Tigers fall to Poteet, 46-28
Texas High’s defense was able to thwart the top rushing attack it’s faced this season.
However, Mesquite Poteet quarterback Dalton Dale extended plays by scrambling and connected for three touchdowns to help the Pirates pick up their fifth consecutive win, this one putting pressure on the Tigers’ playoff hopes with a 46-28 loss to Poteet Friday at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park.
THS’ defense held four-star junior recruit Seth McGowan to 130 yards—41 on the only play he got free on—15 carries and a pair of short touchdowns. Dale finished 8-of-15 passing for 202 yards and his three scores, two coming on busted plays.
“Defensively, this was the best game we’ve played at stopping the run,” Tiger head coach Gerry Stanford said. “At some point, it had to come together, and tonight it clicked for them a little bit against a great rushing attack. They’ve got mismatches in the secondary—all their receivers are 6-4, 6-5— but the kids were battling; they just got beat a couple times.”
Coltin Clack threw for 171 yards and a TD on 14-of-25 passing for Texas
High, and Chris Sutton and Collius Zachery combined for 137 rushing yards. Sutton had 12 rushes for 79 yards, and Zachery eight for 58 and a 9-yard sprint to the end zone with 11:28 left in the game. Tiger backup quarterback Conner Allen also ran for a touchdown to cap a 9-play, 61-yard drive late, and Myles Washington finished with five catches for 111 yards and a score.
Dale threw a 13-yard slant to Devon Martin for a TD with 8:39 left in the third quarter, starting a string of three scores in 31 seconds of game clock, for a 39-7 lead.
The ensuing kickoff was muffed, and Mason Jones gained possession at the Tiger 1. The senior found a seam to the left sideline, where he got a caravan of blockers, taking the kickoff back for a crowd-pleasing 99-yard return at 8:22.
The THS kickoff was fielded by Dorian Morris at the Poteet 20, and he also raced to the left sideline, breaking free and knifing his way for an 80-yard kickoff return at 8:08. The next kickoff landed 9 yards deep and bounced out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.
Dequarrieon Collier had a fumble recovery for Texas High in the second half, and Au’Darrius White intercepted a pass.
“We talked about how we had great practices all week, and we played well—our kids battled all night,” Stanford said. “We’ve got ourselves in a spot, but the kids are playing for each other and did a great job of that (against Poteet).”
The Pirates compiled 278 yards of total offense in the first half, with 189 coming through the air. Poteet only had 118 yards of offense in the second half.
Dale connected with Tristan Golightly for a 38-yard TD late in the first quarter to make it 15-7 at the first break, and he hit Cam Lampkin on a 49-yard bomb with 1:19 left before intermission.
Golightly also had a 61-yard reception to set up McGowan’s 1-yard plunge, his second TD of the half.
The Tigers stopped Poteet on its first two possessions, but muffed the punt after the second drive and Nicholas Deville recovered for the Pirates at the THS 39.
Five plays later, McGowan darted in from the 4 to cap the short possession. Lampkin raced around the right end for a 2-point conversion.
Texas High responded with a 6-play drive, Clack connecting with Washington for a 26-yarder and then for 32 yards for the TD with 2:51 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers crossed midfield once more in the first half, using an 11-play drive to get into Pirate territory before turning the ball over on downs.
Texas High had 147 yards of total offense on 30 snaps.
Poteet 15 17 14 0 — 46 Texas High 7 0 7 14 — 28
First Quarter
MP-Seth McGowan 4 run (Cam Lampkin run), 4:31. THS-Myles Washington 32 pass from Coltin Clack (Diego Mata kick), 2:51.
MP-Tristan Golightly 38 pass from Dalton Dale (Dylan Brown kick), 0:53.
Second Quarter
MP-McGowan 1 run (Brown kick), 9:59. MP-Brown 20 FG, 0:00.
Third Quarter
MP-Devon Martin 13 pass from Dale (Brown kick), 8:39.
THS-Mason Jones 99 kickoff return (Mata kick), 8:22. MP-Dorian Morris 80 kickoff return (Brown kick), 8:08.
Fourth Quarter
THS-Collius Zachery 9 run (Mata kick), 11:28. THS-Conner Allen 3 run (Oscar Hernandez kick), 1:13. Poteet Texas High
First Downs 15 16
Yards Rushing 27-184 31-125
Yards Passing 202 171
Passes A-C-I 23-8-1 27-16-0
Fumbles-Lost 5-1 3-1
Penalties 8-75 8-50
Punts-Avg. 4-39.0 7-32.1 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Mesquite Poteet, McGowan 15-130, Jailyn Graham 4-21, Dale 6-26, Austin 1-7, Moore 1-0. Texas High, Chris Sutton 12-79, Zachery 8-58, Allen 3-18, Clack 8-(minus 30).
PASSING—Mesquite Poteet, Dale 8-15-0-202, Sean Soyars 0-7-0-0, Lampkin 0-1-0-0. Texas High, Clack 14-25-0-162, Allen 2-2-0-9.
RECEIVING—Mesquite Poteet, Golightly 2-99, Lampkin 3-86, Devon Martin 2-17, McGowan 1-0. Texas High, Washington 5-111, Rian Cellars 3-15, Kobe Webster 4-23, Mason Jones 1013, Reggie Stewart 2-9, Sutton 1-0.