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Plano can’t answer DeSoto, falls 45-15

Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by Brian Porter in Varsity

The little things spelled a big loss Friday for Plano.

DeSoto made a pair of interceptions, Plano couldn’t haul in a pair of interceptions and had two long runs called back by penalties and DeSoto cruised, 45-15, in a non-district game at DeSoto’s Eagle Stadium.

The game plan was to stop Marcus Murphy and not let Ryan Polite make plays with his legs. Plano mostly accomplished that, but Polite passed for 374 yards and five touchdowns, including four in the first half to put the Wildcats in a big hole.

Plano (0-2) meets Hebron at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Clark Stadium and will have one more game to get ready for district play. DeSoto (1-1) picked up its first win of the season after falling to nationally-ranked Cedar Hill in its opener.

“Don’t give up on us, because we’re not playing our best ball yet,” said Plano coach Jaydon McCullough. “We can quit or keep working. That (keep working) is what we’re going to do.”

With 1:26 elapsed in the game, DeSoto gathered a 7-0 lead it would never relinquish on a Polite touchdown pass to Darius Terrell. After an interception, DeSoto needed just 34 seconds to find the end zone again.

And the beginnings of the good and bad for Plano began. The good displayed some big-time playmaking, but the bad followed as each time it seemed as if a young Wildcats team just couldn’t get the breaks to follow.

Steele Hoetger provided the first big Plano play of the night on a 45-yard completion from Connor Michelsen to the DeSoto 4 and four plays later Michelsen dove in to narrow the margin to 13-7.

Plano nearly had an interception on the ensuing DeSoto series, but couldn’t pull it in. And before the first quarter came to an end Polite had DeSoto back in the end zone.

Jared Kirchmeier broke free on a 55-yard run that was brought back on a penalty and the answering drive stalled.

DeSoto punched in two more scores on consecutive touchdown passes from Polite to Terrell. Then, again, Kirchmeier broke free on a 71-yard touchdown run that was called back by a penalty.

“If those plays didn’t get called back, we would have scored and would have gotten some momentum,” Kirchmeier said.

The first one could have narrowed the margin to 19-14 in the early moments of the second quarter and the latter could have made the second half a bit different by putting Plano down just two scores, 31-14.

“That was over 100 yards in penalties on those two plays,” McCullough said. “It was kind of like last week.”

DeSoto’s first possession of the second half was a 14-play, 90-yard drive that drained almost six minutes off the clock and ended with Polite’s fifth touchdown of the night and essentially put the game out of reach.

But then came what could end up being a bright spot for an offense that has been held to a pair of scores in each of the first two games this season.

Murat Kuzu, whose cousin, Mohammed, plays middle linebacker, came in and compiled 44 yards on seven carries. Plano moved the chains on six consecutive plays and five of those were runs by Kuzu. He scored on an 8-yard run to cap the 7-play, 74-yard drive.

“We’re prepared to make some hard decisions,” McCullough said. “Whoever is in the game has to be the one getting the job done.”