BEARS’ STREAK OVER SABINE STILL LIVES | Wild and crazy third quarter leads to a 46-10 Gladewater win

LIBERTY CITY – After an emotional few days with the temporary stepping down of coach Tim Russell, the Sabine Cardinals hosted the Gladewater Bears Thursday night in the District 8-3A, Division I opener for both programs.

But the change of days, “Thursday Night Lights,” if you will, couldn’t outcome of this series even on this night, as the Bears went home with a 46 -14 win, preserving their dominance in the series: Sabine has never beaten Gladewater in football, in the entire history.

Next week, the Cardinals (2-4 overall, 0-1 in district play) travel to Liberty-Eylau to take on the Leopards, whose game this week is in front of them – L-E (1-4) hosts White Oak (0-5), another ETBlitz.com-area program, on Friday night.

Coach Jermaine Lewis and the Gladewater Bears (3-3, 1-0) will visit Tatum next Friday, as district play continues.

The Bears took first possession of the ball at their own 33-yard-line. The Cardinal defense quickly forced them into a fourth-down situation, but Bears fullback Caleb Balcorta plowed through for the first down, and then Tray Watts reeled off a 28-yard run, setting up the Bears at the Cardinal 25. Quarterback Achilles Hess found Destin Sheridan for the touchdown pass.

Amarion Minter went in for the two-point conversion and an early 8-0 lead.

Sabine’s offense was not to be outdone as they took the field.  Princeton Jones broke free and sprinted for a 23-yard run. This was followed by quarterback Griffin DeHoyos adding 16 more. 

After a bad snap and loss of 6 yards, DeHoyos went to the air.  He found Keiffer Serrano in the end zone for the score.  Victor Avalos added the extra point, and knocked the lead down to just one, 8-7.

Hess, Watts and the Bears’ offense continued where they left off.

Landen King took a screen pass for a 22-yard gain, followed by runs of 12 and 18 by Watts.

The final play of the drive saw Balcorta pushing the defensive line for 4 yards and the score.  Caleb Budro booted the extra point and a 15-7 lead.

The Cardinals’ offense moved quickly downfield. DeHoyos found Syler Pierce for 13. On the next play, he found Pierce for 14, and then Pierce executed the old hook-n-ladder play perfectly – he tossed the ball to Damin Richardson, who added another 11 yards, taking the drive into the second quarter.

On the second play of the quarter, DeHoyos found Pierce for a 23-yard passing touchdown.  With his extra point, Avalos cut the score to 15-14.

Both defenses woke up in the quarter. The Cards forced the Bears to turn it over on downs deep in their territory. The Bears moved the ball with King pulling in a 14-yard pass and Watts adding a 22-yard run.  Gladewater’s defense followed suit and stopped the Cards on a three-and-out.

After the punt, the Bears would rely on Watts to move the ball. One exception was a QB keeper which saw Hess gain 36 yards. Watts took it the final 9 yards for the touchdown.  Balcorta would add a two-point run and send the game to the half with Gladewater leading, 23-14.

In the third quarter the score went from bad to worse for the home team.

The Cardinals’ offense was able to only manage 23 yards before turning the ball over on downs.  Then the excitement for the Bears began.

On second down, Hess threw a side pass that looked to be forward. The Sabine defense broke in and batted the ball down. The receiver, King, picked it up and ran 61 yards for a touchdown. As the crowd and broadcast claimed it was a forward pass, the refs called it a touchdown and the Bears quickly tossed the ball to Minter for the two-point conversion and a new score, 31 -14.

This turn of events seemed to rattled the Cardinals’ offense. On the first play from scrimmage, the snap was fumbled. What looked like a scrum on the field saw Jayden Wright somehow get the ball off the ground and run it in for ANOTHER Gladewater touchdown.

The two-point conversion was a toss to King, who went in for the score and a 39-14 lead.

In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals were desperate for some positive yardage, but the Gladewater  defense intercepted the DeHoyos pass to open the quarter. Three plays later, the Bears added their final score. Balcorta found the seam and went 44 yards to the house. Budro added the extra point and a 46-14 final.

King led the Cardinals on the ground with 81 yards.  DeHoyos was 8-of-16 and 124 yards through the air, with two scores.

Pierce let the team in receiving with 64 yards and a score.  For the Bears, they were led by Watts with 102 on the ground and a score. Balcorta added 25 and a score.  Hess was 3 for 7 with 65 yards and a score.  King hauled in 36 yards to lead the team.