LEWIS WINS FIRST GAME AT GLADEWATER | Weather plays havoc in Beckville; Winnsboro gets a measure of revenge on Tatum on football’s opening night
When ETBlitz.com staff spoke with Gladewater coach Jermaine Lewis a couple of weeks ago about the 2025 season – his first as head coach of the Bears – he was bursting at the seams with positive comments about his players, and confident they can have not just a good, but a great, season.
Thursday night, on night one of that season in the Bears’ game at Daingerfield, there was absolutely no reason to doubt him.
Lewis and his Bears made the trek to Daingerfield for the season opener for both teams, and came out with a 21-7 win over the Tigers, the ninth-ranked team in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Class 3A, Division II state preseason poll.
That was one of three games involving programs from the ETBlitz coverage area. In two others, Tatum and Winnsboro played a high-scoring game in Winnsboro, but Tatum’s Eagles didn’t score enough, dropping the game to the Red Raiders, 55-28 (Winnsboro is also state-ranked, No. 10 in 3A-Division I.
And in Beckville, the Bearcats hosted San Augustine and got started on time, but finished very late after about a two-hour lightning delay. San Augustine outscored Beckville 19-0 in the second half, and won the game by that score.
Tonight’s games:
Overton plays at Alba-Golden, a 7 p.m. kickoff. Alba-Golden upset the Mustangs in the season opener a year ago.
Arp, ranked 22nd in the 3A-DII preseason poll, visits Harleton, kickoff at 7:30.
Troup, the No. 14 team in 3A-DII, visits Shelbyville, ranked 20th in 2A-DI, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
West Rusk is at home against a team that finished its season as a runner-up in a state title game last year, the Malakoff Tigers, ranked sixth in 3A-DI. That’s a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium in New London.
The White Oak Roughnecks won their first four games last year. Tonight, they’ll try and win their first of 2025 at Eustace, a program that won only once in 2024. That’s a 7:30 p.m. kick.
Sabine, which looks to be a young team this season, will try and get the year off to a good start at home at James Bamberg Stadium on campus, a 7:30 p.m. start against Spring Hill.
Ricky Meeks has returned to Henderson, this time as head coach, and the Lions will open the 2025 season on the road against yet another state-ranked team, Athens (20th in 4A-DII), a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Last year, the Pine Tree Pirates set the tone for what would be a very good season for them with a season-opening win at Gilmer. Tonight, the Pirates will try and avoid Buckeyes’ revenge, as they host Gilmer at Pirate Stadium in Longview, also at 7:30.
And the Battle of The Bulldogs happens once again to begin a season, with Kilgore, ranked third in the state preseason poll in 4A-DI, hosting Carthage, the top-ranked team in 4A-DII, at 7:30 p.m. at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.
Leverett’s Chapel opens its season at Greenville Christian on Saturday at 7 p.m., and Kilgore College opens 2025 with a home game Saturday, a 3 p.m. kickoff against Community Christian.
Gladewater at Daingerfield: It wasn’t just Jermaine Lewis who had a successful debut Thursday night here in Daingerfield.
Achilles Hess – showing NO sign of an Achilles heel – made his debut as Gladewater’s quarterback, and we’d say, big thumbs up.
Hess connected with Jeremiah Flanagan for a 20-yard pass, and then Carsin Cooper – who along with Tray Watts, Lewis said, should have a big year – reeled off a 25-yard run. Hess finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The two-point conversion was not successful, but the Bears had grabbed a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers would take a 7-6 lead into halftime, though, when they capitalized on a fumble recovery by the defense, and Ja’Kyrin Craver scored on an 8-yard run.
The third quarter almost passed completely without a score, but Cooper wouldn’t be denied, busting across the goal line for a 1-yard run with four minutes left. The two-point try again missed, but Gladewater scored a safety on a punt attempt gone bad for Daingerfield with two minutes left in the third quarter.
The safety gave the Bears two points, of course, and a 14-7 lead.
Hess would give Gladewater an insurance score, a 5-yard run late in the game and the 21-7 final.
Lewis gets his first win as the Bears’ coach in his first try, and Gladewater (1-0) will host New Diana next Friday night, Sept. 5, a 7 o’clock start.
Winnsboro 55, Tatum 28: The Red Raiders flexed their muscles a little bit at home Thursday night, scoring four times in the first half, holding Tatum to just one first-half score, and then running away with things in this first game of 2025 for both programs.
Red Raiders running back Neree Castleberry scored three touchdowns.
If you’re wondering if Winnsboro still had big-gun wide receiver Camden Capehart on the roster, wonder no more: they do. Capehart caught a pass from Nolee Carroll that he broke for a 63-yard touchdown for the game’s first score.
Winnsboro led 14-0 in the second quarter when Castleberry scored on a 5-yard run (21-0).
Tatum would stop the bleeding with a touchdown of their own, this one coming on a 19-yard run by Grant Adcock, in his debut as the Eagles’ quarterback. Kody Hines hit the point after, and Tatum was back two scores (21-7).
The Eagles tried to keep Winnsboro out of the end zone for the remainder of the half, but it just wouldn’t be on this night. Braxton Espinosa scored on a 25-yard pass from Carroll and the Red Raiders went into the break back up by three scores (28-7).
They’d add more. Castleberry scored his second TD of the night in the third quarter on a 2-yard run, and then a punch-back from Tatum, as the Eagles got a second score on a 40-yard dynamic run by Isaac McAllister (35-14, with Hines’ extra point).
Adcock found Grayson Lee for another Eagles’ touchdown, this one a 26-yard pass, and Tatum trailed 35-21.
The third quarter wouldn’t end, though, without another Winnsboro score: Catch Pope did the opposite of his name and scored on a run from 3 yards out (42-21).
In the fourth quarter, Tatum would score again, a 38-yard run by Ty Moore (42-28), but just couldn’t keep the Red Raiders out of the end zone. Castleberry scored again on a 22-yard run, and Carroll and Capehart would have another TD connection, good for the 55-28 final score.
Tatum (0-1) plays a second Thursday night game in a row next week, as the Eagles will get their own shot at Daingerfield, a 7 p.m. kickoff at Eagle Stadium.
San Augustine 19, Beckville 0: This one was a bit of a surprise, but the weather contributed, including that long lightning delay that at one point had people thinking the game would be either postponed until Friday night, or canceled outright.
But San Augustine scored in the third quarter, failing on the two-point conversion, but grabbing a 6-0 advantage.
An interception gave the Wolves the ball right back on the Bearcats’ 40-yard-line, and quarterback Tymorian Cartwright, who put on a good athletic display, would score on a 39-yard run to give SA a 12-0 lead with just under a minute left in the third quarter.
Cartwright would get free again with 9 ½ minutes left in the game for a 57-yard run; this time, the Wolves kicked the extra point, and went up 19-0, the eventual final score.
Beckville (0-1) will hit the road for game two next Friday at Joaquin.