Weatherford 31, Cleburne 48

Weatherford kept things interesting but couldn’t climb muster a win against the undefeated Yellowjackets on Friday. Cleburne leaned on its big-play offense to spoil the Kangaroo homecoming festivities.

Weatherford excelled on special team with more than 225 yards in kick returns. Cisco Caston returned one for 89 yards and a touchdown, which was the first of three big kick returns of at least 50 yards for the Roos.

Cisco Caston
Weatherford senior wideout Cisco Caston returned a Cleburne kickoff 89 yards for a TD.
Jeff Prince / Weatherford Democrat
Weatherford’s defense gave up big plays of its own. The Roos defense forced Cleburne into third-and-long situations throughout the night but gave up the big play almost as often — of Cleburne's 545 total yards, 341 of those yards came on just seven plays.

A turning point: In the second quarter, Weatherford was threatening to make it a one-score game, but the Roos faced a fourth down inside the Cleburne 20. Weatherford opted to go for it, and Major Youngblood's pass was batted down by Cleburne's Braden Gunn to force a turnover on downs. On the next play, Cleburne exploded for a 76-yard touchdown run to put the Jackets ahead 21-7 with 3:10 left until halftime.

The Kangaroos wouldn’t go away, however, and continued fighting, narrowing the score to 31-41 in the fourth quarter with more than seven minutes remaining. Cleburne responded with its own methodical 10-play march downfield late in the game that ate up minutes and put the game out of reach with a 34-yard TD to Tyler Forsythe.

Weatherford’s Brayden Bork, a sophomore running back, rushed for 92 yards and a score on 20 carries. Quarterback Major Youngblood completed 17 of 32 passes for 177 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Wideout Melvin Polk hauled in eight receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns.