LINDALE (BARELY) HOLDS OFF KILGORE | Young Bulldogs show potential, still alive for playoff spot

LINDALE – It seems like every time Kilgore football plays at Lindale, it’s a wild, out-of-control scorefest, and the last team with the ball wins.

“Wild” doesn’t do this one justice. 

Hank Thurman rushed for 317 yards and four touchdowns, and caught a pass for another score in leading unbeaten second-ranked Lindale to a hard-fought 49-42 victory over Kilgore on Friday night at Eagle Stadium.

The Eagles and Bulldogs put 91 points on the scoreboard and combined for over 900 yards of total offense. They had 70 points and more than 600 yards at halftime.

With the win, Lindale improves to 5-0 in District 8-4A Division I play (8-0 for the season). Kilgore drops to 3-2 against the district and 3-4 for the season. Both have two district games remaining.

Kilgore is trying to stay in the top four, and secure a playoff spot in the UIL Class 4A, Division I postseason. The Bulldogs are a game ahead of Chapel Hill – next Friday’s opponent.

In other district action on Friday, Pine Tree defeated those same Chapel Hill Bulldogs, 42-17; Henderson beat Bullard, 59-28; and Palestine topped Jacksonville, 56-35. 

“Our team fought tooth-and-nail the entire game. I’m proud of the effort, physicality and unity they displayed,” said Kilgore coach Clint Fuller, when the game was over. “It is disappointing because of the result, but they left everything they had on the field.

“We have to move on now. The next two weeks are critical for our season,” he added.

Thurman, who came into the contest with 1,030 yards rushing, scored on runs of 58, 4, 24 and 43 yards. His scoring reception covered 30 yards.

Eagles quarterback Dave Lindig added a 15-yard scoring run of his own and an 18-yard completion to his tight end Reed Carnathan for points, giving him two scoring passes.

Lindig was 6-of-14 passing for 88 yards. He did suffer an interception.

Kilgore rushed for 293 yards on 25 carries. Maddox Wright led the way with 206 and two touchdowns. Rayshaun Williams followed with 101 yards and a touchdown. 

Kilgore quarterback Braddox Johnson was 10-of-14 passing for 136 yards and three touchdowns, one each to Tyler Johnigan, T.K. White and De’Andre Thurmond. Johnson also threw an interception. 

Kilgore scored first on the initial play from scrimmage as Wright broke 60 yards, putting the Bulldogs ahead 7-0, after Ethan Reyes converted his first of six extra points. The drive (play) took 17 seconds.

Lindale answered on the third play of its second possession, as Thurman raced 58 yards to knot the game at 7-all, following the PAT by Mason Malone. The Eagles’ scoring march took just 47 seconds. 

Wright used a clearing block by Thurmond and outraced Lindale’s defense 80 yards on Kilgore’s third possession: one-play, 80-yards in 14 seconds, and the visiting Bulldogs led by a touchdown, 14-7. 

They would extend their advantage to 21, following a one-play scoring march getting a 16-yard completion from Johnson to Johnigan, following a Landon Ector fumble recovery. Kilgore’s defense then forced a turnover on downs at the Kilgore 42 and a 54-yard Williams run gave Kilgore its biggest lead of the evening (28-7) with 2:18 remaining in the first quarter.

Lindig and the Eagles started cutting into the deficit, though, as the quarterback scored on a 15-yard scramble with 1:27 still to play in the first period.

At the 11:11 mark in the second quarter, Lindig connected with Thurman for a touchdown followed by an 18-yard strike from Lindig to Carnathan, after Lindale’s Max Tidwell intercepted a Johnson pass at the Kilgore 19-yard line.

The Eagles knotted the score at 28-28 with the two-play march that took just 45 seconds.

Both teams would score again before halftime. Kilgore retook the lead with 6:12 left in the half on a 22-yard Johnson completion to White. The 66-yard scoring march took eight plays.

Lindale then answered with a 75-yard drive of its own with nine running plays leading up to Thurman’s 4-yard TD run with just 1:56 left until halftime. Malone converted his fifth of seven extra points to tie the game at 35-all at halftime.

The Eagles took the second-half kickoff and put together their second 10-play scoring march of the night. It took 5:34 and came with 6:26 remaining in the quarter on Thurman’s 24-yard scoring run to give Lindale its first lead of the contest, 42-35.

Both offenses were stopped on their ensuing possessions. Kilgore was forced to punt and Lindig suffered an interception by Kilgore’s Keion Sanders at the Bulldogs’ 47-yard-line. 

Kilgore mixed its running game between carries by Williams and Wright to reach the Eagles’ 35. Facing fourth-and-3, Johnson went to Thurmond, one of his favorite targets this season, for the tying touchdown with 11:49 remaining in the game. 

The Bulldogs tried an onside kick, which Lindale recovered, and used a couple of Thurman runs to go up 49-42 with 10:49 left to play.

Kilgore took the ensuing kickoff at the Bulldogs’ 29 and reached the Lindale 12 for a first down, but the Eagle defense stiffened to make the stop when necessary, turning the football back over to its offense.

Thurman was the top receiver for the Eagles with two receptions for 34 yards. Kalani Quitugua also had two catches for 26 yards. Carnathan had a catch of 18 yards and Carter Hill had a catch for 10 yards.

Johnigan led the Kilgore receiving corps with four catches for 41 yards. White (2-24), Wright (2-23), Thurmond (1-35) and Williams (1-13) also had receptions.

Kilgore returns home to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium next week to entertain Chapel Hill, while Lindale visits Palestine.