WHO’S WHERE AND WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING, FRIDAY EDITION | Kilgore-PG, WR-Tatum, and more
Get you a set of darts, set up some balloons, make sure Ma-Maw is nowhere you can hit her, put that blindfold on and start throwing.
Chances are you’ll hit a game-of-the-week type game at some point.
There’s that many good games in the ETBlitz.com area this weekend.
This is Who’s Where and What the Heck is Happening for Friday, September 20, and well, there’s a lot happening.
Two of the ETBlitz-area teams played Thursday night. And Henderson is not a named storm – they’re a high school, you know, with a football team, and stuff. But coach Clay Baker is a quick study, isn’t he? He’s got the Lions on point. And Thursday night in Commerce, they mashed Gainesville, 62-6. (HENDERSON TAKES CARE OF BUSINESS | Baker’s Lions rolling, 3-1 headed into district after rout of Gainesville (etblitz.com))
Teams with second-year coaches aren’t supposed to mash anybody, 62-6.
But the Lions did it. And seniors, they don’t have many. Look out, District 9-4A.
Also on Tuesday, the Leverett’s Chapel Lions played at home, dusting off what was left of East Texas HomeSchool Sports, 80-51.
So, what’s on tap for our high school teams tonight, and for Kilgore College tomorrow?
Tonight, Gladewater is at Spring Hill; Overton is home against Maud; a pair of ETBlitz programs face off as Sabine hosts Arp; White Oak is on the road at Queen City; two more schools from the ETBlitz coverage area meet, as West Rusk visits Tatum; Troup is at Rusk; Gilmer renews acquaintances with Lindale, in Lindale; and Kilgore hosts Pleasant Grove and celebrates that 20th anniversary of the Bulldogs’ 2004 state championship.
On Saturday night, nationally-ranked Kilgore College, No. 5 in the NJCAA poll, visits No. 6 Navarro at Corsicanca in the ETBlitz.com Game of the Week (ETBLITZ.COM GAME OF THE WEEK | No. 5 KC at No. 6 Navarro Saturday; Kilgore’s Todd honored).
Pleasant Grove at Kilgore, 7:30 p.m.: There’s so much going on AROUND this game, it’s almost hard to remember there’s a GAME to be played tonight at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore.
So many subplots.
- Friends Josh Gibson, head coach of Pleasant Grove, and Kilgore head coach Clint Fuller will reunite, facing off against each other for the first time since Fuller left to accept the head coaching job with the Ragin’ Red. Fuller was Gibson’s defensive coordinator when PG won two state championships a few years’ back, and now Fuller 35-9 in his fourth year heading up the Bulldogs, has established his own path as the new leader of a new generation in the Kilgore football legacy.
- The 20th reunion of the Bulldogs’ 16-0 state championship team. Kilgore has had SO many good football teams throughout its history, since the program was founded in the early 1930s. But only one time has the program claimed the ultimate prize, a state championship. That was in 2004, when it met and defeated 16 teams in route to the UIL Class 4A, Division II title, a 33-27 overtime win over Dallas Lincoln. That team will be celebrated tonight. The ETBlitz.com crew will be there – we’re doing a pregame show live on Facebook, then we’ll cover the reunion live on Facebook before the game at 7 p.m. – and so will many who made an impact that special season.
- How will the current young group of talented Bulldogs respond from what many consider to be highway robbery from last week, a loss at Gilmer that came down to the final seconds and ended with Kilgore lining up for a potential game-winning field goal inside the 5-yard-line?
If you’re going to the game, for tickets, here you are: https://www.kisd.org/our-district/district-departments/athletics
If you’re not, or you just want to hear the Ragin’ Red Broadcasting call of the game and postgame, do it on KDOK 105.3-FM, or listen to streaming live audio here: Chalk Hill Communications (just click the Kilgore helmets).
See the Kilgore High School media video stream here: The Bulldog Media Network – YouTube.
As mentioned, around 6:20, 6:25, ETBlitz.com will have our ETBlitz Road Show on Facebook, live from R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium, and after a round-up of what’s happening this weekend, we’ll have some special guests from that 2004 state championship team.
We’ll go live to the turf, where we’ll see what happens when Kilgore honors the team, and lead up to kickoff.
And then they’ll play the game. While Fuller and Gibson are great friends, it should be a barnburner.
Kilgore quarterback Kayson Brooks already has passed the 600-yard mark this season, having gone for 340 yards and three touchdowns a week ago in the bitter, 24-22 loss at Gilmer. Keep an eye on – well, a LOT of folks on offense for Kilgore, including Jayden Sanders, who’s a Michigan verbal commitment as a defensive back, but can do it all as a receiver, too, and already has 278 yards of offense and a pair of touchdowns through three games. Watch for Javon Towns, Jacory Walton, Lakeyleon Graves, and more, all to make an impact in the passing game. On the ground: Rayshaun Williams and Isaiah Watters both are likely to get carries, as they’ve shared the running back duties this year. Williams has 129 yards rushing this season and has scored both a rush TD and a receiving TD; Watters has three rushing touchdowns and 129 yards on the ground – they have the exact same rush yards total, somewhat odd, and he also has a receiving score.
Kilgore has nine – NINE! – interceptions in three games. They’re averaging three interceptions a game!
Pleasant Grove, normally very highly-ranked and among the elite in 4A, isn’t there currently – emphasis on currently – after dropping its second game of the year to Paris, 7-0. The Hawks won their opener at Atlanta, 33-3, and then became the latest to drop Daingerfield, 42-6, last week.
After this, PG hosts Sunnyvale next Friday, and Kilgore moves on to District 9-4A, DI play, and visits old rival Pine Tree on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
West Rusk at Tatum, 7 p.m.: The Raiders had practically two different games last Thursday night at home against Gladewater.
The first was a half they’d like to forget, one where Gladewater didn’t do everything right, but did enough to go up 13-0 at the break, then returned the second-half kickoff for a score before West Rusk really got started.
Once the Raiders got started, they made a game of it, getting three touchdowns from Cole Jackson and darn near pulling off the comeback. They got within five – 25-20, an odd score – before Luke Brown led the Bears’ offense to a couple of late-game fourth-down conversions, and then scored with less than a minute left to put it away, 32-20.
The Raiders get to visit an old “friend” tonight, a rival they once saw in the playoffs for a while, the former coach at Waskom, Tatum coach Whitney Keeling.
Keeling had great success at Waskom and now he’s bringing that success to Tatum. The Eagles beat both Winnsboro and Daingerfield to start the season, a pair of state-ranked teams, and then, after getting a state ranking themselves, lost at Newton last week, a long road trip.
This game is Tatum’s homecoming.
On the Tatum High School Football Facebook page, it says there’s a live streaming broadcast of the game that will air here: easttexastoday.com.
West Rusk will be looking to break a streak – the Eagles have won the last six meetings.
The Raiders already have 603 rushing yards this year and they have a lot of talent back there: Jackson, Hunter McCandless, Judson Dotson, Kemontrea McGregor, Daylon Williams, and more. McCandless has 270 yards and two touchdowns this year, on 33 carries; Jackson has 113 yards and three scores on 17 carries
For Tatum, defensively, look out for Qwardai Peoples, who is a hunter. Peoples has 30 tackles on the season already, and is good at stripping people of the ball. He’s forced three fumbles.
Cayden Tatum carries the school’s name, and he carries more than that: he’s got 220 rushing yards this season, two touchdowns, and you know, that 100-plus-yard return of a missed field goal for a score against Winnsboro that was as impressive as anything all year.
Jamarri Gipson leads the Eagles with seven rushing scores, and 312 rush yards.
Gladewater at Spring Hill, 7 p.m.: It would be hard to top what the Bears have been through this season. It’s been kind of a roller coaster ride.
They laid a haymaker blow to then-No. 2 Daingerfield, opening the season on a Thursday – August 29, to be specific – with a lightning-delayed upset of the Tigers at Jack V. Murphy Stadium.
Then, they got beat themselves in a trip to New Diana by a strong Eagles team that’s now state-ranked.
Last week, the Bears (2-1) had to hold on, as mentioned above, in a trip to New London, but they were able to do so and outlast West Rusk’s comeback.
Coach Jonny Louvier’s team got an extra day to prepare for Spring Hill (0-3), suddenly winless out of the gate, but the Panthers’ numbers don’t necessarily look like they’re winless.
Travis Allen has three passing touchdowns and led the offense to 48 points in a season-opening loss at home against Sabine, a game the Panthers darn-near won. Trevor Allen has 487 rushing yards and six touchdowns, and also has a receiving touchdown this season. Coleman Stout has 487 yards on the ground and five scores.
That hardly sounds like a team without a win.
The Bears, on the other hand, are getting solid play from all over the place. Notables include quarterback Luke Brown, Mason Budro, Brayson Woods, and Trayvion Watts, but there are so many to name.
Gladewater has 585 rush yards and eight scores as a team, with Watts leading the way in yards (171), Budro close behind (149), and Grafton Morgan in scores (three).
Budro also leads the team with 13 tackles a game, and keep an eye on Amarion Minter – Spring Hill will. He has four sacks.
Scattershooting around the area for our other games:
- Arp at Sabine: Sabine quarterback Colt Sparks won’t be in the lineup tonight, as he was injured at New Diana last week. Arp has won two of its three games and could be 3-0, if not for a one-point overtime loss at Garrison.
- White Oak at Queen City: The Roughnecks are looking to make it 4-0. We’re wondering which QC team will show up: the team that narrowly lost to Elysian Fields a week ago, or the team that got shut out, 35-0, by Harleton on Sept. 6?
- Troup at Rusk: We believe after last week’s first win of the season, coach Sam Wells and the Troup Tigers have turned the corner. They can prove it tonight by going to a tough place to play at Rusk and getting the win. Hear it live on Tigersportsnet.
- Gilmer at Lindale: The Buckeyes got a controversial win over Kilgore last week, and now we’ll see if they can get back-to-back ones. They’ve won eight straight in this series. Quarterback Brady McCown has 15 touchdowns, total, this season, 12 through the air, and Brendan Webb has 207 receiving yards and three of those TDs. Trey Lee leads the Buckeyes’ defense with 26 tackles and two sacks. For Lindale, quarterback David Lindig only has three this year: two passing TDs and a rush score. Gilmer is 1-2 this season, and ranked No. 5 in the state in 4A-DII in the Dave Campbell’s 4A-DII poll. Lindale is 2-1.
