A RED WAVE | Kilgore tops Pine Tree, honors Wood, 2005 class in Fuller’s 50th win
KILGORE – Back in the ‘90s, a popular song asked this question: Who let the dogs out?
Well, we don’t know exactly who let the dogs out. But they’re still out, and they’re running all over the competition.
Friday night, Kilgore High School Bulldogs quarterback Kayson Brooks came out red-hot, completing his first eight passes enroute to a 16-of-18, three touchdown passing performance as the Bulldogs opened District 9-4A, Division I play with a 35-7 victory against Pine Tree at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.
It was the 50th win as head coach of Kilgore for Clint Fuller.
The Ragin’ Red improves to 4-1 overall, and obviously 1-0 in district play, while Pine Tree’s Pirates, also an ETBlitz-area program, drop to 2-3 for the season and 0-1 in district.
Kilgore Athletic Director Mike Wood, the head football coach for 11 seasons, was inducted into Kilgore’s Wall of Honor and the 2005 graduating class was also recognized prior to the game.
As for the game itself…
“We wanted to get our passing game going early,” said Fuller. “Kayson did a fantastic job of distributing the ball to all of our receivers.”
The Bulldogs’ leading receiver, Texas State verbal commit Lakeyleon Graves, enjoyed his best night of the season as a receiver with nine catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
“Key showed his versatility, making plays in the quick game and our intermediate game as well as over the top,” continued Fuller.
Also finishing with catches were Tyler Johnigan (2-23, 1 TD), Dre’ Sanders (2-13), Ja’Kalen Sheffield (2-22) and T.K. White (1-16).
“Our defense played well. Our front seven controlled the game and our secondary slowed down a good passing offense.” Fuller added.
Brooks, along with Isaiah Watters and David “Bubba” McGowan shared the rushing duties which totaled 177 yards on 31 carries. McGowen led the way with 70 yards on 12 carries. Brooks and Watters had 52 yards apiece.
Pine Tree’s sophomore quarterback Colton Craft was 17-of-35 passing for 226 yards and a touchdown, a 35-yard completion to Ashton Valentine with 3:48 left to play in the fourth quarter. Julian Ibarra converted the extra point to wrap up the scoring.
Kilgore scored on three of its first four possessions, building toward a 28-0 halftime lead.
Isaiah Watters opened the scoring for Kilgore, capping an eight-play, 51-yard march after taking the opening kickoff. The drive took just 3:57. Kicker Eddie Jimenez was doing Jimenez things, converting the first of his five extra points to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.
Kilgore failed to score on its second possession, but made up for it, scoring the next three times it had the football. This time going 51 yards in just four plays, with Brooks completing a 7-yard strike to Graves, who made an acrobatic catch in the end zone. Jimenez hit the point after. The big plays in the march were completions of 21 yards to Graves and 15 yards to Sheffield.
The defense held and Kilgore added on with a 12-play, 79-yard drive that took almost 7 minutes off the clock before a 12-yard Brooks completion to Johnigan for the score extended the Ragin’ Red’s advantage to 21, after Jimenez converted his third extra point in the contest.
Kilgore’s final points of the half came on a 24-yard march in just four plays with White scoring on a 3-yard jet sweep to give the Bulldogs a 28-point halftime cushion.
Pine Tree took the second-half kickoff and put together an 86-yard drive of its own to reach the Kilgore three-yard line. Croft was on the money with three completions to Bosston Johnson for 30 yards, a completion to Valentine for 1-yard to go with a completion to Taibran Homer for 34 yards.
A pass interference penalty on Kilgore helped as did three runs of 6 yards by Ja’Karius Timmons before an incompletion on fourth down from the four-yard line ended the scoring opportunity.
The Ragin’ Red answered on its next possession, though, driving 96 yards for its final touchdown of the evening. McGowan carried five times for 32 yards along with a 10-yard Brooks’ scramble. The Kilgore quarterback had a 9-yard completion to Sanders and then completions of 9-, 11- and then 25-yards to Graves for the points.
Pine Tree then put together another drive this one from its own 25 with 1:27 left in the third period. Croft completed passes to Johnson for 4-, 8- and 43-yards to Johnson and a 4-yarder to Valentine before Sanders intercepted a Croft pass inside the Kilgore 8-yard line.
The Pine Tree defense held, forcing an Isaac Jamaica punt to the Pirates’ 36. From there, Croft and his teammates went to work again, moving 64 yards for the touchdown, which came on a 35-yard Croft to Valentine completion.
Johnson and Valentine each had seven receptions for the Bucs. Johnson’s 7 for 91 yards and Valentine’s 7 for 76. Taibran Homer (2-48) and Dalan Montgomery (1-11) rounded out Croft’s receiving corps for the evening.
Kilgore’s defense limited the Pirates to just 29-yards rushing on 15 carries.
Next week, the Bulldogs visit Henderson, also 4-1 and 1-0 after a 67-31 win over Palestine on Friday night. Pine Tree returns home to entertain Mabank.
