Whitfield, Bates Lead Stampede Past Jaguars

In one of the few games being played in the DFW Metroplex on the weekend of Mother’s Day, the North Texas Stampede held on to beat the Vernon Jaguars 14-6.  The Stampede, who is still fighting to make the TUFL playoffs, had a shutout until the last play when quarterback Willie Jones fumbled the ball and a Jaguars defender returned it for a touchdown.  The Jaguars missed the PAT setting the score.

While the Stampede organization celebrating mothers with a halftime ceremony including roses and a cake, Shannon Whitfield’ mother would have been proud her son’s performance.  The 6 foot 4, 215 pound receiver from Everman was the go-to guy for the Stampede catching pass after pass including a 54 yard second quarter touchdown from quarterback Josh Lanfear.  The first touchdown was caught by fellow receiver Demarcus Bates in the first quarter on a fade rout in the corner of the end-zone.  Bates and Whitfield make up a dangerous duo for the Stampede offense.

For the Stampede, both touchdowns were scored during the first 20 minutes of the game.  After, the game became a back-and-forth match of stalled drives, turnovers and penalties.  Regarding the mistakes, Stampede coach Freeman wasn’t happy.  “. . . we still had a lot of mistakes, offsides and penalties that shouldn’t have happened.”

There was some concern within the organization that the Jaguars touchdown hurt the Stampede’s chances at the playoffs, but Freeman wasn’t as concerned.  “It was supposed to have been a kneel,” said Freeman referring to the final play of the game.  “I told them to run the option and kneel the ball, and that wasn’t what happened.”  Concerning their playoff chances Freeman said, “It depends on what happens next week.  Weatherford [Bullets] has got to get beat by Abilene, and if they[Abilene] put up points, we’re good to go” referring to the Weatherford Bullets’ game against Abilene.

The Jaguars came with just 18 players and put up an impressive showing against the Stampede who looked like they might have three times that many.  The Jags made a three hour drive only to see the game start an hour and 15 minutes late and watch a teammate be carted off the field.  However, time and again they kept the game in reach by keeping the Stampede from getting that important third touchdown.

With just 34 seconds left in the first half, the Stampede set up shop at the Jaguars 4 yard line following an interception.  On first down, fullback David Smith burrowed his way to the 1 yard line with 28 seconds to play.  The Jaguars called a time out, and it payed off as they held the Stampede from getting in to the endzone as the first half came to an end.  The Stampede led 14-0.

The Jaguars were able to move the ball, but their drives just always seemed to stall or they turned the ball over.  This allowed the Stampede to bleed the clock using the running of fullback Smith and running back Lamar Hanks.  The two would break off chunks of yardage to keep the chains moving and the clock rolling.  The Jaguars did take shots from time to time, but quarterback Clinton Daniel never seemed to connect.  Daniel did, however, manage to move the chains with his feet.  The fleet-footed quarterback used quarterback sneaks and the option to gain yardage helping his team move the ball.

But, with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, Jaguars coach Billy Boyce made a bold call.  Daniel pitched the ball to running back Benson Copeland who then spotted a wide open Willie Cherry racing down the right sideline.  However, Copeland threw the ball long and missed Cherry for what would have been an easy touchdown.  On the following play, the Jaguars tried it again but Copeland was covered up for no gain.

The biggest story of the night, aside from celebrating mothers, was the absence of referees.  According to Stampede owner Patrick Porter, it was a scheduling conflict. “The schedule was changed; we had to change the schedule because next week we couldn’t get the field [Pennington Field] because the Dallas Diamonds [Women’s Professional football team] had it scheduled,” Porter explained.  “The revised schedule was given to the league, but for some reason the league referees messed up and scheduled us for next week.”

Porter, who is a TUFL representative for the North Conference, went to work.  He found a make-shift crew who had experience.  “Luckily I had a gentleman in the stands who refereed high school football named Lawrence Smith, and also I had another referee in the stands by the name of Luke Martin,” Porter explained.  “I got with [Vernon Jaguars] coach Billy Boyce and he agreed to our refereeing situation.”

In spite of the need to have a make-shift crew, a crew of referees showed up with 7:25 left in the game to finish refereeing the game.  Porter explained after the game that those guys had come from refereeing another game in Dallas.

The win leaves the Stampede at 6-4 for the season.  The Stampede lost in the conference semi-finals last season, and just a few seasons ago were in the league Super Bowl.

Fans can catch a photo gallery from the game between the Stampede and the Vernon Jaguars by clicking here.