PIRATES GIVE LUMBERTON THE BOOT | PT shuts out Raiders; Yates on the horizon
Raise your hand if you thought Pine Tree might struggle at Lumberton in a true road playoff game Friday night.
Honestly, very few of us here at ETBlitz.com did, and that’s because these aren’t your older brother’s Pirates.
Pine Tree football has turned the corner. And if you don’t believe us…
…Ask Lumberton, because after Friday, they’re believers.
Pirates quarterback Colton Croft threw two touchdown passes, both to Rashaad Wofford, setting the tone for what would turn into a road-team blowout, a 35-0 win at Lumberton’s own stadium Friday night in the University Interscholastic League’s bi-district, or first round.
Pine Tree is now 7-4 this season and has won back-to-back games, and four of its last five. The Pirates will take on Houston Yates, a team without a loss this season, in the area, or second round; Yates defeated Needville, 50-24.
When arrangements for PT-Yates are made and finalized, we’ll have them here on ETBlitz and on our social media.
Lumberton, getting to host Pine Tree under recently-approved UIL rules that allow home field for top-two seeds in 4A-Division I, was befuddled from the start against very-good quarterback Croft, who ran the Pirates’ passing game so efficiently all season. The Raiders’ backs were against the wall all night. Pine Tree’s defense forced a three-and-out on Lumberton’s possession to open the game, and then Croft connected with Wofford quickly, a 20-yard scoring pass that gave the Pirates a 7-0 lead with 10 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.
PT’s defense was just overpowering. Desmond Williams ended Lumberton’s second drive with an interception, and then PT scored again, and again it was Croft to Wofford, but this time, far more dynamic: a 61-yard catch by Wofford that quieted the crowd with just under five minutes left in the quarter that doubled the Pirates’ lead (14-0).
So, Lumberton gets the ball back, goes for it on fourth down and can’t get it – turnover on downs. Two possessions later and the Pirates are in the end zone again, a second-quarter rushing touchdown from 2 yards out by Ja’Karius Timmons, his first of two on the night (21-0).
But there’d be more: a 48-yard run by Roger Attaway with 3:49 left before the break that gave Pine Tree a 28-0 halftime lead, and then one more by Timmons, mentioned earlier, a 16-yarder that accounted for the game’s final score.
