LIONS RUN OVER PALESTINE | Henderson gets 5 TDs from Starling, Wildcats can’t keep up in district opener
It seems like every week here at ETBlitz.com, we tell about the exploits of one Jesstin Starling, Henderson’s small but explosive running back, how he’s small in stature, but makes big play after big play; how his touchdowns are piling up; how he’s difficult to see – until he’s standing in the end zone.
Well now, he’s been standing in the end zone 17 times in five games.
He did it five times against Palestine – four of them in the first half.
That’s right: Starling, a junior listed at 5-foot-5, scored four first-half touchdowns Friday night in the Lions’ home game against the Wildcats, the District 9-4A, Division I opener for both teams, and Henderson won a high-scoring 62-38 game.
Henderson is 4-1 on the season, 1-0 in district play and makes the short trek to Kilgore, to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium, on Friday night for the annual Highway 259 Shootout, a decades-old rivalry between the Lions and the Bulldogs.
Starling’s first touchdown was in the first quarter, an 18-yard run. His next, from 4 yards out. The third, a 1-yard score, and the fourth, a 3-yarder.
He scored another, late in the game, his 17th TD of the season.
But Henderson has weapons, folks, nowhere near just Starling. Lemarion Coleman scored twice in the first half, early on an 8-yard run, then again on a 10-yarder, and he’d add another in the second half. Jordan Ervin also scored. Quarterback Vince Howard makes good decisions and is a threat both in the passing game and on the ground.
And the Lions kept the Wildcats winless on the season, 0-5. Palestine will host Chapel Hill on Friday night. Chapel Hill defeated Lindale, by the way, 42-30, to open district play.
