it set Christoval up for success as they run the football extremely well with Ty DeBusk and Daniel Alfaro, who had a monster first quarter with over 100 yards and three scores to put the Broncos in a 20-point hole.

But Sonora stayed the course and got on the scoreboard with 10:39 left in the second quarter when Segura found the end zone to pull within 20-8. Luck bounced Sonora’s way on the kickoff when they recovered the ball. Then, Segura found Jayden Welborn on the sideline inside the pylon for another score. Now, Sonora has cut the lead to 20-14 with 7:29 left in the first half.

The rain did let up a little bit but with the field wet. It was still extra hard for receivers to find their footing.

Christoval’s Alfaro found the end zone again from about 2 yards out to get the Cougars up 26-14 going into halftime.

After the bands left the field, Sonora got into the end zone again when Segura found Evan Arredondo on fourth down for a score to continue climbing out of the hole they buried themselves in at 26-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Early in the final frame, Sonora’s Jesiah Martinez dove up the middle to tie it at 26-26 with 11:32 left in the game.

Both defenses stood up and stopped the opposing offenses on fourth down, but then a backbreaker for the Broncos happened with 4:49 left in the game. On third down and backed up against their own end zone, Christoval’s DeBusk threw the ball and found Jett Whitlow for a 98-yard touchdown. Up to this game, DeBusk had only thrown the ball 49 times, and Christoval has only gotten into the end zone on one of those passes.

Now, Christoval had the lead and Sonora needed a touchdown to tie the game. Again, luck was on Sonora’s side starting with the kickoff when Fernando Arredondo tried to jump over a defender but fumbled the ball right to Isa Gonzales so the Broncos could get their drive started.

That wouldn’t be the only time Sonora fans held their breath as running back Armani Coronado fumbled the ball during the drive only to have it recovered by teammate Wyatt Killough, who would catch the game-tying touchdown with just over two minutes to play.

With the game tied at 32-32, Christoval needed to move the ball, but the Sonora defense stood strong, getting the ball back with under two minutes to play.

Here, Sonora’s fight would be rewarded as Segura threw over the middle to Angel Diaz and was nearly picked off by DeBusk. Diaz caught the ball and as he was getting tackled, Evan Arredondo ran up to him, took the ball away, and continued rumbling into the end zone to give Sonora the 40-32 lead with just seconds left.

“Yeah, that was, I don’t know, I guess Angel is fumbling that ball, I’m not real sure,” said Coach Weston, “DeBusk made a great play, and it could have went the other way. Like I said, I don’t know if Angel was fumbling or not, but Evan springing free was huge for us.”

Christoval had a chance at the end but an overthrown ball ended the game, and the Sonora Broncos, who were down 20 points, completed the comeback, fighting hard to earn their second district victory.

“That’s the biggest thing,” said Coach Weston, “I told the kids we did fight. Spotting them 20 points was not in the game plan. We moved the ball well but turned it over in the first half, some stuff like that, that we have to clean up on. The positive is the fight, being down 20 … There are a lot of positives tonight. I think playing through the rain was huge for us.”

The Broncos (5-1 overall, 2-0 in District 4-2A Division I) get a much-needed bye week next week, while the Christoval Cougars (1-4 overall, 0-1 in district) run into the Ozona Lions next week in Ozona.