Rider coach Marc Bindel was excited to be coaching in the Oil Bowl, but one player in particular had him relishing the opportunity.

“Big Jesus Silva is in there,” Bindel said Wednesday just before meeting with East Texas All-Stars. “I finally don't have to figure out how to block him.”

Bindel and his Rider coaching staff knew too well the level of disruption the recent Wichita Falls High School grad could cause from the interior of the defensive line. What they didn't realize is how much havoc Silva could wreak when he had the type of talent he had around him Saturday.

Silva teamed with Old High classmate Aeneus Nash and Aubrey's Connor Laughlin to form the foundation of a defensive line that terrorized the West Texas All-Stars backfield in a 35-6 rout at Memorial Stadium. The West managed just 15 total yards for the game, including seven rushing and eight passing. West quarterback Mar'tez Vrana of Hirschi was sacked nine times in the loss, while the East recorded even more tackles for loss.

“It was more than just being a team,” Nash said. “We became brothers over these three days really. I really appreciate these guys I was playing with because they really are amazing. It's one of the best D-lines I've every played with, and that is saying a lot because I've played on some good ones.”

Nash isn't exaggerating about the pedigree of defensive lines he's been a member of in the past. As a sophomore at Old High, he played on a defensive line that included his older brother Garron Nash and cousin Michael Nash as well as Silva and Trey Hatton.

Michael was the Red River 22 Defensive Player of the Year that season. Garron made the Red River 22 team.

So it truly is high praise coming from Nash. He and Silva set the tone for the game on the West's second drive.

 

On fourth-and-10 from the East 43, Silva put pressure on Vrana, causing him to scramble and Nash cleaned up the play with a hard hit for the sack.

“We popped him pretty good and set the tone,” Nash said. “That's pretty much how it went the rest of the game.”

Nash finished with the one sack, while Silva had four sacks.

“You know I can't play without Jesus,” Nash said. “We had to be on the same side every time.”

“You can't stop that combination,” Silva added. “It was great getting to play next to him one last time.”

Throw in Laughlin who had three sacks on his own and a dominant defensive line was formed. Jacksboro coach Brannon Rodgers, whose coaching staff handled the East defense, knew they had a special group pretty quickly.

“We knew Wednesday afternoon after the first practice,” Rodgers said. “We put on about three months' worth of defense in about three hours. Those are some special players.”

With the defense dominating, the East offense eventually started to wear down the West defense and pulled away. And Bindel, who was calling offensive plays for the East, knows exactly why his offense was able to do that.

Because he didn't have to try to block Silva and Co.

“We've been trying to block Jesus Silva for three years,” Bindel said. “He has haunted our dreams for many years. He's very talented. He and Aeneus both, those guys are competitors. Then you throw in those other guys like Connor and you get a really good defensive line. Their dominance allowed our offense to wear down (the West defense) and put this game away.”

OIL BOWL

East 35, West 6

East 7 0 7 21 --35

West 0 0 6 0 --6

FIRST QUARTER

E – Zack West 48 run (Fernando Piedra kick), :40

THIRD QUARTER

W – Gerrick McKinney 67 punt return (run failed), 11:10

E – Joshua Kemp 14 pass from Jorge Vargas (Piedra kick), 2:54

FOURTH QUARTER

E – Jake Edgemon 29 pass from Vargas (Piedra kick), 11:45

E – Tyler Edington 11 pass from Vargas (Piedra kick), 6:39

E – Logan Jones 2 run (Piedra kick), 2:05

E W

First downs 19 3

Rushes-Yards 34-214 26-7

Passing yards 205 8

Comp-Att-Int 14-30-1 3-11-1

Punts-Avg. 0-0 6-33.2

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-0

Penalties-Yards 4-55 5-36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – East, Zack West 13-89, Jorge Vargas 9-63, Logan Jones 7-60, Payton Laake 3-8, Team 1-(-6); West, Brent McCallon 2-10, Isaiah White 5-6, Billy Pearson 2-6, Koy Pennartz 1-4, Mar'tez Vrana 14-(-2), Kade Patterson 1-(-8), Chad Thomas 1-(-9).

PASSING – East, Vargas 14-28-1—205, Laake 0-1-0—0, West 0-1-0—0; West, Vrana 3-11-0—8, Patterson 0-1-1—0.

RECEIVING – East, Jake Edgemon 5-120, Colton Waters 2-18, West 1-15, Joshua Kemp 1-14, Laake 112, Tyler Edington 1-12, Michael Cole 1-9, Danari Curry 1-3; West, David Watson 1-13, Joe Dan Gambol 1-0, McCallon 1-(-5).