GETTING IT DONE ON THURSDAY, FOR FUN | Kilgore welcomes Palestine TONIGHT at 7 p.m.
Thursday night lights?
This week, it is, for several high school football programs, not just in the ETBlitz.com coverage area, but in East Texas in general.
Two teams on the opposite end of the spectrum – winless Palestine and third-in-the-state Kilgore will square off in a District 9-4A Division I football game tonight, instead of Friday. The change is thanks to inclement weather expected to sweep through the East Texas region beginning Friday.
So, game time is 7 p.m. tonight at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore. Not the usual 7:30 kickoff.
Hear the Ragin’ Red Broadcasting call of the game live on radio on KDOK 105.3-FM, or on www.kdokradio.com, and if you need to, come here to ETBlitz.com and click on the Kilgore helmet on the home page.
A live streaming cast of the game is normally on YouTube, on The Bulldog Media Network here: Kilgore vs Palestine. At this writing, that still has the game on Friday. At game time tonight, it’ll likely be online.
As for Kilgore coach Clint Fuller’s thoughts on letting up, with opponents like Palestine and Mabank, who haven’t had big (many) wins…
“We have played well in district up to this point. It will be critical that we play even better these next weeks,” Fuller said. “We have a lot on the line against Palestine and we want to continue to play at a high level with consistency week in and week out. The teams that play in December do just that.”
This is a series Kilgore has dominated (29-11), especially lately, winning the last five games. The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 21-7 in the 2019 game played in Palestine. The last Palestine win prior to 2019 came in a 2002 bi-district playoff game (13-6) in Kilgore. Palestine’s running back in that game? You guessed right if you said Adrian Peterson.
These two teams are at opposite ends of the district standings, with Kilgore sitting at the top with a 7-1 overall mark and 4-0 district, respectively, while the Wildcats are winless at 0-7 and 0-3, respectively, at the bottom.
Palestine finished their first season under coach James Reyes a year ago with a 1-9 record. The Wildcats last reached the playoffs three years in a row (2019-2021) under coach Lance Angel.
The Wildcats enter this week’s game averaging 14.5 points per game and allowing 46.8 ppg., while Kilgore, on the other hand, averages 35.2 and allows just and average of 12.7.
Palestine has used three quarterbacks this season. Those are junior Noah Hutchinson, and sophomores Ashton Cook and London Brown.
Hutchinson is 35-of-69 passing for 374 yards and three touchdowns, while Cook is 13-of-24 passing for 181 yards and one score and Brown 5-of-17 for 156 yards and two touchdowns.
The leading rusher out of the spread offense this season has been senior running back Braylon Beckworth, who has 376 yards rushing on 93 carries and four touchdowns. He is followed by Brown (19-167, 2) and sophomore Da’Zarian Cummings (27-124, 0).
The leading receivers are Brown (14-162, 2) and another sophomore C.J. Jones (12-170, 1)
In last week’s game against Lindale, Kilgore safety Ja’Kalen Sheffield led the way in tackles with 16, 10 unassisted and six assisted. He was followed by a pair of linebackers, David “Bubba” McGowan with 12, and Isaiah Watters with eight.
Through eight games, the leaders defensively continue to be Watters with 81 tackles to go with nine tackles for loss for minus 37 yards and three sacks for minus 11 yards, along with La’keyleon Graves 77, Sheffield 76, McGowan 66 and Bi’Syn Williams 63.
Besides his tackles, Graves has a sack, three interceptions, with the one against Lindale last week returned 31 yards for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery. Sheffield also has an interception and a forced fumble, while McGowan has two tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery. Williams has three tackles for loss as well as a sack.
The Wildcats leading tacklers have been junior defensive back Jamarcus Brumley with 53 tackles, three tackles for loss, junior defensive back Kowyn Thomason with 44 tackles, junior Excel Obrigbo with 37 tackles, four tackles for loss, junior linebacker Jeremiah Carr with 34 tackles and one tackle for loss. Junior defensive lineman Carson Applewhite leads in sacks with two, and junior corner Don Brooks leads in interceptions with one.
Kilgore quarterback Kayson Brooks is 117-of-178 passing for 1,681 yards and 17 touchdowns with only three interceptions. His leading receivers have been wide receivers Graves (30-430, 6), Dre’ Sanders (23-243, 2), Tyler Johnigan (17-277, 4), T.K. White (15-184, 2) and Sheffield (15-315, 2).
Junior running back Rayshaun Williams continues to be the leading rusher for the Bulldogs, having eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with last week’s 163 yards on 21 carries. He has 1,035 yards now on 134 carries and eight touchdowns.
In other district games this week, Lindale visits Mabank and Chapel Hill is at Pine Tree. Henderson has the open date.
