Sam Vitanza Stadium--  Three weeks after Hurricane Harvey dumped an unprecedented amount of water on the Texas Gulf Coast, the citizens of Dickinson can get back to doing something they love - cheering on their Dickinson Gators.  #GATORNATION is ready for the season.  The Gators got the season off to a great start by rolling the Texas City Stingarees 47-7 at home Friday night.

In a town where 80 percent of the homes were flooded, the community desperately needed a cause to rally behind.  Coach John Snelson and his staff will provide for them.

D.P. S.

It is Coach Snelson’s own saying: Win District.  Practice on Thanksgiving.  Win State.

These goals are always in place for this football starved town.  This year the Gators once again look to go deep into the playoffs.  With four or five different films crews at Vitanza Stadium the Gators kicked off a season that will once again bare watching throughout the state and nation.  Several teams have adopted the Gators after the torrential flooding of Dickinson.  One is the East Rutherford High School Cavaliers in Forest City, North Carolina.  The football team and school have sent medical supplies and food to aid the town of Dickinson.

The first half was relatively close thanks to Texas City’s junior punter Alex Paz’s running skills.  On an easy read with the whole punt return team turning their back, Paz ran 37 yards down the right sideline.  It was a 13 play 83 yard drive capped by a Phillip McDaniel to CJ Yell 13 yard screen pass for the only TC score.  Besides that drive and TD in the first half Dickinson pretty much shut out the Stingarees holding them to five yards on offense in the second half and 145 total for the game.

The Gators were playing without two of their key defenders in stout nose tackle Keelan Oatis and lethal linebacker Da’ Von Graves.

The Dickinson offense showed no signs of rust from not having played a game.  They scored touchdowns on their first two possessions.  Starting tailback Myles Lewis scored the first touchdown of the 2017 season for the Gators and the 7-0 start to this runaway.

Center Evaristo Nunez said this about the first offensive possession of their new season, “Coming out on that first drive, scoring that touchdown early.  That was a good motivator for us.”  And added, “when we run the ball like that, we can do a lot of things.”

Nunez said this about the community having football back, “it was a great feeling seeing everybody come together, do things together.  Everybody was happy together.”

Defensive player of the game Landon Roque also was happy to be back on the field, “It felt really good, I enjoyed it.  Playing for my team, playing for my brothers and to get the win.”

Then star and national recruit Montel Parker (A&M commit) made it look easy for their 2^nd touchdown as he glided into the end zone, and the 14-0 lead.

Coach Snelson talked about his offensive weapons, “We just have outstanding skill kids.  We have a bunch of them.  And we only have one football.”

Junior Jalen Wydermeyer provided a big spark before halftime running wide open on a seam route from his tight end position. Texas City let the 6'4" sky hawk go untouched for 66 yards 21 seconds before halftime with a 21-7 lead.

Chris Welch showed again that Dickinson has so many skilled players with the balls in their hands taking the second half Stingaree kick off back 90 yards and a 28-7 lead.

Snelson switched quarterbacks between Cameron Collins and Welch for much of the first half while settling in on Collins in the 3^rd quarter.  Collins tossed a 40 yard TD to Parker and Myles Lewis added another TD run.  This one from 20 yards out. Emery Taylor added the final score for the Gators on a 5 yard run in the 4^th quarter.

Overall Coach Snelson was pleased with the Gators first showing, “I’m proud of our team.  Its awesome to get back on the field.  See them get back into something that they love.  Its awesome here in Dickinson, Texas. People love football, love the atmosphere.  The band’s awesome”

He spoke this about how the community bonded together, “I think its awesome, I think its really awesome.  It’s teaching these kids lots of life lessons that as they get older there’s gonna be some bad things that happen in their life but are gonna have to deal with that.  They can’t dwell on it.  They are gonna have to keep moving forward and they are dealing with a tough situation. “I’m just really really proud of them”.”

It was indeed an awesome night and a great start to the season for the Gators.

by Glenn McCarthy
@GlennMcCarthy44

 

Interview with

James Lacombe

@JamesAtGalvNews

 

Players of the Game

Offense- RB Myles Lewis

Defense- LB Landon Roque

 

Scoring

Dickinson         14     7     20    6     47

Texas City         0       7     0      0     7

 

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