Photos and written by Nick Debose
The Sherman Bearcats season might not have went the way they intended, but they saved their best game for their last game at The Star versus Frisco Liberty. The Bearcats dominated in a three phases of the game to end the season with a 48-13 victory.
Sherman Head Football Coach Cory Cain was very happy with the outcome for his senior class. "I'm really happy for our seniors. They got to go out with a win a Bearcat Stadium in the rain which they will remember forever and to win the very last one playing over here at The Star, heck that's fantastic."
The Bearcats offense was unstoppable on the ground and through the air racking up 521 total yards. A pair of Sophomores led the Bearcats balanced attack, as Quarterback Caleb Orr threw for 294 yards and 4 touchdown. While Sophomore Running Back Kane Bowen was the game's top rusher with 127 yards and a 24 yard touchdown run for the first points of the night. Orr talked about how fun it was leading the Bearcat offense. "Having those two receivers on the outside Phoenix and Vontrelle it couldn't get better than that. And my amazing o-line giving me all the time in the world, it couldn't get no better than that." Orr
Senior Wideouts Phoenix Grant (Yale commit), Vontrelle Sanders (Houston Christian commit), and JD Parker all had big nights in the last time suiting up as Bearcats. Grant, had 166 yards and 3 touchdowns receiving, Sanders had 77 yard receiving, and Parker had a touchdown catch to lead the receiving core. "It's bittersweet. It felt great getting the win and getting to go out right with all my guys, but at the end of the day it's the last game so it's sad." Grant
The Bearcat defense held the Liberty offense to just 173 total yard and caused 4 turnovers on the night. Junior Linebacker Joseph Gionfriddo led the Sherman defense with 10 tackles. Junior Outside Linebacker Dante Colon had his a great game with 6 tackles, 2 .5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, an interception, forced a fumble, and recovered one. Connor Clark and and Tim Lancaster recovered fumbles also. Clark, a UT-Tyler baseball commit, talked about what it meant to go out with a victory.
"It means alot. About to take these pads off for the last time and more tears are going to come out, but it meant the world to me to win this last game." Clark
The special teams was led by Senior Kicker Dane Casselberry who kicked 3 field goals on the night. Casselberry made field goals from 26, 20, and 28 yards in the first half that allowed the Bearcats to take an early lead. Casselberry and the kickoff team came close a couple times to recovering onside kicks too. The Bearcats only had to punt 2 times on the night.
Liberty did have some positives on the night. Senior Quarterback Will Jackson led the Redhawks in offense with 105 total yards and a 2-yard touchdown run. Senior Diego Jurado was the Redhawks leading rushing (40 yards) and receiving (24 yards). Senior Athlete Luke Martin, scored had a 13-yard score for the games last points. Defensively, Senior Defensive Lineman Dillon Davis led the defense in tackles with 8 and Linebacker Grant Carlisle had an interception.
Sherman Senior Offensive Lineman Kasen Debose summed up what the end of the season meant to the Bearcat seniors, "It meant everything to go out there and not only to win, but to dominate with the same people I've been playing with and going to war with since I was in 1st grade. It felt great man!"
Photo Gallery: https://www.brandidsports.com/post/photo-gallery-sherman-tx-vs-frisco-liberty-tx-part-1
ShotsByJMoe YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZvSqAl3a5lc
Sherman 2025 Quarterback Caleb Orr
Sherman 2023 Defensive Back Connor Clark
Sherman 2023 Athlete Phoenix Grant