Scoop27
10-25-2014, 04:40 PM
By Butch McReynolds sports@thefacts.com
FREEPORT — Needville junior running back Dedrick Ketchum turned into a one-man wrecking crew Friday night against Brazosport.
He had a game-high 240 yards on 37 carries and three touchdowns as the visiting Bluejays came from behind to win the team’s first meeting with the Exporters 35-28 at Hopper Field.
A fired up Exporter crew, playing before a large homecoming crowd, jumped off to a 14-0 lead after one quarter behind the fast wheels of junior quarterback Navontae Darthard, who scored rushing touchdowns from 6 and 71 yards out.
Needville (1-2, 2-5), then unleashed a 65-yard drive and pulled within a touchdown on a 12-yard scamper by the hard running Ketchum.
Brazosport (1-2, 2-6) answered that second-quarter touchdown when Darthard darted home from 11 yards out. That put the finishing touches on a 40-yard drive set up by a 35-yard kick off return to the Needville 40 by Kedrian Young.
Exporter running back Jeremiah Credit (12 carries for 70 yards) galloped 29 yards on the first play and then Darthard zipped home the final 11 yards.
Darthard finished the night with an outstanding game, dashing through Bluejays for 207 yards on 16 carries.
Needville countered with a 65-yard scoring toss from quarterback Logan Archer to a wide open Jordan Harris with 2:11 left in the opening half.
On that play there was not an Exporter defender within 20 yards of Harris as he grabbed the long pass and easily ran to paydirt.
Moments later, Needville took over with 58 seconds left in the half and went on to score the tying touchdown when Archer hit Mason Wheeler with a 34-yard strike with one second showing on the clock.
Although it appeared that perhaps Wheeler had pushed off to gain an advantage while the ball was in the air, the Exporters lost their argument and the game was knotted at the half, 21-21.
The Bluejay strategy was fairly simple in the second half — hand the ball to Ketchum, who had blasted off 78 yards in the first half on 14 carries.
In fact, there were only two plays from scrimmage that Ketchum was not involved with the entire second half, both of them rushing losses by quarterback Archer.
Ketchum gained all 56 yards in a drive set up by Brazosport’s only lost fumble of the night (fumbled six times) and romped home from a yard out to give Needville the lead for good, 28-21.
Ketchum then kept burning the Exporter defense the next time the Bluejays had the ball, rocking off 74 yards and finalizing the deal with a 5-yard run with 11:30 left in the contest.
Down by a 35-21 count, the Exporters tried to come back behind the swift wheels of Darthard, who bolted off a beautiful 58-yard run to set up a two-yard touchdown by freshman Ameer King (53 yards rushing) to narrow the gap to 35-28 with 9:41 left.
Brazosport still had a golden opportunity moments later when the Bluejays were forced to punt in Exporter territory. However, a bad snap resulted in a 34-yard loss.
However the Exporter running attack went backward and a fourth and 17 pass was short of being caught ending the gift drive.
Brazosport, which travels to El Campo next, forced the Bluejays to punt and had one last chance from its own 23. Moments later a 14-yard run by Darthard gave the Exporters a first down at their own 44. Then one play later an errant pass by Darthard was intercepted with 50 seconds left to seal the deal.
FREEPORT — Needville junior running back Dedrick Ketchum turned into a one-man wrecking crew Friday night against Brazosport.
He had a game-high 240 yards on 37 carries and three touchdowns as the visiting Bluejays came from behind to win the team’s first meeting with the Exporters 35-28 at Hopper Field.
A fired up Exporter crew, playing before a large homecoming crowd, jumped off to a 14-0 lead after one quarter behind the fast wheels of junior quarterback Navontae Darthard, who scored rushing touchdowns from 6 and 71 yards out.
Needville (1-2, 2-5), then unleashed a 65-yard drive and pulled within a touchdown on a 12-yard scamper by the hard running Ketchum.
Brazosport (1-2, 2-6) answered that second-quarter touchdown when Darthard darted home from 11 yards out. That put the finishing touches on a 40-yard drive set up by a 35-yard kick off return to the Needville 40 by Kedrian Young.
Exporter running back Jeremiah Credit (12 carries for 70 yards) galloped 29 yards on the first play and then Darthard zipped home the final 11 yards.
Darthard finished the night with an outstanding game, dashing through Bluejays for 207 yards on 16 carries.
Needville countered with a 65-yard scoring toss from quarterback Logan Archer to a wide open Jordan Harris with 2:11 left in the opening half.
On that play there was not an Exporter defender within 20 yards of Harris as he grabbed the long pass and easily ran to paydirt.
Moments later, Needville took over with 58 seconds left in the half and went on to score the tying touchdown when Archer hit Mason Wheeler with a 34-yard strike with one second showing on the clock.
Although it appeared that perhaps Wheeler had pushed off to gain an advantage while the ball was in the air, the Exporters lost their argument and the game was knotted at the half, 21-21.
The Bluejay strategy was fairly simple in the second half — hand the ball to Ketchum, who had blasted off 78 yards in the first half on 14 carries.
In fact, there were only two plays from scrimmage that Ketchum was not involved with the entire second half, both of them rushing losses by quarterback Archer.
Ketchum gained all 56 yards in a drive set up by Brazosport’s only lost fumble of the night (fumbled six times) and romped home from a yard out to give Needville the lead for good, 28-21.
Ketchum then kept burning the Exporter defense the next time the Bluejays had the ball, rocking off 74 yards and finalizing the deal with a 5-yard run with 11:30 left in the contest.
Down by a 35-21 count, the Exporters tried to come back behind the swift wheels of Darthard, who bolted off a beautiful 58-yard run to set up a two-yard touchdown by freshman Ameer King (53 yards rushing) to narrow the gap to 35-28 with 9:41 left.
Brazosport still had a golden opportunity moments later when the Bluejays were forced to punt in Exporter territory. However, a bad snap resulted in a 34-yard loss.
However the Exporter running attack went backward and a fourth and 17 pass was short of being caught ending the gift drive.
Brazosport, which travels to El Campo next, forced the Bluejays to punt and had one last chance from its own 23. Moments later a 14-yard run by Darthard gave the Exporters a first down at their own 44. Then one play later an errant pass by Darthard was intercepted with 50 seconds left to seal the deal.