The Taylor High School varsity football team put together a complete performance Friday night as the Ducks head coach Earven Flowers picked up his first career victory with a convincing 39-6 beatdown of rival Rockdale High School.
“It feels so great to get a win and to just get that monkey off our back,” Flowers said. “We’ve got to clean up more, just kind of like we were last week, we were a little sloppy at times. But we did a good job, got a win and that’s all that matters.”
Taylor got the ball first on offense and drove down the field to open the game with senior quarterback Joshua Mikulencak and company leading the charge. However, the drive stalled deep in Tigers’ territory, but the Ducks came away with points on a short field goal by senior kicker Isaac Castro for a 3-0 lead with 7:20 left in the first quarter.
Although the offense struggled for Taylor in the first half, the Ducks’ defense and special teams flourished the entirety of the night. On a punt into Rockdale territory by senior Braylan Alderete, a hit by senior safety Devin Valdez forced a fumble that was recovered by the Ducks. Unfortunately, it did not result in any points for Taylor.
The defense continued to rise to the occasion as senior safety Jackson Meller intercepted a pass at the Taylor 35-yard line with 2:31 remaining in the opening quarter.
With Taylor still leading 3-0 early in the second quarter, the defense came up big again as senior linebacker Alejandro Randle recovered a fumble at the Ducks’ 35-yard line for yet another Rockdale turnover.
With these teams trading blows defensively for most of the first half, the Ducks were finally able to break through late in the second quarter as Mikulencak drove the offense downfield with help from solid runs by Meller and junior running back Andrias Fisher. Mikulencak took care of business himself late in the half on a 15-yard quarterback scramble for a touchdown that gave Taylor a 10-0 lead with 1:02 left in the second quarter.
A leaping interception by Taylor junior cornerback Ethan Flagg, thwarted the Tigers drive, as the Ducks held the10-0 lead into halftime.
Following a turnover on downs forced by the Taylor defense, the offense got going with big runs again from Meller and Fisher to get deep into Rockdale territory. Just like at the end of the first half, Mikulencak used his feet to score on a three-yard touchdown scamper to extend the lead to 17-0 with 4:37 left in the third quarter.
Taylor pulled out some trickery on special teams with a surprise onside kick that ricocheted off a Rockdale player and was recovered by the Ducks near midfield. The offense again was able to get points on a drive that was capped off by an elusive touchdown run by Fisher to make it 24-0. Ducks senior cornerback Marcus Jackson would then intercept a ball deep in Taylor's territory to yet again thwart the Tigers from scoring at the end of the third quarter.
Taylor added to its lead as Mikulencak connected on a short touchdown pass to Meller and converted the two-point conversion to his brother, senior wide receiver Jacob Mikulencak, to give Taylor a commanding 32-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Taylor was able to add more insurance points when junior quarterback Nicholas Treuter threw a deep 42-yard touchdown pass over the middle to senior wide receiver Antonio Torres as Taylor took a 39-6 lead that would hold the rest of the way.
Next week, Sept. 8, Ducks (1-1) will hit the road for a non-district matchup with the Rockets of Robinson High School.
