HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP | Henderson, L-E in a track meet (not really, but it felt like one); White Oak 2-0; Gladewater, Arp, Troup, LC all slip
For a lot of the ETBlitz.com coverage area, week two was a disappointment, unfortunately.
White Oak was the lone exception in this report. Coach Mike Ludlow’s Roughnecks went on the road to Omaha and returned with a 34-32 win over Paul Pewitt.
Everyone else – Henderson, Arp, Troup, Gladewater and Leverett’s Chapel – all came up short in an effort to get a win in the second week of the 2024 football season.
Let’s go around the horn.
Liberty-Eylau 44, Henderson 41: Liberty-Eylau was a rude homecoming guest, crashing the Lions’ party in front of a reunion of the 2004 Henderson graduating class at Lion Stadium on Friday night.
Or we could say these two started a football game and a track meet broke out.
Starring as sprinters: L-E receiver Dequane Prevo, who caught three touchdown passes, and Henderson running back Jesstin Starling, who ran for four touchdowns.
Henderson quarterback Vince Howard connected with receiver Lemarion Coleman for a 20-yard touchdown to get the Lions within three (44-41), but L-E was able to keep the ball on the ground, as L-E quarterback Trip Baysinger and running backs Jaquan Johnson and Arian Taylor were able to pick up first downs and run out the clock, the last one by Baysinger when it appeared the Lions’ defense had Baysinger at the line of scrimmage on a fourth-down conversion attempt, and Baysinger twisted at the last second, and fell forward for a first down on what would be the final play of the game.
Howard finished 17-of-23 for 222 yards and two TDs: one to Coleman and another to Jordan Ervin. Amauri Murphy had seven catches for 86 yards. Ervin had two for 8 and the score. Coleman had four for 81 and the other score, and Macen Jones had four for 47.
Starling continued to shine. He finished with 164 yards and four scores – from 18, 13, 14 and 1 yard out – on 28 carries, and on the season, he’s got 348 yards and seven touchdowns, and is averaging 7 yards a carry through the two games.
Baysinger completed 16-of-23 passes for 318 yards and four scores, three of them to Prevo, who caught 10 balls for 258 yards.
Henderson (1-1), who won its opener against Athens, now hits the road for a few weeks. The Lions, coached by alumni Clay Baker, will visit Jacksonville (1-1) this Friday, and then they’ll have a Thursday night, neutral-site game at Commerce on Sept. 19 against Gainesville.
New Diana 56, Gladewater 14: The Bears pulled off one of the most eye-opening wins of the first weekend of the season by knocking off No. 2-ranked Daingerfield (that from the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football rankings, in the Class 3A-Division II poll).
Could they go on the road and beat a high-octane New Diana team?
Not Friday, as the Eagles (2-0) look like one of the state’s best 3A teams through two weeks.
The Bears (1-1) scored both of their touchdowns in the fourth quarter: one on a 1-yard run by Grafton Morgan, with just over nine minutes left, and another on a 5-yard run with 35 seconds left by Carsin Cooper.
For New Diana, Davyon Mapps had a 55-yard score that began things, and also had a 4-yard TD run in the third quarter. DeJuan Johnson hooked up with Jaidyn Johnson for a 50-yard scoring pass, and Jaidyn had a 45-yard punt return for another TD.
DeJuan Johnson had a 45-yard run that put ND up 28-0, still in the second quarter, and Tavarus Williams had another, from 10 yards out, that sent the game to halftime at 35-0.
Mapps’ second score and another DeJuan Johnson 45-yard run came in the third quarter (49-0), and in the fourth, it was the Johnson-Johnson connection again, a 70-yard touchdown pass.
Gladewater visits West Rusk Thursday night; New Diana will try to keep up the offense – and slow down quarterback Colt Sparks and the Sabine offense – on Friday in New Diana.
White Oak 34, Paul Pewitt 32: The team that could not win in 2023 cannot lose a year later.
Roughnecks quarterback Jaxsen Ludlow threw for 145 yards and three touchdowns and the ‘Necks as a offense ran for 197 yards, with Junior Allen scoring twice, in a 34-32 road win at Paul Pewitt on Friday. Pewitt had won its first game in a 59-0 shutout.
The Roughnecks, now 2-0, will go back home this Friday – the 13th – to host Quitman, 0-2 and coming off a loss to Rivercrest.
Back to White Oak’s win over Pewitt. Ludlow had 103 rushing yards on 11 carries – almost 10 yards a carry. And Allen picked up 88 yards on 15 carries, getting into the end zone twice. Kyler Priest also had 6 yards for White Oak.
Catching balls for WO were Brayden Bratcher, who had three grabs for 39 yards and two scores; Logan Ladwig, who also had three catches, for 69 yards and a TD; and Tyson McKinney, who had a big catch for 26 yards.
Ludlow handled punting duties, as well, and punted four times for an average of 44 yards, a long of 54 – that was big for White Oak in the win.
Brady Prazak was 2-of-3 in extra points.
Defensively, McKinney had an interception and Michael Morgan had two fumble recoveries. White Oak was swarming as a defense: three caused fumbles by three different players: Scotty Breitenberg, Michael Morgan and Lucas Frazier each caused one. And Morgan also had a sack.
Cameron Venable led the team with 12 tackles in the game. Maddux Bzdil and Levi Sipes each had 10, and Morgan had nine. Morgan and Gavin Meadows each had two tackles for loss, and Sipes, Kenny Poul, Venable, Dakota Greene and Jacob Sorgee each had one.
Garrison 27, Arp 26 (OT): Arp did everything BUT win in its trip to Garrison, the No. 6 team in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Class 2A-Division I state rankings on Friday night.
Arp quarterback Thomas Mckelvey and receiver Zane Borque were nothing short of spectacular, the both of ‘em. Mckelvey went 20-of-29 for 220 yards and three touchdowns; he did throw one pick. Borque caught nine passes for 119 yards and two scores, and Demarcus Wade, a senior, caught eight for 94 yards and a score.
Arp also ran for 161 yards and a touchdown – Casen Burgins did the bulk of the work there: 82 yards and the TD on 18 carries. Mckelvey had 45 yards on 13 carries; Borque had a 16-yard carry; and Josh Smith had 19 yards on three carries.
While Arp was balanced, Garrison was not. The Bulldogs (2-0) threw for just 18 yards, and completed only one pass. They ran, though, for 337 yards and four scores: Avery Yarbrough had two scores and 169 yards on 22 carries. Antonio Yarbrough had 117 yards and a TD on eight carries. And Landon Petty caught the lone pass for 18 yards.
Smith led Arp with 12 tackles, one for loss, and Casch Cameron had eight, two for loss. Antonio Yarbrough had 13 tackles for Garrison.
Jaxon Winder had the interception and caused a fumble for Garrison. Smith had a fumble recovery for Arp, and Burgins, on defense, caused two fumbles; Borque caused one.
Arp hosts Mineola (0-2) on Friday. Garrison visits Anahuac.
Edgewood 56, Troup 28: The Tigers are off to an 0-2 start after facing a couple of tough opponents.
Troup’s losses haven’t been for a lack of a running game. The Tigers ran for almost five football fields against Edgewood on Friday: 479 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Bryce Wallum had three touchdowns and 195 yards on 18 carries, and Brett Wells went for a whopping 284 yards and a score on 23 carries.
Wallum went 5-of-9 in passing for 61 yards and was intercepted once. Hayden Huml caught three passes for 54 yards.
Jackson Waller led the Tigers with 10 tackles; Luke Skillern had eight, and one for loss. Skillern also had a sack, Wallum had a fumble recovery and Wells caused a fumble.
Wallum was 4-of-4 in extra point kicks.
Troup will try again for that first win this Friday, a home game against Harleton.
Longview Christian Heritage 50, Leverett’s Chapel 22 (six-man): LC’s second home game to start the season didn’t lead to a second win for the Lions.
LC, coming off a 60-14 win over Trinity School of Texas in week one, couldn’t slow down the Sentinels in week two.
The Lions (1-1) will head to Chester this Friday, and then host ETHS on Thursday, Sept. 19.
We’ll have more on this game on Monday.
