BARNBURNER AT THE PIRATE SHIP | Pine Tree holds off Kilgore, 34-28

LONGVIEW – My friend and our editor and publisher here at ETBlitz.com has been known to say that whomever came in and turned around the Pine Tree football program would be a genius.

Looks like that man is coach Jason Bachman.

Big plays by Daron Pair and Bosston Johnson in the second half made the difference for the swashbuckling Pirates in a 34-28 victory over Kilgore on Friday evening at Pirate Stadium.

It was Pine Tree’s first win against the Bulldogs in 1,812 days, dating back to Oct. 2021.

“Take nothing away from Pine Tree, but we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. That’s just the bottom line,” said Kilgore coach Clint Fuller, when all was said and done. “We’ve got to continue to work and improve to be at our best.”

To show just how good Kilgore has been under Fuller (in his sixth year now), the loss was only the Bulldogs’ third in district play since Fuller became the head football coach.

Like – in six years.

But turnovers and penalties proved costly, and Pine Tree’s Jakaiden Johnson and Colton Croft were a formidable duo. 

Johnson rushed for 107 yards, scoring on short runs of 6 yards in the first quarter and 9 in the second to give the Pirates (3-2, 2-0) leads of seven points, 7-0 and 14-7, in the first half. 

Those scoring drives covered 69 yards in 11 plays, and 75 yards in 10.

Croft, the Pirates’ quarterback, added a 1-yard scoring run with 1:41 left in the second quarter, stretching the Bucs’ advantage to 14, 21-7, after PT kicker Danny Barron converted all three of his first half extra points.

Trailing 7-0, Kilgore answered Pine Tree’s initial touchdown of the evening, putting together a nine-play, 55-yard march with Rayshaun Williams doing the honors on a 1-yard run with 48 seconds remaining in the first period. 

You figured big plays might come along, and they did.

The Pirates got a huge one to open the second half, a 75-yard Croft-to-Pair touchdown on the very first play of the third quarter. It was a short pass (10 yards) and long run by Pair to extend Kilgore’s deficit to 21 – 28-7 – with 11:23 remaining in the third quarter.

Another big play, a Bosston Johnson pick and return definitely gave the Pirates a big swing in momentum. Earlier in the same Kilgore drive, a penalty on the ’Dogs cancelled a 55-yard Maddox Wright touchdown, which would have cut the deficit to just seven (28-21).

But a penalty nullified the touchdown and left the score at 28-14. Johnson pulled off a 98-yard interception return for a score, and that gave PT a three-touchdown advantage (34-14) with 1:36 left in the third quarter that proved to be more than Kilgore could overcome.

Kilgore finished with 17 more total yards than the Pirates, 380 to 363. Kilgore quarterback Braddox Johnson was 20-of-32 passing for 237 yards and a touchdown to Tyler Johnigan, but he suffered two interceptions.

Johnigan, Rayshaun Williams and De’Andre Thurmond each had four catches for the Bulldogs (1-3, 1-1). Johnson led in yardage with 60. Thurmond and Williams followed with 38 and 34 yards, respectively. Rounding out the  receiving corps were Wright (2-19), Sekemian Moore (2-51), Devin Tinney (2-21), Miles Applegate (1-6) and Keion Sanders (1-8) for the Ragin’ Red.

Kilgore finished with 143 yards rushing, led by Williams (19-87, 1) and Wright (11-51, 1). 

Croft was 10-of-16 passing for 168 yards. Pair was Pine Tree’s leading receiver with five receptions for 109 yards. Rashaad Wofford followed with two catches for 42, while Jakaiden Johnson (1-4), Bosston Johnson (1-8) and Travelle Nelson (1-5) rounded out Pine Tree’s receiving corps.

Timmons followed Johnson’s rushing lead for the Pirates with 79 yards on 15 carries.    

The first of two interceptions by Pine Tree was by Ja’bari Rogers in the second quarter and the second the one by Johnson.

Kilgore would put together scoring drives of 11-plays for 60 yards and 15-plays for 79 yards, scoring on a couple of short passes from Johnson to Johnigan of 3- and 1-yard.

With Ethan Reyes’ 4-for-4 on extra points, the Bulldogs were within six with just 14 left in the ballgame.

Kilgore tried an onside kick, but it was recovered by the Pirates’ D’Juan Ingram.

Each of the kickers for both teams missed field goal attempts. Kilgore’s from 51 yards away to end the first half was blocked by PT’s Rashaad Wofford. The Pirates’ Alex Rios hit the cross bar and bounced out from 38 yards away in the fourth quarter. 

In other district play, second-ranked Lindale upended Henderson 29-21, Palestine beat Bullard 35-21, and Chapel Hill topped Jacksonville 21-10.

Next week, Kilgore entertains Jacksonville at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore and Pine Tree visits Palestine.