The San Saba Armadillos tamed the Santo Wildcats at historic Rogan Field last Friday night to close out the regular season by the score of 49-21. The Wildcats outgained San Saba 399-316, but the Armadillos turned three Santo fumbles into scores with the good field position.Santo won the toss and elected to receive the opening kick. Rodney Ortiz kicked the ball deep and Jarrod Mosier got the ball to the Wildcat 27. Santo used a deceiving running game to get near midfield. On 4th down and 2 yards to go, quarterback Zane Mauney kept the ball and eluded tacklers for a nice 53-yard touchdown run. Mosier added the PAT and Santo had an early lead 7-0.The Armadillos returned the kickoff to the Dillo 34. On first down, Coach Pannell called for a flea-flicker. Quarterback Kelan Verette handed off to Sean Argote. Argote got to the line and pitched the ball back to Verette who threw a pass to Jarrett Mathis. Mathis was behind the Wildcat defense. The ball was slightly over-thrown. Mathis made the catch but stumbled, falling to the ground at the Wildcat 32 for a 34-yard gain. Five plays later, Verette snuck over for a 1-yard score. Ortiz tied the game with the PAT.Ortiz kicked the ball into the end zone for the touchback and Santo began at the 25 yard line. After a gain of 23 yards, the Dillo defense forced the Wildcats to punt. The kick rolled to a stop at the San Saba 29.Garrett Hartranft dominated the drive with runs of 17 and 15 yards. On the eighth play of the Drive, Hartranft scored on a 13-yard run to give the Armadillos the lead for good. Ortiz made the score 14-7.Santo started their next drive at the Wildcat 19. The 4th down run came up inches short giving the ball to San Saba at the Santo 29.Sean Argote took the ball inside the 1 yard line on first down. Hartranft ran the ball over on the next play. The extra point kick pushed the score to 21-7. A fumble on the kickoff was recovered by Russton Ellis at the Santo 26. A pass from Kelan Verette to Russell Lowe set up a scoring pass from Verette to tight end Jordan Watson from 14 yards. Rodney Ortiz kicked the score to 28-7 with 7:53 left in the second quarter.The Ortiz kickoff went into the end zone for the touchback. Santo played clock control. The Wildcats ran 15 plays to run out the clock ending the half. Kelan Verette appeared to have an interception during the drive, but a defensive holding penalty gave to ball back to Santo. The time ran out with Santo at the Dillo 5 and San Saba having the 28-7 lead.Santo tried an onside kick to start the second half. Juan Carlos Garcia covered the ball at the Armadillo 48. San Saba was unable to gain a first down and Russell Lowe punted the ball to the Wildcat 19.After gaining a first down, Santo fumbled the ball at the Wildcat 37 with Kelan Verette getting the recovery and returning it to the 35.Seven plays later, Kelan Verette connected with Jarrett Mathis for a 10-yard touchdown. Rodney Ortiz made the score 35-7.Ortiz got his 3rd touchback of the game on the kickoff. Starting at the 25, Santo scored quickly. Zane Mauney kept the ball on third down and raced 67 yards for his second touchdown of the night. The PAT was blocked and the score was 35-13.San Saba garnered a first down before Lowe was called on to punt. The kick was downed at the Wildcat 20 with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.The Wildcats failed on a 4th down play at the Santo 43. Sean Argote got the drive going with a run of 11 yards. A 12-yard run by Argote put the ball at the 21 yard line. Argote pushed the ball down to the 2 and went over from there on the next play, capping the 5-play drive. Ortiz added the PAT making the score 42-13. On the ensuing kickoff, Mosier took the ball at the goal line and went to the left side. He was finally tackled at the Armadillo 44. A personal foul penalty moved the ball another 15 yards to the 29. It looked like the Wildcats would score on the drive, but Kolton Ellis scooped up a loose football and raced 87 yards for an Armadillo touchdown with 5:03 left in the game. The PAT put the score at 49-13.Starting at the 18 yard line, Santo went clock control again. The Wildcats ran 13 plays, including the only pass completion of the game for the Wildcats. Mauney scored from 2 yards out with less than 10 seconds left. Mauney ran the 2-point conversion to make the 49-21 score.San Saba ran one play after the kick to finish the game.San Saba knew they were in the playoffs, but did not know if they would the 2nd seed or 3rd seed from the district. That would be settled by the game between Goldthwaite and Hico. Hico won the game 9-6 giving the #1 seed and first round bye to Goldthwaite, Hico got the #2 seed and San Saba goes as #3 seed. The three schools tied for the district title and the tie was broken by point difference between the schools.Sean Argote led the Dillo rushing attack with 139 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown. Garrett Hartranft added 60 yards and 2 scores. Kelan Verette gained 33 yards and a score. Russell Lowe chipped in 14 yards. Verette was 4-4 passing and 2 touchdowns. Jarrett Mathis had 2 catches for 44 yards and a score. Jordan Watson got his first catch of the year with a 14 yard reception. The Armadillo defense turned three Wildcat fumbles into points. Russton Ellis gave San Saba the ball at the Santo 26 on a kickoff. Kelan Verette put the Dillos at the Wildcat 35 and Kolton Ellis scored the final touchdown for San Saba on his 87-yard return.Tim’s tip of the cap: Zane Mauney was thorn in the side of the Armadillos all night. He gained 235 yards on 26 carries and all 3 Wildcat scores from his quarterback position. Goldthwaite gets the bye this week. Hico will play the Kerens Bobcats in the bi-district round at Waco Robinson Friday at 7:00. San Saba will tangle with another group of Wildcats. These are from Cayuga. The game will be played at Owl Stadium in Joshua. Kickoff is set for 7:30 Friday. Come out and support the Armadillos in the playoffs.