Big First-Half Plays Help Savanna Beat Cypress

Savanna turned a pair of big plays in the first half into touchdowns and defeated Cypress, 27-13, Friday night at Western High.

After Cypress (3-0) had taken a 3-0 lead on Joey Meza’s 35-yard field goal, Savanna’s Mike Flores took the kickoff and returned it up the middle 84 yards to make it 7-3 with 6:42 left in the first quarter.

The Centurions (0-3) came back in the second quarter with an eight-play, 48-yard drive that culminated in a 15-yard scoring pass from David Wheeler to Colby Waltenberg for Cypress’ first touchdown of the season.

Savanna struck back quickly, going 80 yards in only four plays; quarterback Paul Waldrop, who completed just three of seven passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns, connected with Mike Hynes for a 67-yard touchdown to give Savanna a 13-10 lead.

Meza then added his second field goal from 42 yards to tie the score, 13-13.

The Rebels ran only 15 plays in the first half compared to 38 for Cypress. But the second half belonged to Savanna, as the Rebels held Cypress to 24 net yards.

Alex Carbajal came up with the key defensive play of the game, intercepting a Wheeler screen pass at the Rebel 13 and returning it to the Centurion four midway through the fourth quarter. Cypress had recovered a Rebel fumble and was threatening to tie the score when Carbajal stepped in front of receiver Bobby Brito. He was caught from behind just short of the goal.

Daven King put the game out of reach with a one-yard scoring run with 1:53 left.