KILGORE-CHAPEL HILL PREVIEW | Winner advances to 4A-DI state semifinals
It’s not Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, but it’s pretty darn close.
Kilgore will take on Chapel Hill Friday night at Longview’s Lobo Stadium in the University Interscholastic League Class 4A Division I quarterfinals, and as usual, the stakes are high for the two district rivals: the winner advances to the semifinals, the final four, one step away from playing for a state championship.
And for the loser: the end of their season.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., Kilgore is the home team, and for anyone who doesn’t have tickets, you’d better freaking get them soon at this link: https://kilgoreisd.hometownticketing.com/embed/all
That’s to purchase tickets early, $8 for adults and $5 for students before 3:30 p.m. on Friday. At the gate, all tickets will be $10. Of note: at the gate, tickets have to be purchased by credit card or debit card only – Lobo Stadium doesn’t offer cash ticket sales. And take note on this, ladies: they have a strict clear-bag policy.
For anyone not going, but who would love to watch the game live-streaming online, here’s your opportunity, courtesy of the Kilgore High Media Department: https://www.youtube.com/live/UZ5oHWEz3ws?si=eELyHTJarT_1vdLO.
And if you’re not going, or if you ARE, but if you’d like to put in your AirPods, or however you listen, and listen in the stands and hear the Ragin’ Red Broadcasting team of Doug Smith, Don Hedrick and Jason Smith call the game, do that on KDOK 105.3-FM, or on kdokradio.com, right here: 107.182.234.197:7472/stream.
So, here’s the real deal: Kilgore and Chapel Hill are meeting for the sixth time in three seasons, the third straight year they’ve played in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Kilgore won the regular season matchup between these two on Nov. 3, dealing Chapel Hill’s Bulldogs a 39-16 loss at their own stadium and going on to win the District 9-4A, DI championship without a single blemish in district play (6-0). And Kilgore also owns the all-time series between the programs, 36-11.
But Chapel Hill has won the last two playoff meetings, beating Kilgore, 41-35, in double overtime in 2021, then getting a 24-21 win on Dec. 2, 2022, last year’s playoff game.
Both of the previous two playoff meetings were played at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler, pretty much a home field advantage for Chapel Hill.
This third playoff game between the two will be in Longview. And, as mentioned, Kilgore is officially the home team.
Compared this game earlier to Rocky-Apollo Creed because this has been a series, and for anyone who watched the “Rocky” films, the battles those two had – while fiction – were legendary, and more than one occasion.
Kilgore landed the most recent blow with its win in Tyler about four weeks ago, just before the playoffs started. Since then, the Ragin’ Red has beaten Livingston (49-8, at Carthage), Bay City (37-28, at Sheldon ISD/ C.E. King Stadium in Houston) and Needville (35-14, at Randall Reed Stadium in New Caney).
Back to coach Clint Fuller’s Bulldogs in a bit. Let’s see how Chapel Hill got this far into the postseason.
Coach Jeff Riordan’s team earned the number-one ranking in the state in Class 4A at one point (Dave Campbell’s Texas Football / Associated Press ranking) before losing 35-23 at Lindale on Friday, Oct. 13 at Lindale, then to Kilgore at home, 39-16, three weeks later on Nov. 3. They finished the regular season 8-2, and went into the postseason as the number three team, technically, out of District 9-4A, Division I.
But that didn’t slow Chapel Hill down – in fact, it ticked them off. They predictably blew the doors off of Little Cypress-Mauriceville, 35-7, in the first, or bi-district, round of the 4A-DI playoffs on Nov. 10, and then did the same to playoff mainstay El Campo, 54-18, on Nov. 17 (El Campo had some changes in the offseason, and also graduated a strong class last May).
Last weekend, a lot of people predicted previously-unbeaten Iowa Colony, a new program with absolutely no seniors, could at least give Chapel Hill problems in round three. And they did – for maybe three quarters, before Chapel Hill pulled away for a 41-21 win. And Iowa Colony is no longer undefeated. They’re defeated. And their season is over, with a 12-1 final record.
Chapel Hill’s offense is predicated heavily on the run, but that does NOT mean quarterback Demetrius Brisbon can’t throw it, because he is very much a dual threat. Chapel Hill, as a unit, has rushed for 4,225 yards – far more than any team Kilgore has faced this year – and 51 touchdowns. They average 325 yards a game and 10.8 yards a carry, almost 11 yards a carry.
Leading rusher Rickey Stewart is just a junior, as is Brisbon, and Stewart has 2,347 yards and 36 touchdowns on 197 carries – that’s 11.9 yards a carry. Brisbon doesn’t have near as many yards (1,388) or touchdowns (nine), but averages right at the same a carry (11.7). Stewart nets about 180 a game, and Brisbon, 107 a game.
When Kilgore played them on Nov. 3, Kilgore held Brisbon to 9 yards on 12 carries, and he didn’t score. Stewart scored twice, but was held to 80 yards on 16 carries, just 5 yards a carry – his lowest yardage total for a game in the season and his lowest per-carry average in a game this season.
Brisbon went 8-of-16 for 150 yards and an interception in the game (the pick was made by Kilgore’s Javon Towns).
This season, in 13 games, Brisbon is 117-of-184 (63 percent) for 1,762 yards, 25 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s got several targets, mainly Stewart, seniors Cameron Kelley and Jayvin Mayfield, and Damarcion Blaylock. Kelley has 31 catches for 660 yards and 10 touchdowns, and Mayfield has 29 catches for 454 yards and seven scores. Stewart has 17 catches out of the backfield for 285 yards and four TDs, and Blaylock has 12 catches for 162 yards and four scores, as well.
Jonah Riordan, the son of coach Jeff Riordan, has 20 catches for 141 yards, as well. He’s a junior.
Fumbles have been somewhat of an issue: 10 on the season, seven lost.
On special teams, Trevor Brooks punts for the Bulldogs – when they do actually punt. He only has 22 this season, for 918 yards, and averages 41.7 a kick, a long of 64, and six landed inside the 20-yard-line. Brisbon does have one, a 22-yarder.
Mayfield leads the team in kickoff returns (six), averages 23.7 yards a return, and a long of 88. He has seven punt returns, averages 22.1 a return, a long of 90. Watch for Riordan, who has nine of them, as well as senior Quinton Greenlee, and Blaylock.
Most of the Bulldogs’ kicking chores have been handled by senior Aiden Campos, who had a couple earlier this year in the Nov. 3 game. Campos is 48-of-50 in extra point kicks this season, almost as automatic as one could get. He’s 6-of-7 in field goal attempts, his longest a 37-yarder.
Chapel Hill does have other kickers, though: Senior Alvaro Mendez, who wears number 30, is 19-of-19 in extra points, and junior Emmanuel Valencia, who is 6-of-6 in extra points and 0-of-1 in field goal kicks.
Defensively, the Chapel Hill Bulldogs have a few players that they lean on, and one of them is middle linebacker Da’Veon Ross, who has an unbelievable 143 tackles (that leads the team), averages 11 of them a game, has 10 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and three quarterback hurries this season.
Another senior, Kendall Allen, is a 6-foot-5 defensive end with 103 tackles this season, five for loss, five sacks, leads the team far and away with 16 hurries, and has two caused fumbles.
Then there’s Jabo Cook, a defensive back with 89 total tackles, 14 for loss, two sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a caused fumble.
Chapel Hill, of course, lost its regular season finale to Kilgore, and has won three straight games – the three playoff games.
Kilgore is coached by Clint Fuller, in his third year as head coach – the Bulldogs are 33-7 with Fuller at the helm, and 8-2 in the playoffs under coach Fuller.
In the three playoff games mentioned earlier, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents, 121-50.
Kilgore’s defense didn’t allow Needville a single point in the second half of last Friday’s game in New Caney, and only one first down.
Unknown, really, for this game against Chapel Hill is the status of senior quarterback Derrick Williams, who’s had a hand in 33 of Kilgore’s touchdowns this year.
Williams was injured on a running play early in the first quarter of the game against Needville near the goal line after going 2-of-3 for 25 yards.
On the season, Williams has completed 126-of-189 passes for 1,998 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions, and three of those interceptions were in one game (against Bay City two weeks ago). He’s ran for 904 yards and 15 touchdowns on 94 carries (averages about 9 1/2 yards a carry) this year, far and away leading the team in rushing.
But if Williams can’t go, Kayson Brooks, a sophomore, was very good in helping to lead the offense to a win over Needville last week. Brooks was 7-of-8 for 108 yards, a touchdown (to P.J. Wiley) and an interception, and he made the tackle on the interception.
Catching passes for the Bulldogs this year have been 14 different receivers: Wiley, the senior, has 32 catches for 575 yards and nine touchdowns. Jayden Sanders has 24 catches for 617 yards and six touchdowns. Zaylon Stoker has 16 catches for 265 yards and a score. Taylor Oliver has 14 catches for 156 yards.
Javon Towns has 13 for 292 yards and three touchdowns. Isaiah Watters has seven for 35 yards. Rayshaun Williams has five for 38 yards. Mikel Dennis, Lakeyleon Graves, and Jacory Walton each have three catches – Walton for 37 yards, Graves for 23, and Dennis for 16; Josh Parrish has 2 for 16 yards; and Chris Williams, Sage Orange and Derrick Williams each have a catch – Chris Williams has one for 9 yards; Orange has one for 24; and Derrick Williams’ catch was for 8 yards – to himself, a deflected pass.
Kilgore’s rush yards are led by Derrick Williams, as mentioned, and the Ragin’ Red have 2,850 total rush yards, and 43 total scores. Rayshaun Williams, a freshman that does not play like one, has 592 yards and four touchdowns on 76 carries; Watters has 456 yards and 11 touchdowns on 78 carries; Matthew Hardy has 449 yards and eight scores on 77 carries; Orange has 330 yards and three scores on 38 carries; and K’Winn Reese has 109 yards and two TDs on 11 carries. Stoker has a carry for 10 yards.
The offensive line producing all of that is Braydon Nelson, Rashaud Brown, Parker Allums, Emmanuel Young, and Braquan Moye, and also Daniel Garcia, fullback Aubrey Saylor, and Parrish, all in frequently.
Kilgore has two very good kickers in Leo Yzaguirre and Aiden Reyes, and a defensive lineman that can also punt pretty well. Yzaguirre, a senior headed to Liberty University in Virginia on a soccer scholarship, is 37-of-41 in extra points, and 4-of-4 in field goals this year, a long of 40 yards.
Aiden Reyes handles most of Kilgore’s kickoff duties and is 15-of-16 in extra points, and 1-of-1 in field goals.
Watch out in kick and punt returns for KHS. On punt returns, Sanders and Stoker are both dangerous men – Sanders picked one up on the one-hop off the turf against Bay City and took it back 41 yards to set up a rushing touchdown for Matthew Hardy just a couple of plays later. Stoker has a pair of returns and averages 22 yards a return.
In kick returns, Sanders averages 45 yards a return, has five returns and two touchdowns this season. Towns has seven returns, averages 76 yards a return and has a touchdown to his credit this year.
Kilgore has 4,961 yards of total offense this season.
Defensively, the Bulldogs put on a clinic against Needville. They held the Blue Jays to 171 total yards, 158 rushing yards, and one pass completion, just one, for 13 passing yards.
Stoker, a defensive back, and defensive lineman Cameron Christian each had 10 tackles. Stoker had one for loss and an interception, and Christian had a quarterback hurry, as well.
Jamarian Morgan had five total tackles, one for loss, a sack and two hurries. Hardy had eight tackles, as did Malachi Pierce. Wylie Mitchell and P.J. Wiley each had six tackles. Sanders had four. Chris Williams had an interception. Jackson Tucker Phillips had five tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and just disrupted things, as usual.
On the year, Pierce leads the way with 101 tackles, seven for loss, a sack, two interceptions, two pass break-ups, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, two hurries and two defensive touchdowns.
Towns has 85 total tackles, seven interceptions, seven break-ups, a forced fumble, two recoveries, and a tackle for loss.
Wiley has 82 tackles, seven for loss, a sack, four break-ups, an interception for a touchdown (against Bay City, 65 yards), a recovery, and a defensive score.
Stoker has 89 tackles, a tackle for loss, three interceptions, two break-ups, a recovery, and a touchdown.
Dennis has 78 tackles, four for loss, a forced fumble (that led to a score by Pierce) and three hurries.
Hardy has 77 tackles, two break-ups, a recovery, and three hurries.
Jamarian Morgan has had 30 tackles, three for loss, three sacks, a breakup, a forced fumble and three hurries.
La’Keyleon Graves has 83 tackles, one for loss, a break-up and two hurries.
Mitchell has 63 tackles, six for loss, four sacks, and seven hurries.
Christian has 62 tackles, four for loss, two sacks, a break-up, two blocked kicks, and three hurries.
Phillips has 62 tackles, nine for loss, 2.5 sacks, eight hurries, a break-up, and a blocked kick.
Bi’Syn Williams has 11 tackles, one for loss, 1.1 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a hurry.
Jayden Sanders has 26 tavkles, three interceptions, four break-ups, and a fumble recovery.
Jakalen Sheffield has 52 tackles, two for loss, and a break-up.
La’Perion Graves has 44 takles, a sack, a break-up, a recovery and a hurry.
Dre Sanders has 15 tackles, and two recoveries.
Joining Fuller on the coaching staff are defensive coordinator Chad Loper, co-offensive coordinators Jay Dean and T.J. Gillen-Hall, Joey Pippen, Josh Lyons, Colby Rosen, Nick Sanders, D.Q. Scott, Steve Lacy, Eugene Lafitte, Kaleb “KB” Brisendine, C.J. Jackson, Jason Bragg, Dustin Swaim, Cayle Bickham, Austin Hawley, Mason McCormack, Jackson Nichols, Braden Robey, and Ben Shelton.
Athletic trainers are Jeff Davis and LaTamera Fry.
Student trainers are Pilar Baldazo, James Jarman, Candace Lee, Natalie Lightfoot, Sam Miles, Brooklyn Polve, Aurelio Reyes, Chelsi Rocha, Shelby Shelton, Jaelie Sosa, and Brylan Winter.
Remember to come early, be loud, and wear red.
The winner of the game, in the state semifinals, will face either San Antonio Davenport Wolves (10-3) or Port Lavaca Calhoun Sandcrabs (9-4), who also play Friday at 7 p.m.