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(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Denton Lauster makes a tackle in the backfield Friday, Sept. 5. Lauster is a senior defensive end on the team. -
(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Jace Gill looks to pass from the pocket Friday, Sept. 5. Gill connected with Brodie Martin on big passes to end the half on a scoring drive. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Dylan Cox takes a handoff from the backfield Friday, Sept. 5. Cox scored the lone touchdown on the night for the Steers.
For the first time this season, the Graham community got to experience the return of Steers football at Graham High School.
Unfortunately for the Steers, it was a long and muggy night as the team ended up losing to the Springtown Porcupines 36-7.
Right from the start of the evening it wasn’t ideal conditions. The clouds dampened an otherwise exciting evening and as the teams got deeper into the opening quarter, the rain came down like a mini monsoon.
On top of this, the team didn’t get off to the hottest start either. Two plays into the Steers opening offensive drive, they were picked off, followed by a screen pass touchdown from Springtown on the left side of their defense to start the game trailing 7-0.
The Porcupines quarterback found an open running lane for another touchdown shortly after this to make it 15-0 Springtown after a successful two point conversion.
Cooper Corley then made a potential momentum-sparking play with a long run out of the backfield on the Steers’ next offensive drive to help get the team into the redzone, however a failed fourth down conversion meant the team came up empty in the points department again.
After the Porcupines scored another rushing touchdown to make it 22-0, the Steers finally showed their first sign of life.
Quarterback Jace Gill connected with Brodie Martin on the right side of the field for a big conversion, followed by a big catch and run from Martin to get the team down to the one yard line.
Dylan Cox capped off the successful drive with a walk-in touchdown on the left side of the endzone to end the half on a high note.
It looked like momentum might have been starting to swing the Steers’ way at the start of the third quarter.
After a long opening drive from Springtown to start the second half, Jordan Alexander picked off a potential touchdown pass in the endzone to save a score.
However, the Steers offense was not able to capitalize on the opportunity once again, and the Porcupines scored again with 5:39 left in the third quarter to make it 29-7.
The Porcupines scored one more rushing touchdown on the evening to reach the final score of 36-7.
Steers head coach Clay McChristian preached that this game would be a pivotal learning experience for the team.
“We lost the game, but are we beat?” McChristian said to his team postgame. “You’re beat when you don’t learn from something. We’ve got to learn from it and we’ve got to move on.”
McChristian also challenged his players to take a deep dive into the film on the game to learn what can be improved upon for each individual player.
The Steers will be return home at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 for a matchup against Whitesboro Bearcats.
