Published: August 29, 2008 12:34 pm         

Bulldogs travel to Denison on Thursday

By Bobby Summers

Herald-Banner Sports



The Royse City Bulldogs will complete their extended scrimmage season with a trip to Denison Thursday night. This one will be for the Varsity only and should be a very competitive practice session.

The Denison Yellowjackets are a top-ranked football team this season. They are picked to win District 9-4A. That district includes such legendary football schools as McKinney, Sherman, all four Frisco schools (old high, Wakeland, Centennial, Liberty) and McKinney North.

Denison gains that right to be at the top of the heap because of 10 offensive and 8 defensive starters returning. Nine of those starters were sophomores last season.

Their quarterback was their receiver last season and Jordan Taylor is a 6’4”, 185-pound, 4.6 forty junior this season. Running back D.J. Jones is a 6’0” 205-pound load. Linebacker Brandon Jeffrey also returns after making 79 tackles in ‘07.

In Texas High School Football lore, Denison and Sherman probably have one of the longest running rivalries in the state. Known as the “Battle of the Axe”, the two sister cities have gone at it annualy for nearly 80 years. So for a bit of trivia, you should know that Denison won last year’s battle by a score of 44-43.

Time for the scrimmage was not determined as of press time. It would be best to check with the Royse City High School office for the starting time.

A few hundred Royse City and Frisco Centennial fans made it out to Royse City ISD Stadium last Thursday night and were treated to a variety of practice drills before the evening ended.

The Bulldogs’ freshmen and junior varsity you might say won their respective scrimmages. The freshmen outscored the Titans 5-3 in touchdowns and the Bulldog junior varsity outscored the Titans 3-2.

Due to some injuries on the Bulldog side of the ball, they were somewhat limited with their scoring opportunities. Both schools finished the scrimmage tied 2-2 in touchdowns. Looking good for the Bulldogs’ offense was Richard Morrison, Frank Dave and Corey Nixon. Defensively the Bulldogs held Frisco Centennial’s superstar quarterback Ryan Mossakowski to one touchdown throw.

Trevor White scored Royse City’s touchdown on a 5-yard run following a methodical 70 yard drive. Bulldog Frank Dave bullied his way in from two yards out to cap off a 57-yard drive.

Dave’s touchdown run was set up by a 14 yard pass completion to Justin Jacobs from Morrison.

A pass interference call on Royse City in the end zone gave Frisco a first and goal at the three yard line. It took two plays for the Titans to score from one yard out.

In a 12 minute live quarter the two schools ended the period tied 7-7.

In a simulated overtime quarter, All-State Bulldog linebacker Oscar Hernandez jarred the football loose and gave the Bulldogs possession. Kollin Padon attempted a 49-yard field goal in the overtime, but the kick sailed wide left.

If you plan on attending Thursday night’s scrimmage in Denison, may we suggest to allow about two hours traveling time.

Friday night will be a good night to catch some of the area football games around. This will be week 0 and several schools will begin their regular season play that night. Some of the District 10-4A schools which will be competing against Royse City will also begin play.



A list of some area action and District 10-4A opponents playing are;



Carrollton N. Smith (Dist. 10-4A) at Denton Guyer

Gar.Sachse at Richardson Pearce (Dist. 10-4A)

Highland Park (Dist. 10-4A) vs. Red Oak @ SMU (Saturday)

Rockwall (Dist. 10-4A) at Midland Lee (Saturday) 11:00 a.m.

Greenville (Dist. 10 4A) at Forney

Roosevelt at South Oak Cliff

Terrell at Carrollton R.L. Turner (Dist. 10-4A)

Lancaster at Carter

Kennedale at Seagoville

Frisco Centennial at Denton

Aledo at Stephenville (Saturday)

Decatur at Dallas Madison (Saturday)

Whitesboro at Pilot Point

Canton at Commerce

Texarkana Liberty-Eylau at Paris No. Lamar

Paris at Sulphur Springs

Crandall at Princeton

Kaufman at Mabank

Farmersville at Winnsboro

Melissa at Community

Daingerfield at Atlanta

Caddo Mills at Gunter

Leonard at Wolfe City

Tenaha at Maud

Check your starting times. Some week 0 games begin at 7:00 p.m.



Royse City will open with their first game of the season next week, which is week 1, when they host the Atlanta Rabbits. This will also be Royse City ISD’s Grand Opening of the new football stadium.