37 AND COUNTING | Carthage keeps on rolling, a 63-13 win at Spring Hill on Thursday
LONGVIEW – You remember what happened with the hot knife and the butter?
Thursday night, it played out on the football field. Carthage played the role of the hot knife.
Spring Hill, playing at home – well, they were Land O’Lakes.
Carthage had a three touchdown lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back, cruising to a 63-13 victory.
For Carthage, it was their 37th straight win, a streak that dates back to the second week of the 2024 season – Kilgore beat Carthage in the season opener for both schools in 2024, and Carthage hasn’t lost since, including back-to-back state championships in the ’24 and ’25 seasons.
Coach Scott Surratt’s Bulldogs, the two-time reigning, defending 4A-Division II state champions, are 6-0 overall, 2-0 in District 8-4A, Division II, and have arguably their two biggest games of the regular season the next two weeks. They’ll host Pleasant Grove next Friday, Oct. 23, and then visit Gilmer on Oct. 30.
Spring Hill drops to 3-4 overall with the loss, and plays at Pittsburg next Friday night.
The ‘Dawgs were up on Spring Hill, it seemed, just seconds after the National Anthem wrapped up. After a miscue, an incomplete pass, on first down at midfield, Jacob Dixon drooped back and found a wide-open JD Edwards at the Spring Hill goal line. Edwards made the catch and Jesus Lopez hit the extra point, a 7-0 Carthage lead with a minute and six seconds off the first quarter clock.
It got worse quickly for the Panthers.
A mishandled snap led to Spring Hill punting from its own end zone. That gave Carthage the ball back at midfield, even without a good punt return.
Shawn Bundy had a big run, to Carthage’s 34-yard-line, and three plays later, Edwards was in the end zone again, a 13-yard touchdown. The point after was good once again and Carthage, with 6:46 left in the first quarter, had a 14-0 lead.
After a defense led by linemen Caleb Smith, Cooper Crawford, Andric Kindle, and Efraim Bishop helped force the Panthers to punt, Carthage took over inside its own 30-yard-line, the Bulldogs moved quickly, a few passes from Dixon and hard running by Kingston Jones.
Bryston Price made a grab from Dixon for 18 yards, down to Spring Hill’s 7-yard-line, and the ‘Dawgs would go up 21-0 on a 7-yard run by Jones on the next play, with 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.
A 20-yard pass to Price was the scoring play on Carthage’s next drive, giving them a four-touchdown lead (28-0) with 7:31 left in the first half.
They’d get one more before the half. Dixon connected with Edwards for a 19-yard gain, to Spring Hill’s 13-yard-line, with just over a minute left in the half.
On a third-and-7 at the 8, Jones came up short, but on fourth-and-4 at the Spring Hill 5, Dixon from the shotgun dropped back, got hit as he threw, but completed the pass to Price for a 5-yard touchdown. With just seven seconds left in the half, Carthage claimed a 35-0 halftime lead.
Within the first minute of the third quarter, Carthage had already driven inside the Panthers’ 10, and then scored with 10:35 left, Shawn Bundy into the end zone on a 7-yard run. With just a minute and a half off the clock. Carthage increased its lead to 42-0.
Spring Hill’s first points of the night came with 8:38 left in the third on a 22-yard run by Brailynn Thomas.
The Panthers tried an onside kick, which failed, and then they fell behind even farther. The Bulldogs took over at Spring Hill’s 47, and on the first play of the drive, a 47-yard TD to Burks.
Just 10 seconds (!!) off the clock and a different score: 49-7, Carthage.
On Spring Hill’s next drive, Carthage’s Connor Johnson caused a fumble, and Tashad Graham alertly picked it up, racing 40 yards into the end zone for the score (56-7 Carthage).
The Panthers’ only other score came with 9:58 left on a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter, and then Colt Vickery, Carthage’s second-string quarterback, ran it in from the Panthers’ 8-yard-line in what would be the final score of the game (63-13).
Carthage had 233 rushing yards, and 461 total yards. The Bulldogs didn’t punt in the game.