WALLER — The Waller Bulldogs moved to 2-1 after decimating the Conroe Caney Creek Panthers, 41-14, last Friday night at Waller ISD Stadium.
The Bulldogs are only one game behind the three undefeated teams in Class 5A, Division I, District 8. Waller rolls into its bye week this Friday, and returns to action at Magnolia West’s Mustang Stadium (click for Google Maps) on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
Despite striking first, Conroe failed to keep up with the Bulldogs’ scoring machine helmed by senior quarterback Caleb Godfrey.
“I think you didn’t see Caleb’s best tonight,” Head Football Coach Gene Johnson said, complimenting his passer. “We have two really good receivers on the outside. Caleb settled down and made some throws, and made some things happen for us. He is undoubtedly the leader of the team and he played well.”
The Bulldogs rattled off the entire 41 unanswered points until Conroe saved face with another touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The feat comes a week after a heartbreaking 31-6 loss to district rival Cleveland.
“We sure would like to be 3-0,” Johnson said. “But I’m absolutely proud of the kids for bouncing back.”
The infamous pandemic virus had struck Waller late in the preseason, forcing the cancellation of a scrimmage and what would’ve been the season opener in Week 1. With it, COVID-19 robbed the Bulldogs of much needed game experience early in the season.
“I’m just really proud of our coaches and kids,” Johnson added. “COVID-19 kind of decimated us. I was the seventh coach to go down and missed 10 days on COVID-19.”
He mentioned that the seven coaches included both of the Bulldogs’ offensive line coaches. The staff had to do patchwork to get the players ready for battle.
“Our depth is really worrisome to us, so we’ve got to continue to coach every kid in the program and have a next-man-up mentality,” Johnson said, echoing cues of the Texas A&M University’s legendary 12th Man. “I was really proud of our kids for responding from last week’s loss, but then we had some dings on the offensive line and had some young kids that had to go in. We needed to gain experience. So hopefully, we’re catching up with some of that.”
The community showed its support during the Bulldogs’ first district game at home this season. MaxPreps estimated the crowd at over 5,000.
“(The strong sense of community is) why I’m here,” Johnson said. “There’s not many one-horse-towns left where it’s a community school, and that was an appeal to me in coming here. Our fans, community, alumni and our school board, they’re all about Waller High School. That was our intentions of having one big high school, and not splitting up right now, is to keep that family together as long as we can; and it’s neat. We need to continue to grow that one-horse-town-community.”
The Bulldogs have their bye week this Friday, and return to the gridiron at Magnolia West’s Mustang Stadium (click for Google Maps) on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
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