KILGORE BACK TO STATE | Wins qualifier at R.E. St. John, punches ticket to state 7-on-7 tourney next month
Opportunity knocked and Kilgore answered on Saturday morning at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.
The Bulldogs hosted a Texas 7-on-7 State Qualifying Tournament (SQT) this Mother’s Day weekend, and really did more than being hospitable, outscoring Sabine, Palestine and Chapel Hill (66-26), and then punched its ticket to return to the Texas 7-on-7 State Tournament at Veteran’s Park and Athletic Complex in College Station with a 14-7 decision over in-school District 9-4A Division I rival Lindale.
The state tournament will be June 26-28.
If you’re not familiar with 7-on-7, it’s an all-pass game, all the time, and when you’re on defense, you’re defending the pass. It’s also about time management, with 40 seconds between plays, a continuous 15-minute clock for a half, followed immediately by the second half.
There’s no tackling, just two-hand touch, and absolutely no running plays.
“It was a good day for us,” said Kilgore High School coach Clint Fuller said, after the qualifier was all said-and-done. “For starters, just getting on the field and competing against someone not wearing a red jersey was just what we needed.”
Kilgore won its state qualifying tournament here a year ago and then lost to Hamshire-Fannett in the Division II (Class 3A and 4A) semifinals, after beating the Longhorns earlier in Pool play.
The Bulldogs opened Saturday’s play with a 20-7 victory over Sabine, improved to 2-0 on the day by blanking Palestine, 25-0; and then rallied from a 13-point deficit to edge another very formidable district rival, Chapel Hill, 21-19.
“Let me catch my breath,” said Kilgore’s 7-on-7 coach DaMarion VanZandt, coming off the field after the comeback win over Chapel Hill. “That’s just like a regular-season game against them where it comes down to the wire.”
Exactly.
Chapel Hill’s Malik Gee, who stepped in and played most of the 2024 football season at quarterback and the Bulldogs into the playoffs, completed a couple of scoring passes to give the ‘Code Blue’ Bulldogs a 13-0 advantage before Kayson Brooks found Lakeyleon Graves for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to seven points (13-6).
Gee, who used his receiving corps led by Damarcion Blaylock, Maliek Brown and Lemuel Stinson effectively, extended the lead to 19-6 before the first of two picks by Kilgore’s JT Johnigan came in the end zone on the failed PAT attempt.
Kilgore then tightened the contest as Brooks hooked up with Dre’ Sanders for a touchdown, followed by a Brook-to-Graves completion for the extra point.
Johnigan’s second interception of the contest set the stage for a Brooks-to-Isaiah-Watters completion for the game-winner with just 10 seconds remaining on the clock.
In Kilgore’s victory over Palestine, Brooks threw scoring passes to Watters, Johnigan and Graves and also got an interception return for a touchdown by Watters.
Tre’ Hutchinson also had a pick for the Bulldogs against the Wildcats.
In addition to Kilgore’s narrow win over Chapel Hill, Lindale came through the other bracket with wins against Pleasant Grove (37-33) and Jefferson (28-21) before dropping a 35-33 decision to Van Alystyne. Who would’ve thought this SQT would come down to close and low scoring?
Probably no one.
Against Lindale, Kilgore scored on its fourth possession of the first half to break a scoreless first 15 minutes of play with a Brooks-to-Johnigan completion followed by a Brooks-to-Watters extra-point conversion.
The Ragin’ Red added to its lead on its first possession of the second half as Brooks, who will be a senior this coming season, navigated the Dogs down the field with a couple of completions to Watters, followed by back-to-back catches by Johnigan and Brayden Williams to set the stage for his scoring toss to Sanders with 10:40 left to play.
The extra point came on a Brooks-to-Graves completion, extending Kilgore’s lead to two touchdowns, 14-0.
On the Bulldogs’ next possession, Brooks had back-to-back completions to TK White followed by a Williams reception to eat some time off the clock.
The Eagles would score, though, on their final possession of the game as quarterback David Lindig, who will be a junior this coming season, hooked up with wide receiver Kaden Fowler three times, the last being for a touchdown with the point after coming on a Lindig completion to wide receiver Reed Carnathan.
“Offensively, we did enough, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Fuller continued. “As for as Kayson working with his timing and rhythm with the receivers. I thought he, Isaiah, LaKeyleon and JT played well.”
Fuller was especially pleased with the defensive play of Watters at inside linebacker, Sanders at a corner and Kaeson Clayton as a safety.
“We gave up 31 points in four games. For 7-on-7, that’s pretty good,” he continued. “The next three months are critical for us with strength and conditioning, practice and 7-on-7 competition.”
Other scores: Chapel Hill 26, Palestine 14; Chapel Hill 44, Sabine 6; and Palestine 13, Sabine 0. In Pool B: Pleasant Grove 28, Van Alystyne 7; Lindale 28, Jefferson 21; Jefferson 19, Van Alystyne 7; and Pleasant Grove 28, Jefferson 27.
For more about 7-on-7 football, including more about the rules, check out this story: REMINDER: 7-ON-7 QUALIFIER AT KILGORE SATURDAY | Teams playing for a chance at state tournament in June.
Sabine, who played in the tournament Saturday, will be in another qualifier at Chapel Hill on May 24, coach Cody Gilbert said.
