Tigers pull away from Denison, 24-3
TEXARKANA, Texas — Texas High built a 24-0 lead and dominated Denison.
The Tigers scored twice in the third quarter to extend their lead to four scores, and the defense had its way with the Yellow Jackets during THS’ 24-3 win Friday at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park.
Jalen Jones came up with two of the Tigers’ three interceptions, Clayton Smith had three sacks, and Denison didn’t pick up a first down after halftime until the final three minutes.
The Tigers had three fumbles and lost all three, the final one leading to a 27-yard field goal by Reece Stange to allow the Yellow Jackets to avoid the shutout.
Texas High (2-0) rolled up 326 yards of total offense — 221 on the ground. Braylon Stewart had 17 carries for 150 yards to lead the rushing attack. Brayson McHenry finished the game at quarterback after Rian Cellers was hobbled on a scramble late in the first half.
“Our defense set up our offense in the first half, and then in the second half we made some adjustments that settled us down,” Texas High coach Gerry Stanford said. “And our kids did a great job with those adjustments.”
McHenry completed 8-of-13 passes for 93 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Vontrey Anderson finished off the first drive of the second half for THS with his 1-yard bull rush with 7:08 left in the third. On the next Tiger possession, Blake Rogers caught a 38-yard bomb from McHenry.
Oscar Hernandez, who was 1 of 2 on field goals and booted three PATs, added the extra-point kick for the final Texas High points with 5:02 left in the third.
After going 3-and-out on their first three possessions, the Tigers got the offense started clicking after getting a turnover on downs at the THS 30-yard line.
Texas High needed 10 plays to cover 70 yards — a 38-yard jaunt by Stewart to get into Denison territory — and Smith snagging a 4-yard pass from McHenry in the corner of the end zone for the score.
“All our success comes back to the kids,” Stanford said. “Everything that we do is about the kids, their ability to play hard, give great effort and execute. We had great effort, in both halves, and played really hard tonight. I’m really impressed with our kids’ ability to push through adversity and play hard.”
Stewart finished the half with 14 rushes for 104 yards.
Smith had sacks on each of the next two Yellow Jacket drives, which were both 3-and-outs, and the Tigers got the ball for the sixth time with 4:16 left in the second quarter.
After four plays, Hernandez nailed a 34-yard field goal to extend Texas High’s lead to 10-0 with 51 seconds remaining.
Denison drove across midfield before Jones intercepted a deep pass to thwart the threat and end the first half. Caleb Arnold also had a Tiger interception during the first quarter to stop a scoring opportunity by the visitors.
Texas High rolled up 146 yards if total offense in the half — 134 coming in the second quarter. The Yellow Jackets had 100 yards of offense.