THE FLYOVER | Arp, Overton win in routs; Beckville too, in Hawkins on Thursday night; Atlanta escapes Tatum

EDITOR’S NOTE: White Oak-Liberty-Eylau will be added to this report shortly.

This week, and the past few weeks, actually, Arp’s District 11-3A, Division II rivals Troup and West Rusk have gotten most of the headlines, while Arp has just quietly… been absolutely stomping people.

And Beckville has been in a similar situation in 10-2A, as unbeaten Elysian Fields and Waskom seem to have been the focus, while Beckville has been taking care of business – including a win over Waskom that will likely be very big come playoff time.

Nothing changed for either of those programs this week, as both just kept doing what they do. Oh, and for anyone who counted Overton out, wrote the Mustangs off, after a couple of district losses, might want to re-examine things.

Let’s do the Flyover.

Arp 61, Winona 0: The Tigers welcomed Winona to Bill Herrington Stadium Friday night – and then unloaded.

Arp went off again, a 61-0 final, the Tigers’ third straight win since a loss at Troup, and ran their record to 7-1 overall, and 3-1 in district play.

It was also the Tigers’ fourth shutout in eight games this season.

There’s still so much to be decided in 11-3A. Troup has wins over Arp and West Rusk, and the way the schedule fell, Troup got to host both. So it looks like Troup, who has the upcoming Friday open and then finishes the regular season at Buffalo, will win the district championship.

Arp and West Rusk, then, are playing for second place in the district, and more importantly, that second seed in the playoffs, a bit easier road than No. 3 (the top four teams in each district make the playoffs each year).

Arp will play at New Diana this coming Friday, which could be a trap game – the Tigers will need to be careful. West Rusk will host Buffalo.

Then the Tigers will host West Rusk on the final night of the regular season, Nov. 7.

Against Winona, Ty Langley and Zane Borque combined to throw for 146 yards. Langley went 5-of-6 for 127 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and Borque went 2-of-4 for 19 yards.

Borque actually was Langley’s leading receiver, grabbing three passes for 90 yards and a score, including a 62-yarder. Wyatt Johnson had two catches or 38 yards; Josh Smith had one for 15; and Jaxon Schminkey had one for 3 yards.

Arp’s running game continues to mash folks. This time, it mashed Winona for 349 yards. Both Smith and Tanner Hunt, just a freshman, went over the 100-yard mark. Hunt had 127 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Smith had 103 yards and two scores on just seven carries. Hudson Orpineda had 54 on six carries; Langley rushed for 36 and a touchdown on two carries; and Borque had 29 yards on three carries.

Defensively, Johnson had an interception; Schminkey had a sack; and Orpineda had 11 tackles, including a ridiculous six tackles for loss.

Atlanta 14, Tatum 7: Atlanta, coming into the game at Tatum Friday night in a tie with Gladewater atop the District 8-3A, Division I standings, left that way — but the Eagles gave them a heck of a fight.

Only three scores in this one, thanks to a few timely penalties, but mostly just plain ol’ good defense.

Tatum’s first drive ended in a turnover on downs, a failed fourth-down conversion at Atlanta’s 31-yard-line, and then the Eagles forced Atlanta to punt.

Atlanta took advantage of a Tatum fumble to take the lead. After being backed up to its own goal line on the Rabbits’ punt, Tatum had the ball jarred loose on its own 6. Atlanta recovered the ball there, and was in the end zone two plays later, a 5-yard run by quarterback Brayden Thompson, then the extra point by C.J. Whaley. With 4:24 left in the first quarter, the Rabbits were up 7-0.

Tatum would answer, though not quickly. The Eagles, led by quarterback Grant Adcock, put together a very nice 12-play, 78-yard drive. The longest play of that drive was the play that scored, a 43-yard pass from Adcock to Logen Tovar, a speedy receiver who managed to get behind the Atlanta defense, and would not be caught. That tied the game at 7-all.

Atlanta would get what would turn out to be the final score of the game with just 54 seconds left in the half, a 1-yard run by Jayden Riley. But the drive, like Tatum’s scoring drive, took a lot of clock and 68 yards to get it done. The key play in the drive was a 22-yard run by Marshawn Woodberry, to Tatum’s 39, and then a third-down conversion pass to Whaley to Tatum’s 6.

Atlanta led 14-7 at the half, and the second half was a back-and-forth that was just a defensive standoff.

Tatum got the ball back for what would be the final time with 3:41 left, at its own 34. Adcock got them into scoring position with his best run of the night, a 14-yard run to midfield. Two plays later, he hit Tovar again for what appeared to be a 25, 26-yard gain, deep into Atlanta territory. But a flag was thrown, a penalty for an ineligible man downfield on the Eagles. That put them in a hole, and even though they almost converted — a fourth-and-15 play left them just a yard or two short — Atlanta took over with 2:29 left, and managed to run out the clock.

Gladewater was able to sit back and enjoy this; coach Jermaine Lewis and the Bears had an open date Friday night. But they visit Atlanta this coming Friday, a 7 p.m. start, in a game that will determine the district championship.

Tatum (2-6 overall, 1-3 in district play) has two games left this season: at White Oak this coming Friday, and then a home game against Jefferson on Nov. 7. Both Tatum and White Oak, also an ETBlitz-area program, are still alive for spots in the 3A-Division II playoffs.

Overton 47, Alto 3: Coach Scotty Laymance and the Overton Mustangs for the last few years have been at or right near the top in District 11-2A, Division II.

This year, they’re having to share a lot of spotlight with folks like Mount Enterprise and big running back Kaegan Ash, who’s actually in pursuit of Texas high school rushing records, as well as Lovelady. Both of those programs have been very good this year; in fact, they played Friday night, and Mount Enterprise beat Lovelady in a basketball score, 82-60, to claim outright first place in the district.

Overton (5-3 overall) is currently 2-2 after demolishing Alto Friday night.

But this stat line from that other game: Ash had a just-stupid 34 carries for 495 yards (!!!) and SEVEN TOUCHDOWNS, folks.

And Overton is next up to try to slow him down. Overton hosts Mount Enterprise this coming Friday night, and then finishes the regular season at Cushing on Nov. 7.

If you’re anywhere near Overton, Texas, you might want to get a ticket for this game. If you can’t, our friends at NETSN Live – which is free, and can be seen on YouTube, on their channel – will have that game streaming live.

Against Alto, the Mustangs ran for 269 yards and eight touchdowns of their own. Rylan Holleman and Justin Weir each scored twice – Holleman had 94 yards on 11 carries, and Weir, 66 yards on seven carries. Jorge Espinosa had 45 yards and a touchdown on just three carries. Jackson Furlow ran for 46, on eight carries. Gabe Miller had 16 yards on four carries.

Jacob Osburn caught three passes (Holleman and Weir split time at quarterback) for 98 yards.

Defensively, the big news was that Overton had 10 sacks! Gunnar Whitfield had three of them, to go with 10 tackles, and three tackles for loss. Hunter Klima also had three sacks, and had eight tackles, three for loss.

Weir had a sack, two tackles for loss and three total; Miller had a sack and seven tackles; Elijah Dorsey and Kason Hawkins each had a sack; and Espinosa had eight tackles.

Beckville 50, Hawkins 14 (Thursday): Coach Cody Ross’ Bearcats have been very good since opening the season 0-2.

They’re technically tied with Waskom for second place in 10-2A, Division I, but they own the tiebreaker there by virtue of their win over Waskom last week.

Beckville, with three straight wins, is 5-3 overall, 4-1 in district play, and hosts Union Grove this coming Friday, Oct. 31. The Bearcats finish the regular season on Nov. 7 at Ore City.

As mentioned, they’re behind Elysian Fields in that district – the Yellow Jackets are undefeated, and still play Waskom.

Beckville pretty much shut Hawkins down on Thursday night. Dillan Koger had 12 tackles, two for loss, to lead the Bearcats’ defense. Brantley Grandgeorge had eight, and Rudy Watts, Tristan Harris and Xavior Foster each had seven.

Koger had two sacks, and Grandgeorge and Coy Stephens each had one. Reese Davis had an interception; Keonte Jinks had a caused fumble; and Jinks and Tommy Heard each had a fumble recovery.

As for the offense, well, running back Jordan Prince is back. Prince had three touchdowns and 112 yards in the rout of Hawkins. Grayson Hicks had 77 yards and a touchdown, and did all of that on three carries. Quarterback Braxton Bullock did just fine, as well: 10-of-18 for 163 yards and two touchdowns (to Gabe Johnson and Rudy Watts), and also had 43 rushing yards. Jordan Mojica gets the utility award: he had two catches and also kicks for the Bearcats, so 5-of-5 in extra point kicks and a 27-yard field goal.