L-E FINISHES SABINE’S SEASON | Cardinals wind up year with road loss
TEXARKANA – Early in the season, every single football team in the University Interscholastic League has hopes of not only winning every game, but winning a state championship.
The game is played for fun, but the idea is to win a title, right?
But you can only do that if you’re in the playoffs. And only the top four teams from each district get in.
Liberty-Eylau joined that field Friday night, dealing Sabine a 55-0 loss, as both teams officially finished the 2025 regular football season. For Sabine, it’ll mean the Cardinals move on to start basketball, and unfortunately a winless football season, their first since 2011 and their fourth in program history (the others were in 2011, obviously, and in 1946 and 2006).
The Leopards join district champion Gladewater, runner-up Atlanta and Jefferson (L-E is third place, Jefferson fourth by beating Tatum Friday night). Liberty-Eylau had already secured a playoff spot and the Cardinals were playing for pride. The Leopards will face either Malakoff or Winnsboro in the first, or bi-district, round of the 3A-Division I playoffs next weekend.
Friday night here in Texarkana, Sabine, a very young team this season, took the opening kickoff and Damin Richardson opened the game with a 17-yard run. Sabine couldn’t sustain the momentum, though, and would punt.
The kick put L-E at its own 7, and then a penalty moved them back even farther.
Quarterback Huntley Fisher found a wide-open Ty Hawkins for a 14-yard gain to move the chains. Hawkins then grabbed a 10-yard strike. Arian Taylor added a 24-yard run and the Leopards were on the move, into Sabine territory.
Fisher then found Tray Bragg for 19 and the drive was capped by a 2-yard plunge by Zamanthyre Haire for the opening score. Michael Polk added the extra point and an early 7-0 lead.
The Cardinals again faced a stiff defense, but Jeremiah Templeton was able to squeeze out an 11-yard run. Keifer Serrano snagged a Syler Pierce pass but it wasn’t enough and the Cardinals were forced to punt a second time.
The Leopards moved the ball on a short field with an 18-yard run by Taylor and a 15-yard pass to Hawkins that ended the first quarter.
The first play of the second quarter saw Taylor break a tackle and sprint 15 yards for a touchdown, followed by Polk’s extra point. This opened the floodgates for the rest of the quarter, unfortunately for Sabine and its fans.
The Cardinals turned the ball over on downs and the Leopards pounced on the opportunity.
Taylor had runs of 4 and 7 yards before Kaiden Peacock pulled down a 19-yard pass by Fisher. Then Taylor went 15 yards for his second score, L-E’s third, and a 21-0 lead.
The Cardinals’ woes continued when on third down, Pierce was running and had the ball stripped with Za Welch picking it up and running it in for a Leopards’ score. The extra point put them up 28-0.
On the next possession, the Cardinals found some daylight with a 14-yard run by Warren Royal then a 16-yard pass to Cole Loveless, but it wasn’t enough as they turned the ball over on downs. The Leopards took advantage of this as Hawkins stepped in at quarterback and tossed a screen pass to Taylor, who broke from a multitude of Sabine defenders and went 50 yards for the score and a 35-0 halftime lead.
The second half saw the Leopards use many of their backups, including Kayden Lewis at quarterback. Jakeis Bell had a run of 20 yards and then a run of 8 yards for a score and a 42-point lead. The Cardinals turned the ball over on downs giving the Leopards a short field. With a running clock the Leopards took the possession into the fourth quarter.
On the first play of the fourth, Sabine found Rylan McGriff for a 22-yard strike and a 49-0 lead. The pride of the Cardinals continued as they tried a trick play with Cole Loveless taking the double reverse and finding Royal for a 5-yard completion and a first down. This wasn’t enough as they were force to punt.
The game ended with the Leopards again moving down field through the air. Three straight screen passes to Roderick Foster moved them to the 1 and a short pass to Tymorious Larry for the score and the final of 55-0.
The Cardinals were led by Royal with 20 yards on the ground and Loveless, who had 16 receiving yards. Pierce finished with 22 passing yards. For the Leopards, Taylor had 83 on the ground and Lewis passed for 100 with Hawkins pulling in 58 of those yards.