Slaton struggles in home opener to Snyder
By Nolan Alexander
Slatonite Intern
Slaton lost to Snyder 29-8 Friday (Aug. 27) in their season opener at home against Snyder Tigers. It was also Senior Night.
Snyder struck first with an 11-yard rushing touchdown, this only to be matched by an 82-yard rushing touchdown by Slaton’s Jacorien Doss, followed by a successful two-point conversion by Eli Perez. The first half came to a close and Slaton was on top 8-7.
The second half started out with a 47-yard rushing touchdown by Snyder followed by a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. As the night went on, the lead only grew for Snyder, who scored once more in the third quarter on a one-yard run.
While Snyder defeated Slaton 29-8, Head Coach Lawrence Johnson said it was a game where heart and effort was clearly left on the field.
“Our kids gave us everything they had,” he said. “Their effort was never in question.”
Johnson said the main problem for the night was they did not execute every phase of the game. Slaton ended the night with five caused turnovers on defense. Getting all these turnovers boosted the Tigers but the lack of capitalizing on red zone drives really hurt the team.
“We have to put the ball in the endzone and score points,” Johnson said.
Another main problem brought up was special teams. Johnson said that he and his staff take special teams very seriously.
“It’s something we will continue to put an emphasis on,” Johnson said. “We are changing some things to avoid those costly mistakes.”
Stats for the Slaton were a total of 250 rushing yards, 16 passing yards, with Ayden Ramirez completing seven of 17 attempts for a 35 percent completion rate and three total turnovers.
Both teams ended with similar total yards, with Slaton having 266 yards and Snyder having 260 yards.
Top rushers for Slaton were Jacorien Doss, with two carries for 80 yards, and CJ Anzley with 15 carries for 45 yards. Also rushing were Ayden Ramirez, eight times for 40 yards, Tomas Geronimo, nine times for 46 yards and Eli Perez, six times for 39 yards.
Leading receivers for the Tigers were Eli Perez with two catches for 11 yards, and Demarcus Trotty with two catches for two yards. Also receiving for yards were Brayden Brown, once for two yards, and Anzley and Doss, one for one yard each.
This Friday (Sept 3) Slaton will travel to Abernathy to even up the slate on their season record.
Game time is 7 p.m. and game updates can be found on The Slatonite’s Facebook page Slatonite.
