KILGORE ROUTS NAVASOTA | Read the recap of the 62-7 Kilgore win now; KHS will face Chapel Hill next week
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was Mitch Lucas’s account of the Kilgore-Navasota 4A-DI regional semifinal game as it happened in Corsicana, watching the Kilgore Bulldogs beat the Rattlers, 62-7. Joe Hale will have a game story shortly. Kilgore (11-2) advances to play Chapel Hill (10-3) next week; we’ll have when and where and all of the arrangements as soon as they’re finalized.
A dollar late and a dollar short. Sorry ’bout that. I’ve been here for quite a while; decided moments ago to do the live updates, because — well, because I love you guys.
The opening kickoff went out of bounds, so Kilgore opens with the ball on its own 30.
Rayshaun Williams on a run for 11 yards on the first play behind the offensive line of Jaden Pastor, Hunter Whipkey, Daniel Garcia, Collin Burrows, and Jonathan Barron.
Kayson Brooks completes a pass to Lakeyleon Graves for 10 yards and a first down to Navasota’s 46.
The 70-yard drive ends with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Brooks to Williams, and Eddie Jiminez added the extra point. Kilgore leads Navasota, 7-0, with 9:23 left in the first quarter.
The Rattlers have second and 15 at the 20, but Artavian Rutherford is knocked out of bounds and now it’s third and 17.
Quarterback Jace Jablonski overthrew his player, the Kilgore defender, and pretty much all of Corsicana Tiger Stadium on the third-down pass. It’s fourth down.
Kilgore takes over in Navasota territory, barely, after a not-so-impressive punt.
The first quarter is already half-over; Kilgore took a time out before a second-and-9 at the Navasota 48-yard-line.
Brooks finds a wide-open Jayden Sanders to the Navasota 34. How in the world you’d leave that particular person open, I have no idea. First down Kilgore.
Isaiah Watters makes a 4-yard catch, but at the end: Well, the official just called a facemask on KILGORE, suddenly in third-and-long, a third and 4 at the 36.
Sanders makes another big catch, this one at the 20, for a 16-yard gain and a first down. Talent overcomes bad circumstances almost every time. Sanders is a Michigan verbal commit.
Navasota gets a big play, a tackle on Watters for a 2-yard loss. Kilgore has fourth and 4 at the 11.
It’s a quarterback run all the way. Brooks needed 5 and that’s exactly what he got, to the Rattlers’ 9-yard-line.
Cameron Ross sacks Brooks, but Brooks comes right back and hits Sanders for an 8-yard TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE. Did someone forget to talk about Jayden Sanders in their practice, or something? Sanders has three big catches already in this game, and there’s still 1:17 left in the first quarter.
Jiminez hits the extra point and Kilgore leads 14-0.
Rutherford picks up 5 to the 18-yard-line on Navasota’s first down on the ensuing drive (I hate “ensuing,” but it’s necessary sometimes). They get the first down on the next play, and then it’s Rutherford again on another carry. They’ve got a second and 5 — and a busted play — as quarterback Jablonski turns around to hand the ball off and no one is there. He’s down. And it’s third and 5 at the Rattlers’ own 30.
We’re at the end of the first quarter, and again, Kilgore is up, 14-0.
The first play of the second quarter is a run by Rutherford and he gets nothing near the 5 yards he needed for a first down. It’s fourth and 3 at the Rattlers’ 32.
The punt isn’t returned, and Kilgore takes over at its own 22.
Here comes Brooks and the Ragin’ Red offense, as I take a sip of my Mr. Pibb Zero. I didn’t know there was such a thing until today. I’m happy.
Brooks hits Javon Towns on a pass, his second catch of the day, for 11 yards, to the 33.
Williams gets 2 on first down, and not much on second down. It’s third and 7.
Jacory Walton makes his first big play of the game, a 7-yard catch to Kilgore’s own 43 to keep the drive going.
Brooks goes long to Sanders, who had his man beat, but the pass is JUST out of Sanders’ reach. It would’ve been a 57-yard touchdown. Instead, second and 10.
We’re going Air Kilgore today. Watters makes another catch, this one for 12 to the Navasota 45.
Two plays later, and Watters on the ground this time, a 21-yard gain, and then a quick snap. Brooks turns and throws to Watters out in the flat: a 19-yard TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE, with 8:02 left in the half.
Jiminez’s extra point puts the Bulldogs in front, 21-0.
Hugo Garcia doesn’t get much of a return for Navasota, just 15 yards, and Navasota started the drive at its own 23.
Navasota currently in third and 10 at its own 36.
A pass by Jablonski is batted down, and it’s fourth down already.
There’s no return on the punt again, and it rolls dead at the Kilgore 29, where the Bulldogs will take over with 5:51 left in the half.
Sanders makes a catch along the sidelines, but they say too close to the sidelines — incomplete. Second and 10.
Walton makes a grab for a first down, 16 yards, to the KHS 45.
We’ve got a time out. And this just in: Mr. Pibb Zero is pretty darn good.
Oh, wow: Sanders is taking Navasota’s lunch, opening the lunchbox, running around with it and then eating it right in front of them: he just made a 54-yard catch, down to Navasota’s 1. And on the next play, Watters in for the score, a 1-yard TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE.
The Bulldogs’ lead is now 28-0, with 5:05 left in the half.
Navasota looks an awful lot like the Indianapolis Colts.
And today, they’re playing about like the Colts.
They take over at their own 25 after a touchback. First down: an incomplete pass, and Jablonski airs it out downfield on second down: incomplete. Third and 10 from the Rattlers’ own 25 coming up.
Jablonski is tackled scrambling around, but it’s a run, not a sack. He gets 4 yards, and now on fourth down, it’s a time out for Kilgore. They’ve got one left in the half.
Haven’t checked the Kansas City-Las Vegas NFL score. But I’m betting it’s something like Chiefs 100,000, Raiders 0, midway through the first quarter.
It’s a punt, again no return. Kilgore takes over, 3:58 in the half, at its own 34.
Brooks scrambles for 13 to the Navasota 49. We’ve got 2:55 left until halftime.
Lakeyleon Graves with another catch. this time to the Rattlers’ 34.
Williams picks up 7 to the Navasota 27, and then on the very next play, Brooks to Jayden Sanders for the 27-yard TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE. Wow.
The extra point is good again, and Navasota has just punted on its whole season. Kilgore leads 35-0, with 2:23 left in the half.
The ball on the kickoff gets past the returner. He chases it down, and evades the first Kilgore wall — but he doesn’t evade La’Perrion Graves, who knocks him into the next area code. He’s down at the Navasota 14.
Well dang. It’s fourth down already. But the halftime clock is coming quick. It’s down to 12, 11, 10…
Halftime. Kilgore 35, Navasota 0. And from the looks of it, it might as well be Kilgore 105, Navasota 0. My goodness.
Here comes Kilgore’s Hi-Steppers, and then the band.
Some scores: Carthage leads Pleasant Grove, 7-0, at the half at Lobo Stadium in Longview. Malakoff is up on Jefferson in a battle of 12-0 teams; the Tigers are leading 17-14 at the half. Chapel Hill leads Stafford, 14-3, at the half, as well.
Navasota’s dance team is performing as I write this; there’s 14 minutes left on the scoreboard until the third quarter begins.
One minute away from the third quarter.
OK, it’s the kickoff, to Navasota, and with no return, the Rattlers will begin the second half at their own 36-yard-line.
A 5-yard pickup on a run on first down, and then an incomplete pass downfield to Ross. The Rattlers are back in third and 5.
Rutherford gets exactly 5, no more, no less, and the clock is running while Navasota trails by five touchdowns.
Jackson Tucker Phillips spins Rutherford down for no gain.
Jablonski hands off to Cameron Burrell, and this time, it’s Cameron Christian turning him around and down.
Da’Quan Pratt makes a catch on third down, and on fourth and 2, Burrell gets the first down on a 2-yard run.
They’re finally running a play in Kilgore territory, the first one all day.
Jablonski throws off his back foot, pressured by like the entire Bulldogs’ defensive line, and it’s INTERCEPTED by Kilgore’s Ja’Kalen Sheffield at the Bulldogs’ own 28-yard-line. That’s Kilgore’s 21st interception this year.
Williams reels off a 12-yard run to the 40 for a first down, and then gets the ball, goes to his left — nothing but Rattlers’ defenders. He cuts, goes right, and picks up 29 yards, all the way to the Navasota 27. With that run, Williams is over 100 yards in the game.
Watters gets the ball next, and runs for 25 yards to the Rattlers’ 4.
Watters scores on the very next play, a 4-yard TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE, with 5:33 left in the third quarter. Jiminez misses the extra point, and it’s 41-0 Kilgore, who was out here for 30 minutes before they realized there was another team on the field with ’em.
You heard about the man that went to the doctor, and the judge told him he had, at best, a year to live. The man got on his phone and called his wife.
“Sell the house; we’re moving to Navasota,” the man said, and hung up.
The doctor asked him if he was sure that’s what he wanted to do, that the stress of the move could be too much.
“It’ll be OK,” he told the doctor.
“Why Navasota, if I might ask?,” the doctor said.
“Well, you told me I had a year to live,” the man said. “I’m gonna move to Navasota, because it’ll seem like 10.”
On that note, LOL, we’ve got 4:05 left in the third quarter, and Navasota has the ball at Kilgore’s 43. Jablonski rolls out and throws on fourth down — and it’s INTERCEPTED, by Sheffield, and he returns it 60 yards for a TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE. There’s 3:52 left in the third, and it’s 48-0 Kilgore.
A couple of score updates: 14-0 Carthage early in the fourth quarter over Stafford; Malakoff leads Jefferson, 24-21 in the second half.
With Jablonski scrambling around his own 20, Kilgore players wrap him up and he loses the ball; Kilgore’s Tre Hutchinson recovers, at the Navasota 19.
Well that didn’t take long: Rayshaun Williams runs 19 yards for a TOUCHDOWN, KILGORE, with 1:50 left in the third quarter. The new score is Kilgore 55-0 over Navasota.
Jablonski just got 28 yards for Navasota’s longest play of the day, to Kilgore’s 45.
Navasota just scored, a 33-yard pass from Jablonski to Pratt. There’s 10:58 left in the game, and Kilgore leads, 55-7.
New players in the game for Kilgore: Shaun Moyers at quarterback, K’Winn Reese at running back, among others.
Wow, heck of a play: Moyers lets the ball get by him, but picks it up, throws it and Cade Cox grabs it, a 22-yard gain to Navasota’s 44.
And Cade Cox’s number?
That’d be 22.
That’s perfect.
Kilgore gets all the way inside Navasota’s 20, but a holding penalty drops the ‘Dogs back to the 24. There’s 6 1/2 minutes left in the game, clock running.
It’s now third and 10 at the Rattlers’ 17.
We’ve been told Chapel Hill has beaten Stafford, 28-3, at Randall Reed Stadium in New Caney.
So it will be Kilgore-Chapel Hill next week, at a site and time to be determined.
David McGowan in at running back, as well, and he’s down to the Navasota 1-yard-line.
Also being told Carthage leads Pleasant Grove, 28-0, in the second half.
Kilgore just took a knee at the 1-yard-line.
Moyers scored on the next play, a 2-yard run, with 1:58 left in the game. Jiminez gets the point after, and it’s 62-7 Kilgore.
On the kick return, a Malakoff player fumbles it at midfield, and Kilgore recovers with 1:22 left. Looked like 17.
The Bulldogs are going to run out the clock. And they’ve won, 62-7.
Kilgore is now 11-2, and will play Chapel Hill next week. As soon as we know the playoff arrangements, we’ll have them here on ETBlitz.com. Thank y’all for reading!
