THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS | Tatum drops Daingerfield for first win of season
TATUM – A lot of coaches believe that the difference in an 0-2 start – a chasm many fear to tread – and a 1-1 start is so drastic that it’s the key to whether or not a team gets into the playoffs.
Coach Whitney Keeling and the Tatum High School Eagles made certain they didn’t have to worry about it Thursday night, dealing Daingerfield – ranked in the top 10 in this week’s state football poll – a 41-30 loss.
Ironically, Daingerfield falls to 0-2, after losing its opener to Gladewater. Don’t worry about the Tigers too much: they proved last year that fear we mentioned to start this story isn’t always true by rebounding and making the playoffs and doing fairly well once they got there. The Tigers started this season the same way, with losses to Gladewater and Tatum.
Keeling’s Eagles won’t rest. After playing back-to-back Thursday games to open the season, they’ll move to Friday games beginning with next week, their 2025 homecoming contest on Sept. 12 against Newton.
Thursday against Daingerfield, Tatum dodged a bit of a bullet when quarterback Isaiah Parker and receiver Ja’Kyrin Craver couldn’t connect, as a pass in the end zone to Craver was a little high and incomplete. The Tigers got points out of the drive, though, a 32-yard field goal by Eric Ballesteros that gave them a 3-0 advantage with 10:21 left in the first quarter.
On the Eagles’ first possession of the game, Tatum quarterback Grant Adcock, on a third-and-4 from inside his own 40, found a hole and burst through it, down the Tatum sideline, all the way down to the Daingerfield 18-yard-line for 48 yards.
Tatum, utilizing the “flex bone” (a three-man backfield formation), stalled out a bit at the 13, and Daingerfield linebacker Iziaha Wilbauger was a big reason why: he blew up a third-and-3 play for a loss of yards and put the Eagles in fourth-and-6.
Adcock, though, picked up 7 on the fourth-down conversion attempt for a new set of downs at the Tigers’ 8. But only one would be needed. On the first down, Adcock faked the hand-off and then pitched the ball to Brandon Howard, who scored the 9-yard touchdown.
The next play was an adventure, but fun: Adcock lined up to kick the extra point out of the hold of regular kicker Kody Hines. But when Hines got the snap, he pitched it to Adcock, who tried a jump-pass into the end zone. It looked like the intended receiver was flattened before the ball even got there, but no flag came. Still, Tatum had the lead, one it wouldn’t relinquish, a 6-3 lead at the time with 6:20 left in the quarter.
Tatum’s defense got a stop of their own at midfield on Daingerfield’s second drive of the game, with the Tigers punting from midfield. Punter Tanner Teeter had his punt tipped, though, and Tatum defender Qwardai Peoples grabbed the ball, taking it back to the Daingerfield 26.
The first play: a double pass. Adcock turned around and threw the ball backwards to Elijah Williams, who launched it downfield to Isaac McAlister. McAlister caught the ball inside the 5, but officials ruled his catch was out of bounds.
McAlister made sure he had the yardage on the next play, an 18-yard run to give the Eagles a first down at the Tigers’ 8. Adcock would stretch the defense on the next play, a run, and he scooted inside the pylon for the 8-yard score. On the two-point attempt, he looked to throw, then ran the opposite way, again getting inside the pylon for the conversion. With 2:46 left in the first, Tatum was up 14-3.
Daingerfield took their next possession into the second quarter, and scored: Parker hit Carver for the 17-yard score, as Carver caught it, then had to dash in. Ballesteros added the extra point, and with 11:55 left in the half, Tatum’s lead was 14-10.
Adcock would do it again to the Tigers on a third-down run, a 23-yard run to Daingerfield’s 46. McAlister, too, as two plays later, he reeled off a 40-yard run on a handoff from the quarterback to Daingerfield’s 6.
The Tigers stuffed Tatum’s first two plays near the goal line, a loss of 1 yard, then a loss of 2. On the third play, Adcock darted through a pack of players and the ball came out, with Daingerfield’s Kameron Craine recovering the ball.
Micah Broughton got the Tigers out of the shadow of their own end zone with a huge run down his own sideline, running out of Tatum tackle attempts for a big gain, all the way to his own 38, a 27-yard carry.
But Tatum’s defense, and penalties, put Daingerfield in third and forever: third and 23 at their own 25. A screen pass left them short, but they did get about 9 yards and were in fourth-and-12 when another punting disaster happened: a high snap left Teeter scrambling for the ball. He did get it, and got the punt off, but it went sideways, and out of bounds, giving Tatum the ball at Daingerfield’s 14.
They’d only need one play, as TyDric Moore scored on a 14-yard run. Hines added the extra point and made it 21-10 with 5:08 left in the half.
Both teams would score again before the half. Kyson George would score on a 1-yard run for Tatum with 4:32 left (27-10), but the point after attempt went awry.
Daingerfield got into the end zone on an unlikely scenario. People’s threw a Daingerfield runner for a loss on a third-down play at the 14, and on fourth and 8, Parker connected with Reign Wallace, who caught the ball in the front corner of the end zone and toe-tapped it for the score with 1:11 left.
Again, the point after was missed, and the game went to the half with Tatum in front, 27-16.
Tatum’s Quincy Davis intercepted Parker with six minutes left in the third quarter, setting Tatum up at Daingerfield’s 43. Williams converted a key third-and-3 at the Tigers’ 10, and after recovering their own fumble, they were in third down at the 9.
Adcock’s first pass attempt of the game didn’t come until 3:40 left in the third, but another touchdown happened on the next play, a 9-yard run by Howard, his second score of the night. Hines hit the extra point out of Adcock’s hold and put Tatum in front, 34-16.
That was the only score of the third quarter.
Tatum’s only score if the fourth quarter was a 20-yard run by George, and combined with Hines’ extra point, put the Eagles in front, 41-16.
Daingerfield did score two fourth quarter TDs, but never really brought Tatum a real threat late.
