THE FLYOVER | Our round-up, with PT outlasting Henderson, a pair of big returns made the difference for Carthage, and Troup — well, they’re just stomping people

K.J. Edwards is back in the Carthage lineup (um, ask Athens). Arp went elk-hunting and got a few. Troup is apparently aiming to score 1,000 points this season; don’t laugh, they might just do it. Leverett’s Chapel got a district win.

Pine Tree and Henderson? Don’t count them out just yet.

It’s always a busy night of high school football in Texas, but Friday was a big one – and we’re starting to separate the pretenders from the contenders. It’s looking like almost all of the programs in the ETBlitz.com coverage area have a chance to get into the playoffs.

Henderson’s hopes did take a bit of a dent last night, and Pine Tree’s got a lift, as the Pirates went to Lions Stadium and came away with a 49-21 win. The top-ranked team in Class 4A, Division I – that’d be the Carthage Bulldogs – got into a track meet with Athens, and Athens went down, 61-56, after a big performance by Edwards, his first action in several weeks after injury.

Troup defended its No. 6-in-the-state ranking quite nicely, going on the road for a 69-31 win at New Diana. Arp also had a good road trip, dealing the Elkhart Elks a 53-0 loss. LC, our only six-man program, kept its playoff hopes alive by absolutely walloping Savoy, 70-24.

You may have seen these stories on ETBlitz.com on Friday and Saturday:

• Kilgore won its game at Lindale going away, 49-29, and here’s Joe Hale’s account of that game: RED HEAT! | Brooks blisters Lindale defense for 4 TD passes, Kilgore crushes Eagles, 49-29.
• Clayton Fletcher covered Gladewater’s home win over Tatum in District 8-3A, Division I: BEARS ARE FOR REAL | Gladewater wins again, but Tatum not out of playoff hunt.
• Sabine put up a big fight, but White Oak managed to outlast the Cardinals, 41-34. Our story, by Jeremy Newlin: SABINE MAKES WHITE OAK SWEAT… but Roughnecks hold on for win.

And as for Henderson, Pine Tree, Carthage, Arp, Troup, and LC, well… Let’s do The Flyover.

Pine Tree 49, Henderson 21: There were a couple of outlying stories in this game, coming in: 1.) The obvious: the two are rivals in District 9-4A, Division I, competing for one of four playoff spots, and time rapidly dwindling down in this 2025 regular season. And 2.) Henderson senior running back Jesstin “Meaty” Starling was 220 yards away from breaking the school’s all-time career rushing yardage record, and also needed 11 touchdowns to break the program’s all-time rush TD record, both held by Joe Wylie, and set in the early 1960s.

The district that so many have referred to as “The District of Doom” has claimed many victims over the years: teams that were “supposed” to make the playoffs, or “should” have made it, but not for this, or that. Both the Lions, coached by Ricky Meeks in his first season, and coach Jason Bachman’s Pirates had and still have promise, and even with this result, the door is still open for Henderson to get in.

At this point, it’s anyone’s game. Kilgore is unbeaten in district after knocking off Lindale Friday night, and KHS has only Palestine (winless) and Mabank (one win) remaining on its schedule. Both Henderson and Pine Tree have to play Chapel Hill and Lindale – Henderson has its open date next week, and Pine Tree has already had its break. The Pirates finish up the regular season with Palestine.

The Pirates (4-3 overall, 2-1 in district play) took a 3-0 lead on Julian Ibarra’s 37-yard field goal with 8:06 left in the first quarter.

Henderson followed with Vince Howard finding Lemarion Coleman for a 22-yard gain, working the Lions into position for a field goal of their own. Ivan Navarro, though, had a rare miss, leaving the Pirates in front, 3-0.

Pine Tree, who was bolstered by quarterback Colton Croft and a strong running game all night, appeared to have scored a touchdown on its next drive, but a rare offensive pass interference was called. Henderson would force a 38-yard field goal attempt by Ibarra, and then even that got blocked by the Lions’ Jordan Ervin. Things were not going the Pirates’ way.

And then, they began to change.

On the next Henderson possession, Pine Tree pass rushers were almost on quarterback Blake Meeks (coach Meeks’ son – the Lions rotate between Vince Howard and Meeks), and he got rid of the ball, was flagged for intentional grounding. The Lions’ Macen Jones had to punt from his own end zone.

The result, ultimately, was the game’s first touchdown. Pine Tree, in third and long, pulled off a trick play that worked: Croft threw the ball slightly backwards to receiver Bosston Johnson, who then threw downfield to Rashaad Wofford, who caught the ball behind the Henderson defense and scored with 1:52 left in the first quarter, a 39-yard touchdown pass that gave PT a 10-0 lead that it would never relinquish.

As for Starling, he started strong, but wasn’t going to score 11 touchdowns in a single game – he did end up with two, so he’s nine away from breaking that record of Wylie’s with two games left in the regular season. Starling had most of his yards in the first half. He finished with 106 yards on 23 carries. Pine Tree’s defense made stopping, or at least slowing, Starling a focal point in the second half.

He scored on Henderson’s next drive, a 3-yard run, and that got the Lions within three (10-7) with 9 ½ minutes left in the half.

The Pirates answered right back, a 27-yard touchdown pass from Croft to Ashton Valentine. Ibarra, who was a busy young man Friday night, hit the extra point and put PT back up by 10 (17-7). That touchdown came almost exactly a minute on the play clock after Henderson’s.

Dalan Montgomery forced a fumble on Henderson’s next drive, and Pine Tree’s Aiden Smith recovered at the Lions’ 34-yard-line. Roger Attaway reeled off a 23-yard run to put the Pirates in business again at Henderson’s 11, and two plays later, Ja’Karius Timmons was standing in the end zone after a 3-yard run. Ibarra’s point after gave the Pirates a 24-7 advantage and seemed to stun the crowd – maybe on both sides.

Henderson’s offense came back on to the field and went to work quickly: back-to-back carries by Starling gave the Lions a first down, and then a familiar connection to Henderson fans – Howard to Lemarion Coleman, this time for 44 yards, and a first down at the Pirates’ 2. Henderson put Starling in the “wildcat” formation, lined up at quarterback, and he scored on a 3-yard run. The touchdown and Navarro’s extra point got Henderson once again within 10 (24-14).

PT would get one more first-half score, though, a 25-yard field goal by Ibarra, and went to the half up 13 points (27-14).

Big running back Jayden Bishop scored for Henderson on a 39-yard run on what was supposed to be a fourth-down conversion attempt that went much better for the Lions, and got them within six points (27-21).

But Bishop’s score, his sixth of the season, would be the last for Henderson Friday night, unfortunately for the Lions and their fans.

Croft, a steady hand all night, led the Pirates back downfield for a drive that ended with a 1-yard run by Attaway. Coach Bachman elected to go for two and the Pirates got it, a pass from Croft to Valentine, and a 35-21 advantage.

After the PT defense stopped Henderson, as the third-quarter clock was running out, it appeared the Pirates wouldn’t run another play. But then they quickly got to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball with about eight seconds left. Croft hurled the ball to his left, down Henderson’s sideline, and Johnson caught it, deep into Henderson territory, the final play of the quarter.

Attaway scored on a 15-yard run just after that, and with just over 11 minutes left in the game, Pine Tree had pulled away, 42-21.

Calvin Casey scored on a 2-yard run later in the fourth, the final score of the game.

Again, Henderson has an open date this coming Friday, and Pine Tree will host Chapel Hill.

Carthage 61, Athens 56 (at Carthage): Running back K.J. Edwards returned to the Carthage lineup Friday night, just in time for the Bulldogs’ matchup against No. 10 Athens.

Edwards gave a sizzling-hot performance. And that was good, because the Texas A&M verbal commit, along with his buddy, quarterback Jett Surratt, helped to save Carthage’s bacon.

Athens, a program that moved down just a step from 4A-DI to DI in the last UIL realignment (based on enrollment), has been getting better the last few years, and the Hornets would give the defending state champs a good test, much like Chapel Hill a few weeks ago.

But Edwards, who’d been injured and missed most of Carthage’s season so far, put on his Superman cape. He finished with 165 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns and also had a touchdown catch, a big night of 231 total yards. Also returning: wide receiver Junior Henderson, who made his season debut: five catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. Jaden Jeffress had another good night, with three catches for 96 yards.

Surratt went 20-of-28 for 273 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, and also caught a pass, a 20-yard touchdown from Carson Crawford, the ‘Dawgs’ linebacker and tight end, a verbal commit to Colorado.

In the fourth quarter, with a third down and 21 at Athens’ 21, Surratt threw to backward to Crawford, then got free downfield. Crawford threw it back to Surratt and the quarterback caught it and scored, his first-ever touchdown reception (he’s a senior). That gave Carthage (7-0) a 54-42 lead with six minutes left.

The game was close, and back-and-forth, but Athens’ last touchdown, a 7-yarder from quarterback David Richardson to Jayvian Taylor, didn’t come until 10 seconds left. Carthage was up 61-49 after a TD run by Benny Smith.

After the final Athens touchdown, the Hornets tried an onside kick, but Carthage recovered and knelt out the handful of seconds that were remaining.

Richardson was big in defeat: 20-of-34 for 375 yards and an eye-opening SEVEN touchdown passes. He also had 86 yards rushing, and that led Athens.

The Hornets host Rusk this coming Friday, while Carthage goes back on the road to face Bullard. Coach Scott Surratt’s ‘Dawgs have three games left: at Bullard on Friday, home against Rusk on Oct. 31, and at Brownsboro on Nov. 7. Not being arrogant on behalf of the defending state champions, but it’s hardly fearsome what’s left: Bullard is currently 3-4, and Rusk and Brownsboro are each 1-6.

Troup 69, New Diana 31 (at Elkhart): Home, road, in a Whataburger parking lot, on top of an aircraft carrier, the Sahara Desert – name it, and the venue doesn’t seem to matter, the opponent doesn’t seem to matter. Troup’s Tigers seem to almost always hit 42 points.

Coach Sam Wells’ Tigers are averaging just over 50 points a game. In eight games played so far, they’ve scored at least 42 points in seven of them, the outlier being a game against Rusk in which they only had 20.

On top of that, Troup (8-0) has allowed only 91 points; just 11.3 points a game.

A similar fate happened to last year’s District 11-3A, Division II champions on Friday.

New Diana got rolled, and I mean ROLLED, for 69 points. Now, Troup did allow way more than the usual 11 per game. It was a shootout for a while, but ultimately, the Tigers took over, and won big.

So, they were ranked No. 6 in the state poll, the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 3A-Division II state poll, last week. Regardless of whether or not a move up happens, Troup is looking down at everyone else in its district – EXCEPT the West Rusk Raiders.

Troup will host coach Rafe Mata’s Raiders this coming Friday, a HUGE showdown in 11-3A, DII, a showdown likely for the district championship. West Rusk is 6-1 overall and 3-0 in district play; Troup is 4-0, but hasn’t had its open date yet.

If Troup wins the game, that just about gives the Tigers the district title. After West Rusk, they have an open date Oct. 31, then visit Buffalo (currently 3-4) the final week of the season.

If West Rusk wins, that could be interesting. The Raiders would have two games left, as well: home against Buffalo Oct. 31 – and then on the road at dangerous Arp on Nov. 7.

We’re not there yet. There is that big, big game between West Rusk and Troup at Troup this Friday (of course we’ll be there) and we’ll see how things play out.

Troup quarterback Josh Childress did it again, another four-touchdown game. Childress went 11-of-15, missing only four passes, for 263 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions at New Diana Friday night. And Cameron Hollie was a huge target: seven catches for 184 yards and three of the four scores. James Pierce had the other, and he had three catches for 73 yards, as well. Dee Hollie had the other catch, for 6 yards.

Brett Wells had one of the biggest nights of anyone in the ETBlitz.com coverage area: 225 yards and five touchdowns on 19 carries, averaging 11.8 points a game.

Dee Hollie had a nice night, too: just three carries, but 106 yards and a score.

As a team, Troup ran for a ridiculous 426 yards and the six touchdowns – 689 TOTAL YARDS for Troup in the game.

Also in that 426 rushing yards: Childress for 27 yards, Aiden Thibideaux for 57, and Pierce for 11.

Wells and Caden Starkey each had nine tackles; Luke Skillern had seven, and Noble Kendrick, six. Troup had six tackles for loss: Starkey had two of them, and Jude Vega, A.J. Dewberry, Skillern and Dee Hollie each had one.

Skillern and Dewberry each had a sack, and Cam Hollie had an interception that he returned 38 yards.

Troup punted only once in the game.

Arp 53, Elkhart 0: Waiting in the wings in 11-3A, with just one loss, are the dangerous Arp Tigers.

Arp blasted Elkhart, 53-0, Friday night, and in the process, a huge game for Tanner Hunt, just a freshman.

Hunt scored four times and ran for 168 yards, all on just 12 carries, in the rout of the Elks.

Arp (7-1, 3-1) ran for 282 yards as a team, and six touchdowns: Hunt’s four, and one each by Ty Langley and Josh Smith. Smith had 65 yards on seven carries and the TD, Langley 21 and the score. And Zane Borque had 28 yards.

CP Pierce caught four balls for 70 yards and a touchdown, and Borque, who splits time with Langley at quarterback, caught an 8-yard TD. Wyatt Johnson and tight end Jaxon Schminkey each had a catch for 14 yards.

Defensively, Smith had 12 tackles, Isaac Poe 11, and Zyon Washington had six, two for loss.

The Tigers had no sacks, but were in the Elkhart backfield all night: Washington, Schminkey, Brendon Dark, Tripp Durrett, Chris Jenkins and Tristan Phipps each had a quarterback hurry.

Smith had a caused fumble and Durrett had the recovery.

Arp hosts Winona this Friday, visits New Diana Oct. 31, then hosts West Rusk in the very-large regular season finale on Nov. 7.