THE FLYOVER, LET’S GO! | Troup bodyslams Edgewood; Overton sticks it to Winona; G’water loses a shootout; Beckville, too; ‘Necks fall at Winnsboro
It’s the second week of Texas high school football’s regular season, but the very FIRST edition of ETBlitz.com’s The Flyover this year.
The Flyover is our roundup of games in one story — think of it as our version of ESPN’s Chris Berman doing his “Fastest Two Minutes” NFL highlights.
Glad you’re here. Let’s go: the FLYOVER!
Troup 63, Edgewood 21: They’ve made all kinds of movies about revenge. Some turn out pretty well for the ones looking for it – but many more don’t.
We have no way to know what Troup High School athletes Trevor and Desh Golightly were thinking Friday night at Edgewood.
But we’re pretty sure they left happy. And we’re also pretty sure that when the state polls come out this week, Troup will still be the No. 1 team in Class 3A, Division I.
The Golightlys, who moved from Edgewood to Troup, recently were declared ineligible to play by a district committee, appealed that decision to the University Interscholastic League, and got relief when the powers-that-be at the UIL reversed the decision.
The immediate result: well, it wasn’t good for Edgewood on Friday.
Troup, which led 35-7 at halftime, demolished Edgewood, 63-21, and Trevor Golightly stomped a mudhole in his former team and walked it dry: 13-of-16 through the air for 251 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
Brett Wells? He was Brett Wells, doing his thing: 110 yards and three touchdowns.
Cameron Hollie hauled in three of those five TD passes from Golightly – Williams finished with six catches for 96 yards and the trio of scores.
James Pierce had four catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, and Mataes Lee had the other score, a 6-yard catch.
Desh Golightly caught two passes from his brother for 37 yards.
In addition to wells, quarterback Golightly had 27 yards on four carries; Cameron Walker had 13 yards on five carries; Pierce had a carry for 2 yards; Jayden Minor had two carries for 8 yards; and Aidan Thibodeaux had two for 5 yards and one of them was for a touchdown.
The Tigers’ defense was spot on, with 10 tackles for loss. Bryson Needham had three of those; Lee and Tanner Wilson had two each.
Troup kept the pressure on Edgewood all night: five sacks, by five different players: Needham, Lee, Wilson, Thibodeaux and Pierce.
Pierce and Jacob Hewitt each had an interception; Needham recovered two fumbles and caused one; and Hewitt caused one.
Troup (2-0), who has outscored Diboll and Edgewood by the combined score of 117-42, returns home this Friday night to face Grace Community.
Pittsburg 52, Gladewater 41: When Gladewater’s Landen King returned a kickoff 95 yards with a score, late in the game Friday night against visiting Pittsburg, he gave the Bears a 41-38 lead with under four minutes to play.
It looked, for all intent an purpose, that Gladewater had won.
But Pittsburg had a play or two yet to make, and a 10-yard run by Tamar Palmer with three minutes left put PHS back in the lead, a 45-41 score.
Tomarion Willis managed to return an interception for a touchdown with 2:03 left to play, giving the Pirates the lead by 11 (the eventual final score, 52-41).
Gladewater (1-1) got the ball back, of course, with just under two minutes left, but down two scores, they were forced to throw and eventually, it led to a turnover on downs – Pittsburg grabbed the win.
The Bears, by the way, trailed 14-0 after the first quarter and outscored Pittsburg 21-3 in the second.
Pittsburg ran for 193 yards and six touchdowns in the win; quarterback Kevin Johnson went 10-of-18 for 95 yards, but his real skill was running the ball at least this week. Johnson ran for four scores and 182 yards on 22 carries.
For Gladewater, Cameron Jackson ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Quarterback Achilles Hess ran for 34 yards and also ran for two TDs. And Marshaun Stevenson had 66 yards and a score on six carries. Lucas Vasquez chipped in with 57 yards on 13 carries.
Hess completed six-of-12 passes for 65 yards, and threw an interception.
Destin Sheridan had three catches for 35 yards, and King had two for 27.
Anthony Sanchez led Gladewater’s defensive unit with 10 tackles. Sheridan had nine.
Coach Jermaine Lewis’s Bears visit West Rusk, another ETBlitz.com-area program, on Thursday night. West Rusk lost a close one to Diboll last weekend.
Winnsboro 43, White Oak 12: The Roughnecks have also played a tough schedule, and a trip to Winnsboro didn’t work out as they’d hoped last weekend.
Winnsboro quarterback Ky Caddell was clicking: 13-of-17 for 208 yards and a touchdown pass (he did throw two interceptions to White Oak’s Blake Lyke and Angel Mejia).
The Winnsboro players that did the most damage: receiver Kash Noble, and running backs Catch Pope and Neree Castleberry. Castleberry had 158 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, and Pope scored twice, as well, and had 111 yards on 13 carries.
Noble was on the receiving end of those Caddell passes: seven for 100 yards and a score.
For White Oak, in spite of giving up 43 points, the defense had some standouts. Mejia had the pick and four tackles; Cal Jester had 13 tackles, one for loss and forced a fumble; Caleb Watson had 10 tackles, one for loss and a forced fumble; Jacob Watson had six tackles; Tysen McClain had four, to go along with a fumble recovery; Lyke had the interception; and Isaiah Mayes had a fumble recovery.
On offense for the ‘Necks, Mason Wright went 10-of-17 for 151 yards, a touchdown (to T.J. Jackson) and an interception. Jackson finished with five catches for 85 yards and the score. Jester had four catches for 53 yards, and Mejia and Chase Clinnard each had a catch: Mejia for 15 yards and Clinnard for 4.
Cameron Vail led the ‘Necks in rushing (43 yards on 14 carries) and scored a TD. Jackson had six carries for 23 yards.
This week, the Roughnecks host Arp (2-0), another ETBlitz.com-area program, on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Overton 66, Winona 21: Yes, you read it right.
Overton absolutely steamrolled over Winona in the Mustangs’ home opener at Coach Chester Roy Stadium.
Overton quarterback Brooks Davis looked like former Mustangs signal-caller Bryce Still out there. Davis completed 22-of-38 passes for 305 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
The Mustangs (2-0), having blistered both Harleton and Winona by the combined score of 104-23, play a non-district game at old rival Carlisle this Friday, a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Against Winona, Gabe Miller and Justin Weir, a longtime one-two punch for coach Scotty Laymance, rose to the occasion yet again. Miller had 178 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries, and Weir had 89 on 10 carries, and also had a touchdown.
Davis completed passes to six different receivers: Jacob Osburn and Carmelo Bryant were the high men. Osburn had a huge night: six catches for 107 yards and three touchdowns. Bryant also had a big night: 104 yards and a score on six catches, as well. And they both averaged right at 17 yards per catch.
Jackson Furlow caught a TD pass, as well, as part of six catches for 49 yards.
Jorge Espinoza had two catches for 13 yards. Miller had one for 27, and Ethan Smith had one for 5.
Overton’s defense had six tackles for loss; Kash Holleman had two of them. Bryden Gaytan had 10 tackles, and Holleman had nine. Sophomore Cannon Cox had eight.
The Mustangs’ D notched three sacks: Holleman, Brendan Spiecher, and Levi Allred each had one. Gunnar Whitfield had two quarterback hurries.
Wyatt Mosley had an interception, and Smith, Weir and Kipton Wyer each had a fumble recovery; Isaih Tilley had a caused fumble.
Frankston 48, Beckville 40: Things unfortunately didn’t go nearly as well for Beckville’s Bearcats, who got into a scorefest with the Frankston Indians.
Both Reese Davis and Wesdon Harris played quarterback for the ‘Cats. Davis ran for 47 yards and two touchdowns, and Harris threw two touchdown passes, and finished with 76 passing yards.
Gabe Johnson and Braxdan Allred were on the receiving end for most of those throws: Johnson caught four balls for 51 yards and a score, and Allred had five catches for 55 yards and caught Harris’s other TD pass.
It seems coach Cody Ross’s Bearcats, who dropped to 0-2 with the loss, always play a very difficult non-district schedule, and so far, that’s been the case, as they’ve faced Joaquin and Frankston. The Bearcats will host Harmony this Friday, a 7 p.m. kickoff.