WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ, FRIDAY EDITION | A great high school football menu tonight
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cozy Coffee Station is our ad partner for Wake Up!, and we support them, of course. But the ETBlitz staff also grabs coffee, sodas, tea and snacks at Cozy Coffee Station for the most simple reason in the world: because they’re good! And when something is a good product, you tell your friends, right? So we’re here to tell you that CCS has a fantastic menu, and they have two East Texas locations: in Kilgore, at 110 Midtown Plaza, and in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North. And with Gilmer playing football at Kilgore tonight, we might get a measurement on the Richter Scale. Go by and see Oscar, Ashley and their staff at Cozy Coffee Station. You’ll be glad you did. Check out their menu online at Home | Cozy Coffee Station.
As it turned out, four of the 15 programs in the coverage area of ETBlitz.com took the field Thursday night.
Two of them, West Rusk and Gladewater, faced each other at Gladewater’s Jack V. Murphy Stadium. White Oak journeyed to Quitman — and now Quitman wishes they hadn’t — and Overton hosted Simms (James) Bowie. And to say that didn’t go well for Bowie would be the understatement of the season.
After trailing by a touchdown, West Rusk fired it up in the third quarter, tied the game at 8-all, and then won, 15-14, after getting a second touchdown and then blocking a Gladewater extra point. You can read our story by Shawn Christopher right here: WEST RUSK ESCAPES | Raiders edge Gladewater, 15-14.
White Oak got another just absolutely ridiculous, stupid-good performance from quarterback Jaxsen Ludlow, and from a lot of others, namely Tysen McClain.
Ludlow had a hand in SEVEN touchdown passes. He threw five and ran for two more, plus hit over the 300-yard passing mark, and ran for over 100 yards.
And McClain had five catches for 202 yards — yep, he went over the 200-yard mark — and four of the five were touchdown catches. White Oak routed Quitman, 63-13.
And here’s our story: WHITE OAK IS KILLIN’ IT | Ludlow accounts for SEVEN TDs, McClain over 200 yards receiving in 63-13 win at Quitman.
So, all of our other programs, 11 of them, to be exact, are in action tonight.
Gilmer (1-1) at Kilgore (1-1): Probably the game from our area that’s getting the most play across the state is Gilmer (1-1), ranked No. 10 in Class 4A-Division II, playing at Kilgore tonight at 7:30. Coach Clint Fuller’s Bulldogs are also 1-1 — that loss was a close one to top-ranked Carthage — and likely remember the ending to last year’s game very well. Kilgore took a late lead, only to see Gilmer score and slip past them, then time ran out with Kilgore inside the Gilmer 10-yard-line.
Kilgore reached the state title game last year, losing there to Celina, and Gilmer is two years removed from winning the 4A-DII state title. Should be a great one at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadiium tonight.
Other games on the schedule:
- Jacksonville (0-2) at Henderson (1-1): A 7:30 p.m. kickoff, following homecoming festivities, at Henderson ISD Lion Stadium, the first home game for head coach Ricky Meeks, whose Lions routed Liberty-Eylau a week ago.
- Liberty-Eylau (0-2) at Carthage (1-0): Coach Scott Surratt’s Bulldogs, the No. 1 team in 4A-DII since, oh, August of last year, have been off two weeks after that season-opening battle with Kilgore. That’s a good thing, because Carthage was banged up, Surratt told me, and needed time to heal. Something tells me L-E could have a big problem on its hands at 7:30 tonight.
- Dallas Carter (0-2) at Pine Tree (0-2): If you’d told our staff in August that Pine Tree would be 0-2 at this point, I’m not sure many would have believed that. Coach Jason Bachman and the Pirates will also celebrate homecoming tonight, and judging from what we’ve seen from Dallas Carter so far this year (a three-point loss at Van and a 42-point loss to highly-ranked Panther Creek), I’m kind of thinking the Pirates get win No. 1 tonight. It’s also a 7:30 p.m. kick.
- Troup (2-0) at Harleton (1-1): Troup’s Tigers need to be CAREFUL. This could be the ultimate trap game. After losing big to Arp in week one, Harleton bounced back in a big way: the Wildcats’ quarterback, Drake Phillips, was named the Built Ford Tough Player of the Week in 2A last week; Phillips ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries and had two interceptions on defense, one that he took back for a touchdown in a win over Queen City. It’s a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
- Arp (2-0) at Mineola (1-1), 7:30 p.m.: Ditto for the Arp Tigers, who have dominated their competition through two weeks, but Mineola doesn’t look like chopped liver. The Yellowjackets beat Scurry-Rosser by two touchdowns a week ago.
- Newton (1-1) at Tatum (1-1), 7 p.m.: A rematch of a good game last year, this could be a watershed, or benchmark, moment for coach Whitney Keeling’s Eagles. Dealing Newton, the No. 5 team in the 3A-DI state poll, a second loss this season could be the confidence-builder Tatum needs to go on a BIG run.
- New Diana (0-2) at Sabine (0-2), 7:30 p.m.: Both of these programs have very tough schedules, not just tough non-district schedules, but tough SCHEDULES. One of them is guaranteed to win tonight. Is it Sabine’s time?
- Leverett’s Chapel (1-1) at Longview Christian Heritage (0-2), 7:30 p.m.: LC got its own confidence back with a win at home last week, just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. Coach Keith Hughes’ Lions will now have to avoid a possible road upset against a Heritage team that is better than its record.
Be sure to come back to ETBlitz.com later for a rundown on all of these games, and we’ll do our best to try and update you on scores on our Facebook page.
