THE FUR FLIES
Texas High Tigers claw their way past Leopards
After taking its lumps the first two weeks, Texas High found its groove against Liberty-Eylau.
The Tigers piled up over 400 yards of total offense and took advantage of three Leopard turnovers to pick up their first win under head coach Gerry Stanford, 37-23, Friday at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park.
An interception set up a Tiger score just before halftime to extend the lead to 14 points, and Liberty-Eylau fumbled at the goal line on the ensuing drive. The teams traded touchdowns in the second half, each getting into the end zone twice.
“Liberty-Eylau is obviously a very talented team; they've put up a truckload of points and played good defense the last two weeks against quality opponents,” Stanford said. “There was a concern coming in as to how we would play, and the biggest thing I can compliment our kids on and attribute tonight to is their work ethic.
“The last couple of weeks, they never batted an eye. They never questioned what are we doing, why is this going on like it is, why we've lost two games. They just kept moving forward.”
Junior quarterback Coltin Clack hit on 17 of 23 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns, each to a different receiver. He also rushed 20 times for 109 yards and a score. Tailback Chris Suttin had 78 yards on 17 totes.
Tevailence Hunt had six catches for 77 yards and a TD, Jaqualin Brown caught four for 74 yards and a score, and Chris Lyles and Vonderic Stanley also had TD receptions.
L-E quarterback Decorian Phillips connected on 23 of 36 attempts with a long touchdown on his first toss of the game. He also rushed 14 times for 58 yards and was picked off twice.
Mahleik Darty had six catches for 106 yards and the touchdown, El-Amin Greer caught seven for 90 yards and
Dazawion Cooper six for 51.
The Leopards forced a three-and-out on the first Tiger drive of the second half. Phillips completed all five attempts on the ensuing drive and rushed three yards for the score to make it 24-17 THS.
Clack connected with Hunt twice and Brown for a 34-yarder on the next pos-
session, throwing a 3-yard TD to Hunt to finish off the 8-play drive.
Elias Thurman came up with his second interception of the night for the Tigers two plays into the next L-E drive, but four plays later Texas High fumbled it right back, Tremaine Brown recovering at the THS 49. On the final snap of the third quarter and 12 plays later, Cedric Dickerson rushed for a 1-yard score to make it a single-score game again.
Texas High answered with Clack throwing a 30-yard strike to Stanley to finish off a 7-play drive that covered 60 yards.
On Liberty-Eylau final two drives, it drove to the 28 before the Tiger defense forced a turnover on downs and to the 25 as time expired.
“We didn't play very well, and T-High got after us,” L-E coach Steve Wells said. “We had some things we needed to do better, should've done better. We didn't play with the same intensity as we had the first two weeks. You've got to tip your hat to Texas High, though, they played hard and did some things we hadn't seen them do, like the quarterback running as much as he did.”
It took just 59 seconds for the Leopards to get in the end zone. On the third play from scrimmage Phillips found Darty on a crossing pattern, and Darty turned up the right sideline and knifed his way to six points for a 63-yard TD.
The teams went three-andout on the next possessions, the Tigers getting the ball at the L-E 42 after Lyles' 14-yard punt return.
Texas High picked up five first downs and marched down the field in nine plays, Brown snagging a pass in the left flat and racing 14 yards for the tying score.
A pair of incompletions stalled the next Leopard drive, and Lyles capped an 11-play, 61-yard possession with his 11-yard touchdown grab from Clack, who was 11 of 13 passing in the first half.
El-Amin Greer's 36-yard reception on the second play of Liberty-Eylau's ensuing drive got the Leopards across midfield. Phillips ran 15 yards and connected with Darty for 19 more before the Tiger defense stopped L-E inside the 10
Steven Goben booted a 25-yard field goal to make it 14-10.
The Tigers responded with an 11-play campaign that ate up 5:24 of the clock, Logan Snell drilling a 20-yard field goal with 2:09 left in the half.
Elias Thurman intercepted a tipped Leopard pass on the first play following the kickoff and returned it 46 yards to the L-E 5. Clack raced around the right end untouched for the score, and Snell's PAT made it 24-14 at intermission.
Liberty-Eylau worked down the field but fumbled at the 1, going in, and Jaylin Franklin recovered for Texas High to preserve the 10-point cushion. Liberty-Eylau 7 7 13 0 — 23 Texas High 7 17 6 7 — 37 First Quarter
LE-Mahleik Darty 63 pass from Decorian Phillips (Steven Goben kick), 11:01. THS-Jaqualin Brown 14 pass from Coltin
Clack (Logan Snell kick), 3:32.
Second Quarter
THS-Chris Lyles 11 pass from Clack (Snell kick), 10:58.
LE-Goben 25 FG, 7:41,
THS-Snell 20 FG, 2:09.
THS-Clack 5 run (Snell kick), 1:46.
Third Quarter
LE-Phillips 3 run (Goben kick), 8:27. THS-Tevailance Hunt 3 pass from Clack
(kick failed), 6:04.
LE-Cedric Dickerson 1 run (kick failed), 0:07. Fourth Quarter
THS-Vonderic Stanley 30 pass from Clack (Snell kick), 9:08.
L-E THS
First Downs 18 21
Yards Rushing 27-86 43-198
Yards Passing 277 205
Passes A-C-I 36-23-2 23-17-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-1
Penalties 8-59 7-50
Punts-Avg. 2-32.5 3-32.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Liberty-Eylau, Phillips 14-58, Ralph Crabtree 8-19, Dickerson 4-5, Shannon Roy 1-4. Texas High, Clack 20-109, Chris Sutton 17-78, Hunt 5-14, Lyles 1-(minus 3). PASSING—Liberty-Eylau, Phillips 23-36-2277. Texas High, Clack 17-23-0-205. RECEIVING—Liberty-Eylau, Darty 6-106, El-Amin Greer 7-90, Dazawion Cooper 6-51, Crabtree 3-17, Isaiah Cross 1-10. Texas High, Hunt 6-77, Brown 44-74, Stanley 2-29, Lyles 4-24, Kameron Burns 1-1.