VYPE Austin Central Texas Game of the Week Recap: Strong second half lifts Bowie over Austin High

The Austin High Maroons battled the Bowie Bulldogs to a near-draw throughout much of the first half of their critical District 26-6A matchup, trailing just 7-3 around the 2-Minute Timeout. But Bowie was too much. The Bulldogs scored on a run from senior Deuce Brown to take a 14-3 lead into the House Park Fieldhouse, then pulled away in the second half for a convincing 31-3 lead over the Maroons in last week’s VYPE Austin Centex Game of the Week.

The Maroons actually drew first blood in this battle between ancient Austin ISD rivals. Senior Alex Garcia drilled a 40-yard field goal to stake Coach Jason Cecil’s squad to an early 3-0 lead.

It didn’t last long.

Senior Cooper Medeiros returned the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to set up the Dawgs in Austin High territory. Jr. quarterback Connor O’Dea connected with senior Evan Dranguet on a beautiful pass and catch to the 3-yard line and senior Rhys Moreno knifed into the end zone to give Coach Jeff Ables’ Dawgs a lead they’d never relinquish.

With the Maroons playing stout defense, the lead didn’t increase, however, until Brown capped off a long, grinding drive with his 6-yard run just before halftime to finally nudge the Bowie lead to 14-3.

The Bulldogs finally took control of the game in the second half. O’Dea (7-16, 166 yds., TD) connected again with Dranguet (5-154, 30.8 YPC, TD) for a scoring strike, Moreno (15-77, 5.1 YPC, 2 TD) wore down the Marron defense and junior D.J. De La Pena added a field goal as Bowie gradually pulled away for a clutch win.

Bowie (1-0, 4-1) has the Bye on ACL weekend while Austin High (0-1, 0-4) travels to Bob Shelton Stadium in Buda to take on the Hays Rebels Friday night (10/2). VYPE Live will broadcast that game.