ND’s EAGLES FLY OUT WITH WIN | Sabine crowns homecoming queen, but on the wrong end of a 56-20 score

LIBERTY CITY – Friday night, homecoming at Sabine High School, saw Hollie Boone crowned homecoming queen.

Unfortunately for the home crowd, that would be the only really good news of the night, as the opponent, New Diana, left with a 56-20 win.

Sabine (0-3) visit Arp (3-0) next Friday.

Things started well for the Cardinals. New Diana’s offense coughed the ball up on a first-quarter fumble, recovered by Sabine’s Lincoln Royce.

New Diana forced a punt, and then used a nine-play drive to get onto the scoreboard. Quarterback DeJuan Johnson amassed runs of 14, 6 and 11 yards, with a 10-yard run by Alex Sheridan mixed in.

The drive ended when Johnson found Christian Gomez on a 27-yard scoring pass. Gomez added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Sabine was again unable to get anything going on offense, and the Eagles took the ball into the second quarter after a 13-yard pass from Johnson to Titus Reid.

On the first play of the second quarter, Sheridan broke free and sprinted 43 yards for the score.  Reid plowed in for the two-point conversion and a 15-0 New Diana lead.

The Cardinals’ next drive saw quarterback Griffin DeHoyos throw across the middle, but the pass went off the receiver’s hand right into e hands of Peyton Jones of the Eagles, who returned it 24 yards for the pick-six, another touchdown (22-0 ND).

The teams traded possessions before Cardinals took over after a good punt return.  DeHoyos connected on a 16-yard pass to Keifer Serrano. The drive ended as Damin Richardson plunged in from the 3 for the score. Victor Avalos added the extra point and cut the lead to 22-7.

The Eagles came right back and took six plays to score.  Johnson connected on gains of 26 and 31 yards, respectively, to Jones and Troy Schneider. And then, Ricky Evans went in from the 3 for the score, and Gomez added the extra point for a 29-7 lead.

On the next drive, DeHoyos had his pass picked off by Lucas Newland, ending a Sabine drive.  With a short field, the Eagles took three plays to find the end zone when Johnson hit Jones, who went the 31 yards for the score, and with the extra point, and the Eagles were up 36-7.

With time running out in the half, the Sabine offense wasn’t done yet.

Following a 50-yard kickoff return by Terry Vanden, the Cardinals had seconds left to try something.  DeHoyos found Landry Laird for 23 yards, and then he went out of bounds with 1 second left.  In trots Avaloswho booted a 28-yard field goal to put the score at 36-10 at halftime.

Getting the ball to start the second half, the Cardinals were on the move.

On a double reverse, Vanden sprinted to the right for 23 yards. DeHoyos found Royce for 26 yards, and then Richardson found the end zone on a 5-yard run.  Avalos’ extra point cut the lead to 36-17.

The Cardinals’ defense held, forcing a three-and-out. The offense went back to work.  Richardson found an opening and went 25 yards, but the drive was stalled. The Eagles force the Cardinals to kick another field goal. Avalos split the uprights on another 28-yard kick and got the Cardinals closer, a 36-20 deficit.

That was all Sabine would score, but the Eagles weren’t done.

On the next drive, the Eagles went seven plays before they found the end zone.  Johnson ran for 10 yards, and then connected with Jones for 19.

A 25-yard completion to Gomez set up Newland’s 2-yard touchdown run. The extra point gave the Eagles a 43-20 lead.

New Diana forced a fumble and Braiden Franklin recovered for the Eagles to end the third quarter.

The Eagles continued to move the ball, as they used the turnover to move downfield.  Johnson made the most out of a broken play to weave through the defense for a 42-yard score, and a 50-20 lead.

Sabine’s Jeremiah Templeton took the ball out of Reid’s hands to give the ball back to the Cardinals. The drive netted no points, though, and the Eagles took the last drive of the night downfield.

Jacob Stevenson went for 14 yards and Jayden Morris caught a 13-yard pass. Stevenson then went for 11 yards and the game’s final score. They missed extra point, but the scoreboard was done at 56-20, in New Diana’s favor, the Eagles’ first win of 2025.

For the Cardinals, DeHoyos had 92 yards through the air, Royce was the recipient of 31 yards of that and Serrano had 23.

Richardson led the team with 55 yards on the ground.

For the Eagles, Johnson had 215 through the air and 100 rushing, Jones had 81 receiving, and Sheridan added 88.