The Estacado football team answered plenty of questions as to who are going to be its main offensive forces in 2009.

Now, all the Matadors have to do is learn how to win the turnover battle and capitalize on the ones they do force.

Hereford took advantage of two first-half miscues by the Matadors, and Estacado was its own worst enemy most of the night despite out-gaining the Whitefaces by almost 100 yards. The result was a 28-13 win for the Whitefaces in Thursday’s season opener at Lowrey Field, with Hereford’s scores coming mostly on short drives set up by turnovers or miscues in the kicking game.

bigvid“We had some mental busts early and that put us behind the 8-ball, so to speak,” Estacado coach Danny Servance said. “Really, we just could never get into a groove. We were steady shooting ourselves in the foot and we’ve got to correct those things. The good thing is those are correctable mistakes and we’ve just got to get better each week and be ready to go.”

Estacado's Deverick Stubblefield tries to toss the ball away to a teammate before his knee hits the ground during the Matador's season- opening game against Hereford on Thursday at Lowery Field. Hereford won, 28-13.

The biggest question going into Thursday was who would start at quarterback for the Mats (0-1), and junior Deverick Stubblefield appears to be the early answer.

Stubblefield had 42 rushing yards in the first half and threw a pair of touchdown passes in the game, showing that with some experience he could be a solid dual-threat quarterback. But he also showed his inexperience with some overthrows downfield and underthrows when rolling out.

“(Stubblefield) did a good job but a lot of times he overshot people with his passes and we had guys wide open,” Servance said. “We had a great scheme coming into the game and we’ve got to be a little bit sharper, and I think we can do that through practice.”

Estacado’s running game was as good as advertised, led by the 126-yard effort from junior Augustine Abigide and complemented by 53 yards from senior Alton White. And a variety of pass-catchers also showed up, giving the Mats depth in the receiving corps.

But turnovers and big negative plays kept the Mats from building any momentum.

Already trailing 7-0, a bad snap on a punt attempt by the Mats set up Hereford’s second touchdown, and another one early in the second half pinned the Mats inside their 5-yard line. An interception by Stubblefield late in the first half also allowed the Whitefaces (1-0) to score right before halftime to push their lead to 21-6.

Hereford also forced Estacado to play from behind almost the entire game thanks to seasoned quarterback Parker Bridwell, who threw all three of his touchdown passes in the first half as the Herd got off to a quick start and never looked back. Conversely, the Matadors were forced to punt on possessions resulting from a pair of Bridwell interceptions.

“We had a lot of kids tonight that hadn’t played a varsity football game yet, and they went and played with some big eyes,” Hereford coach Don DeLozier said. “The first half that might be one of the better halves we’ve played in awhile. (Estacado) is further along than they’ve been in the past few years. They played good inside and I’m happy to come out of here like we did with a win.”

Hereford came out of the gates looking like an offense led by a three-year starter. Bridwell was efficient and on target, hitting on his first five passes as the Whitefaces drove 68 yards in 12 plays, capped by a 20-yard touchdown toss to Jonathan Davis on a ball tipped at the line of scrimmage.

The Herd then took advantage of an Estacado special-teams miscue after the defense forced a three-and-out series. The snap went over punter Joey Andrist’s head, and he fell on the ball at the Matadors’ 20. Three plays later, Bridwell and Davis hooked up again, this time from 8 yards out to push the lead to 14-0.

Estacado finally got cranked up offensively on its next drive as Stubblefield and Abigide kick started the running game. The two combined for 55 yards on the ground, and Stubblefield finished the drive with a 9-yard TD toss to Brylon Bradford, pulling the Mats to within 14-6.

The Matadors looked to be headed for another scoring drive with a first down at the Herd 30, but a penalty and an interception two plays later set Hereford up for its third score of the night, which came on a 10-yard toss to Chase Yosten to cap an eight-play, 72-yard drive that put the Whitefaces up 21-6 with 2:57 left in the first half.

Estacado had a chance to slice into the lead late with a quick drive into Hereford territory. A 27-yard pass to Bradford and a 15-yard option run by White highlighted an 11-play drive that had the Mats on the Whiteface 5. But a 2-yard loss on second down forced Stubblefield to kill the clock, bringing about fourth down. White took a draw and was tripped up just shy of the goal line with 18 seconds left, turning the ball over on downs and securing a 15-point Whiteface halftime lead.

Estacado out-gained the Whitefaces in total yardage both in the first half (192-156) and for the game (308-223) but was undone by the turnovers. Bridwell was 13 of 17 for 137 yards in the first two quarters and finished the game 19 for 26 for 182 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Stubblefield finished 9 of 20 for 116 yards and the two touchdowns.

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HEREFORD 28, ESTACADO 13
Hereford 14 7 0 7 — 28
Estacado 6 0 0 7 — 13
First Quarter
HER—Jonathan Davis 20 pass from Parker Bridwell (Bridwell kick); 8:15
HER—Davis 8 pass from Bridwell (Bridwell kick); 5:36
EST—Brylon Bradford 9 pass from Deverick Stubblefield (kick failed); 1:04
Second Quarter
HER—Chase Yosten 10 pass from Bridwell (Bridwell kick); 2:57
Fourth Quarter
HER—Daymien Garcia 1 run (Bridwell kick); 4:36
EST—Clarence Willard 11 pass from Stubblefield (Xavier Luna kick); 1:22
TEAM STATISTICS
HER EST
First downs 13 15
Rushes-yards 21-41 42-192
Passing yards 182 116
Comp.-att.-int. 19-26-2 9-21-1
Punts-avg. 4-40.2 5-30.6
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 4-49 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hereford, Jose Uvalle 9-23, Daymien Garcia 5-23, Christian Garza 1-(-1), Parker Bridwell 5-(-2), Ryan Martinez (1-(-2); Estacado, Augustine Abigide 14-126, Alton White 10-53, Deverick Stubblefield 12-16, Quentin Patterson 2-9, Gary Brooks 1-6, Jermaine Jones 1-2, Brylon Bradford 1-(-2), Joey Andrist 1-(-18).
PASSING: Hereford, Bridwell 19-26-2—182; Estacado, Stubblefield 9-20-1—116, Jones 0-1-0—0.
RECEIVING: Hereford, Jonathan Davis 8-97, Zack Lopez 3-28, Garza 3-19, Tanner Shelton 1-16, Chase Yosten 2-11, Garcia 2-9; Estacado, Bradford 3-48, Latarus Robinson 2-31, Clarence Willard 3-29, P.J. Wilson 1-8.