Published: October 31, 2009 05:17 pm      

Friday Night Football Recaps

Staff Reports



The Westwood Panthers kept their playoff hopes alive with a 42-35 win over Fairfield Friday night at Panther Stadium.

Westwood (2-2, 5-4) heads into its final regular season game at Palestine needing another win to have a chance at the playoffs.

The Westwood offense racked up 427 yards — 301 rushing and 126 passing — against a winless Fairfield team (0-4, 0-9).

Both teams accounted for 33 points in the fourth quarter as Westwood held off the Eagles.

Fairfield took advantage of a fumble in the Westwood end zone for a touchdown to cut the lead to 29-21 early in the fourth quarter.

Westwood’s Cameron Shead responded with a 52-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 35-21. Shead had a game-high 156 yards on 16 carries.

But Fairfield came right back on the next play with a 58-yard run by Anthony Price off the option to cut the lead back to seven points.

In the back-and-forth game, Westwood countered with a four-minute drive ending with Tevin Watson finding Domanick Turner on third and long for a 22-yard touchdown catch. Turner had three touchdown receptions and rushed for a touchdown in the win.

Fairfield scored one more time with 45 seconds left but Westwood recovered on onside kick to win the game.

Watson finished with 126 passing yards and 99 rushing yards, including a 23-yard touchdown run.



Athens 29, Palestine 14



ATHENS — The Athens Hornets defeated Palestine 29-14 Friday night at Bruce Field as the Hornets clinched a playoff spot and the Wildcats still have to wait.

The win puts the Hornets (3-6, 3-1) in a three-way tie for first place with Palestine (5-4, 3-1) and Brownsboro (7-1, 3-1). Westwood trails at 2-2.

Athens, however, can finish no worse than 3-2 and owns the tie-breaker over Westwood and now Palestine.

Palestine however will go into the final district game still searching for a playoff spot. The Wildcats can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Westwood next week at Wildcat Stadium. However, if Westwood wins, it will be a three-way tie for second place and come down to a tiebreaker for the remaining two playoff spots.

The game wasn’t settled until the last six minutes, when the Hornets turned a Wildcat turnover into a touchdown. Wildcat quarterback Olin Terry dropped back to pass on third-and-17 and was pressured and hit by Austin Fincher and Desmond Bowie, causing a fumble recovered by Matt Jordan at the Wildcat 7.

Xavier Harris put the ball in the end zone on the next play to put the game away when, just moments earlier, the Wildcats were driving with a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

A big reason for the Hornets’ success was keeping Terry from burning them. Terry had been lighting up district defenses but was held to 20 yards on 12 carries and no rushing touchdowns.

The Hornets led by as much as 22-7 before the Wildcats cut the lead to eight on E.J. Spurlock’s 15-yard touchdown catch from Terry with 9:20 left in the game. It was their second scoring connection of the game.

Jack Barkley threw a pair of touchdown passes for the Hornets. He hit Randall Gamble on a 20-yard pass in the second quarter that gave Athens a 10-7 lead, and after Justin Hofstetter's 14-yard scoring run in the third quarter, found Kendall Sanders on a 13-yard pass near the end of the third quarter.



Cayuga 43, Alto 36 (OT)



ALTO — In a game between two top 10 teams and the District 20-A title on the line, the Cayuga Wildcats outlasted Alto 43-36 in overtime Friday night.

Cayuga (5-0, 7-1) got the ball first in overtime and scored on three plays when Malcome Kennedy found Billy Duncan for a 16-yard touchdown pass. Melvin Shead added the extra point and the Wildcats lead 43-36.

On Alto’s possession, the Yellowjackets (5-1, 8-2) started with a pair of illegal procedure penalties to move them back to the 35-yard line. Alto managed 9 yards on the next three plays and then on fourth and 11, quarterback Javante Jones threw an interception to Traylon Shead for the Cayuga win.

The game was tied 28-all late in the fourth quarter when Cayuga scored on quarterback Malcome Kennedy’s 4-yard keeper with 55 seconds left. Kennedy added the two-point conversion to give Cayuga a 36-28 lead.

But the Yellowjackets marched the ball down the field on two long runs by Jones and a 15-yard Cayuga penalty. With seven seconds left, Jones scored on 1-yard run and then he found Josh Randuloph for the two-point conversion pass to tie the game.

Traylon Shead rushed for 113 yards on 18 carries. He had two receiving touchdowns as Cayuga used some misdirection, throwing a shuttle pass to Shak Jenkins at the line of scrimmage and then Jenkins pitched to Shead both times for scores.

Kennedy threw for 123 yards on 7-of-11 passing and four touchdowns. On the ground, the Cayuga quarterback rushed for 108 yards and one touchdown. Kennedy also caught a touchdown pass, on a 26-yard trick play from Billy Duncan.



Grapeland 39, Cushing 0



GRAPELAND — Ta’Coyus Walker made his last night at Sandie Stadium one to remember.

The Grapeland senior, playing his last home game, caught three touchdowns passes and returned another one for a touchdown Friday night in Grapeland’s 39-0 win over Cushing.

Walker had seven catches for 81 yards including touchdown catches of 22, 14 and 19 yards from Cameron Boyd, all coming in the first half.

Walker then returned an interception in the second quarter for a 41-yard touchdown. Walker had three interceptions on the night and the Sandies had five interceptions as a team.

Boyd was 12-of-14 passing for 199 yards and also threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Reshawd Shephard.

Donte Brown had his second straight 100-yard game, rushing for 106 yards on 16 carries. Jonathan Hazley had 52 yards including a touchdown in the third quarter.



Avalon 71, Oakwood 49

OAKWOOD — The Oakwood Panthers bid for a playoff spot came to an end Friday night after a fourth-quarter rally by Avalon.

Avalon scored 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat Oakwood 71-49.

The loss drops Oakwood (6-3) to 2-2 in district, tied with Avalon for third. With Trinidad losing to Penelope Friday night, Oakwood would not own the tiebreaker even if the Panthers finish in a second-place tie. Oakwood finishes the season next week at home against Penelope.

Oakwood took a 49-44 lead in the third quarter when Randall Dunn scored on a 29-yard run.

But once the fourth quarter started, it was all Avalon. Jeremy Knight threw four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead Avalon to the win. Knight had eight touchdown passes for the game.

Oakwood scored the first two touchdowns of the game on a James Edwards’ 38-yard touchdown run and a 45-yard touchdown pass from Eric Ballard to Kealyne Durham.

Avalon responded with two scores of its own to tie the game at 14-all. The two teams traded touchdowns throughout the first half as the Panthers led 37-32 at halftime.

Avalon took its first lead of the game at the beginning of the third quarter, but a 27-yard pass from Edwards to Durham gave the Panthers a 43-38 lead. The teams again traded touchdowns with Dunn’s run being the last time the Panthers found the end zone.

Edwards led the Panthers with 88 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Durham had four catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns.



Arp 47, Elkhart 0



ARP — The Elkhart Elks lost to Arp, the No. 1 team in Class 2A, 47-0 Friday night.

The Elks (0-4, 1-8) were held to 40 yards of offense against one of the top defenses in East Texas.

Arp (4-0, 9-0) scored on seven of its nine possessions, including two touchdowns by both Lavocheya Cooper and Michael Wade.

Elkhart finishes the season at home Friday night against Frankston.





Garrison 38, Frankston 19

FRANKSTON — The Indians playoff hopes came to an end Friday night after a 38-19 loss to Garrison.

Frankston (1-3, 4-5) got down quickly to Garrison (3-1, 7-2) as the Bulldogs got out to a 31-0 lead.

Frankston had its best passing game of the season as Jamal Allen threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Dedtrick Smith had three catches for 117 yards and a touchdown and Jabralon Allen had four catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.