On one side of the field, shock and pain; on the other side, joy and celebration.
The Hemet Bulldogs felt the sting of a 46-0 loss to a jubilant Banning Broncos football team last Friday night at Banning High School.
Although Banning played well, they had plenty of help from error-prone Hemet – especially in the first quarter. The Bulldogs fumbled the ball away four times, and Banning didn’t squander the gifts, converting the turnovers into touchdowns to take a 25-0 lead seven seconds into the second quarter.
On the defensive side, a bigger but slower Hemet couldn’t contain Banning’s speed –mainly that of fast and elusive quarterback Styrone Hairston who ran for 173 yards and three touchdowns. Hairston stayed on the field the entire game at quarterback and defensive back.
He showed off his speed on defense by intercepting a Hemet pass 30-seconds into the second quarter and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown, giving the Broncos a 32-0 lead at halftime. It didn’t get much better for the Bulldogs in the second half either. The Bulldogs had but three possessions, and were held to just one first down. The Banning defense held Hemet to 61 total yards, while the Broncos racked up 355 yards.
Hemet returns to the gridiron Friday night at home, taking on Murrieta Mesa at 7 p.m. Mesa defeated Jurupa Hills of Fontana 55-19 in its