KILGORE-PINE TREE LIVE REAL-TIME UPDATES! | Mitch Lucas from Pirate Stadium, live beginning at 7:15 p.m.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The ETBlitz.com crew is fanned out all over the East Texas region tonight, but we’re here in Longview, at Pine Tree’s Pirate Stadium, for No. 7 Kilgore (3-1) at No. 6 Pine Tree (4-0), the 50th meeting between the rivals. This one is also the District 9-4A, Division I opener for both teams. And ETBlitz.com editor / publisher Mitch Lucas is on hand to do live, real-time updates, his thoughts on the game as it happens — kind of a living, breathing version of “What’s Causing All This.”

We’ll be live at 7:15 p.m., about 15 minutes before kickoff.

• Y’all about ready?
• 7:15 and we’re live, pal.
• I’m sitting in the press box, looking down at the 50-yard-line, and the big “PT” on the center of the field. To my left, all the traffic pouring into the stadium. Still a lot of cars making their way in.
• We’re here tonight for Kilgore, ranked seventh in the state in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football poll (the Class 4A, Division I poll), taking on sixth-ranked Pine Tree.
• You don’t REALLY win anything, but a little trivia: Kilgore is 15-2 in the last 17 games against the Pirates. Kilgore had a 28-game streak over Pine Tree going until the Pirates finally defeated Kilgore in the 2018 season, and then beat the Bulldogs again in 2021. Those are the “2” in the 15-2.
• Pine Tree just took the field to their fight song – the music is the same is “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” if you remember that from elementary school.
• Anthem’s been played, we’re about to rock and roll, baby.
• Kilgore is getting the ball, and there are a LOT of people here, for both. Big crowd.
• Kilgore’s first two plays are running plays, both to Rayshaun Williams. The first one: no gain. The second: 11, and enough for the first down.
• A third straight run. Kilgore is making a concerted effort to get its running game off to a good start. Second and 4 at PT’s 30.
• The first pass of the game is incomplete, as Pine Tree’s band, down here right in front of Kilgore’s offense, is getting AFTER it. As they should, I mean, that’s what bands do, right?
• Kilgore’s drive stalls at fourth and 2, at the 28.
• Check that where I said “stalls.” Javon Towns and Kayson Brooks disagreed with me. Like “hard” disagreed. Like big. Brooks tossed it to Towns out in the flat, and Towns got past a couple of Pirate defenders, kicked it into another gear and scored on a 28-yard touchdown. Eddie Jiminez kicked the extra point and Kilgore’s up, 7-0, with 9:04 left.
• A short kick, and returned by Brandon Smith, all the way to midfield. The Pirates are going to start at the same place Kilgore did: the opponents’ 40.
• Pine Tree’s offensive line comes onto the field, and the earth shakes. These freaking guys are BIG, especially Peyton Davis, Prophet Hishaw, and Jacob Graugnard.
• Pirates, now, have a fourth and 6 at Kilgore’s 33.
• Peyton Christian gets a sack, and celebrates. And gets called for excessive celebration. And that’s crap, I’ll be honest. In my opinion, kids should get to celebrate a little bit. There was nothing, NOTHING over the top about that celebration, and the head official had no business throwing that flag.
• Ashton Valentine, a cornerback for Pine Tree, picks off a pass by Brooks and takes it all the way back, a pick-six, with 3:32 left in the first quarter. But Kilgore’s Jayden Sanders comes off the edge and blocks the extra point by Julian Ibarra! The Bulldogs keep the lead, 7-6. Big play, for the future Michigan Wolverine!
• Dang — I’m hungry.
• Too much information, right?
• Injury time-out, unfortunately.
• This is a super-nice stadium.
• My friend Dereck Borders and I were fortunate enough to get here early, and visit for a bit with Mike and Michael Clements of Energy Weldfab, and Michael is also a part of the Pine Tree radio crew. Great guy — the apple didn’t fall far from the tree at all there.
• We’re at the end of the first quarter, with Kilgore in fourth down right at the 50, a fourth and 5, leading PT, 7-6.
• More like fourth and 6.
• The punt bounced off the returner’s helmet, and was recovered by a Kilgore player, inside the 10-yard-line. These officials are calling catch interference on Kilgore. And give Pine Tree the ball at their own 28.
• After a great defensive series by the Bulldogs, Pine Tree punts, and Jacory Walton runs about 1,507 yards and winds up at the Pine Tree 48-yard-line, with 9:23 left in the half.
• Kilgore finally gets a call, on fourth and 11. Brooks throws deep, inside the PT 5, and a penalty flag is thrown, pass interference on Pine Tree.
• Pine Tree’s defense holds, and forces a field goal from the 3. Jiminez gets it, a 20-yard field goal, to put KHS up 10-6 with 3:49 left in the half.
• If any coaches are reading this, and need a neutral site for a playoff game, boy, I’d endorse this stadium. I’ve said it twice now, just a fantastic place for a football game.
• At the half, the score is the same: Kilgore leads, 10-6.
• Lengthy halftime show, but excellent by both the Hi-Steppers and Kilgore band, and the Pine Tree performers, as well.
• Smith makes a big play, a 20-yard gain on a pass to midfield for the Pirates, with 7:41 left. The score is still 10-6.
• PT tries to run right through the heart of the Kilgore defense, and gets nothing on second down. It’s third and 6 at Kilgore’s 43, and a huge play by Roger Attaway, all the way down to Kilgore’s 19.
• Last year’s game, remember, was stopped on a Friday due to lightning and finished on a Saturday, a Kilgore win, also here at Pirate Stadium.
• Pine Tree loses 5 yards on a sack by Jackson Tucker Phillips, and then the ball is intercepted in the end zone for a touchback, by Dre Sanders — it appeared to be Dre, from my vantage point. That’s a touchback. Kilgore gets the ball and Pine Tree gets no points off that long, long drive.
• Brooks and Towns hook up twice — the final one for an unbelievable touchdown, as Brooks threaded the needle to Towns, and Towns reached out and stuck the ball over the end zone before he was tackled!
• Jiminez adds the point after and with 2:20 left in the third quarter, Kilgore’s up, 17-6. Kilgore’s passing game is just ridiculous tonight.
• Pine Tree, buried after two sacks, just benefitted from a defensive holding call. They’ll have a first at their own 33.
• I’m a hot-natured guy and the press box people must have known it. You can keep frozen meat good in here.
• Kilgore’s defense does force a punt — a ton of quarterback pressure tonight — and they get the ball back. Time now in the game is under nine minutes, just under it.
• The Bulldogs wind up having to punt. Read Joe Hale’s game story later, by the way, for all the details here. Pine Tree gets the ball back on its own 35, with 7:59 left, but the Pirates are down 17-6.
• Wow; three incompletions later, and only 15 seconds ran off the clock.
• Kilgore’s ball, the Bulldogs’ own 40, with 7:39 left.
• Brooks makes a quick throw to Takieran White into PT territory, and then another, and now to Pine Tree’s 34. Kilgore works very quickly.
• Five minutes exactly left; Kilgore up, 17-6, with a fourth down and 26 at PT’s 27.
• Jiminez misses a 43-yard field goal, and the Pirates will have the ball back. And a play was ran and not one second ran off the clock during the field goal. Not a second.
• This game is over, folks — appreciate y’all reading. We’ll have coverage of this and the other games later on and tomorrow here on ETBlitz. The final score here’s going to be Kilgore 17, Pine Tree 6!