High School Football: Meng, Abilene Wylie cruise past San Angelo Central on homecoming

Bear Meng threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as Wylie won its third consecutive game, knocking off San Angelo Central 37-20 in a non-district game Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.

The Bulldogs (3-2) scored the game’s first 17 points, led 24-14 at halftime and never trailed in winning on homecoming night in their final tune-up before District 2-5A Division II play begins in two weeks.

Christian English ran for two TDs and threw for another to lead the Bobcats (1-4), who lost their third consecutive game.

It's Wylie's first win over the Bobcats in the second meeting between the two programs.

How it started

A turnover set up Wylie’s first score – a 27-yard field goal by Brady Clark.

Central was driving on the game’s opening possession, and Alex Lindsay fumbled after a 14-yard catch to the Wylie 20. Josh Patterson returned the fumble to the Wylie 49 — setting up Clark’s field goal.

The Bulldogs scored on their next two possessions. Meng threw a 24-yard TD pass to Riley Robinson, and Malachi Daniels ran 4 yards for another TD for a 17-0 lead with 11:03 left in the second quarter.

Christian English ripped off a 70-yard TD run to put the Bobcats on the board with 9:48 remaining in the opening half.

Wylie answered with Meng throwing a 7-yard TD pass to Derrick Evans.

Central got a 10-yard TD run from Colter Farmer to make it a 24-14 game with 3:04 to play in the half.

How it ended

Wylie opened the second half with a 16-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Meng capped it with a 10-yard TD pass to Hunter Hood for a 30-14 lead with 5:04 left in the third quarter.

The rest of the scoring came in the fourth quarter. English threw a 32-yard TD pass to Colton Hill on fourth-and-6, and Wylie answered with a 1-yard TD run by Meng.

English also ran 15 yards for the game’s final score with 2:39 remaining.

More: High School football High School Football: Abilene Wylie brimming with confidence thanks to two-game win streak

More: High School Football Big Country Game of the Week: San Angelo Central battles streaking Abilene Wylie

Friday’s stars

Meng completed 16-of-25 passes for 192 yards and three TDs for Wylie. The junior quarterback, a La Grange transfer, also ran for 46 yards and a TD on 11 carries.

Evans caught four passes for 101 yards and a TD, while Daniels, a senior running back ran for a team-high 115 yards and a TD on 21 carries. It's the third straight week Evans, a 6-foot-3 senior, has had more than 100 yards receiving.

English led Central both passing and rushing. The junior quarterback completed 15-of-29 passes for 161 yards and a TD. He also had a game-high 142 yards and two TDs on 11 carries.

They said it

Wylie coach Clay Martin: “I just thought we did a much better job with execution. I really feel like the team is getting better, playing a little better each and every week. I think that’s the key during the pre-district schedule. I’m just really proud of the way we came out and performed tonight.”

Martin on the teams’ offensive balance (192 yards passing/228 yards rushing): “That’s obviously the goal each and every week. ... When you can do that, you’ll be pretty hard to stop offensively. We just had a lot of guys make some huge plays, and I thought we really played pretty well on defense against an extremely explosive team.”

Central coach Kevin Crane: “I think Abilene Wylie is a good football team. They’ve got a lot of size and a lot of speed, and they’re well-coached. They obviously were able to control the ball on the ground, and we had a hard time getting them off the field. I did think our defense made some strides tonight, not giving up as many big plays. But really, and truly, the penalties hurt us. It’s been the same thing each week. So, we’ve got to find a way to be more disciplined and not have so many penalties.”

Up next

Midland High (5-0) at San Angelo Central, 7 p.m. Oct. 5 (district opener); Wylie at Plainview (4-1), 7 p.m. Oct. 6 (district opener). Midland High beat El Paso Andress 62-14 in El Paso, while Hereford beat Plainview 24-21 in Hereford in a battle of unbeatens.

NON-DISTRICT

Abilene Wylie 37, San Angelo Central 27

Central … 0 … 14 … 6 … 7 – 27

Wylie … 10 … 14 … 6 … 7 – 37

FIRST QUARTER

WYL – Brady Clark, 27 FG, 7:34

WYL – Riley Robinson 24 pass from Bear Meng (Clark kick), 3:27

SECOND QUARTER

WYL – Malachi Daniels 4 run (Clark kick), 11:03

SAC – Christian English 70 run (Bryan Parra kick), 9:48

WYL – Derrick Evans 7 pass from Meng (Clark kick), 4:55

SAC – Colter Farmer 8 run (Parra kick), 3:04

THIRD QUARTER

WYL – Hunter Hood 10 pass fromMeng (kick failed), 5:04

SAC – Colton Hill 32 pass from English (run failed), 8:52

FOURTH QUARTER

WYL – Meng 1 run (Brady kick), 4:43

SAC – English 15 run (Parra kick), 2:39

TEAM STATISTICS

……………… SAC … WYL

First downs … 17 … 26

Rushes-Yards … 20-190 … 53-228

Passing … 161 … 192

Comp-Att-Int …… 15-29-0 … 16-25-0

Punts …… 3-38.6 … 2-43.5

Fumbles-Lost … 1-1 … 0-0

Penalties-Yards … 12-91 … 8-90

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Central, Christian English 11-142, Tyree Brawley 8-40, Colter Farmer 1-10; Wylie, Malachi Daniels 21-115, Bear Meng 11-46, Julius Laine 9-35, Jaegan Smith 4-22, Jaden Lucero 6-20, Team 2-(-10).

PASSING: Central, English 15-29-0—161; Wylie, Meng 16-25-0—192.

RECEIVING: Central, Alex Lindsay 4-50, Colton Hill 4-39, Brawley 3-50, Malik Kates 2-10, Carmelo Amigleo 1-7, Jimmy Edwards 1-5; Wylie, Derrick Evans 4-101, Daniels 4-28, Kooper Jones 4-16, Riley Robinson 3-37, Hunter Hood 1-10.

RECORDS: San Angelo Central 1-4; Wylie 3-2.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: High School Football: Meng, Abilene Wylie cruise past San Angelo Central on homecoming