21-3a

[texasjeremy]

STANDINGS
Rusk 2-0, 5-2 (70-46, 249-187)
Crockett 2-0, 3-4 (58-28, 159-149)
Palestine 1-1, 5-2 (34-26, 186-138)
Diboll 1-1, 3-4 (63-27, 217-126)
Palestine Westwood 0-2, 1-6 (48-81, 142-231)
Huntington 0-2, 1-6 (19-84, 83-209)

WEEK 7 SCORES
Crockett 33 Huntington 13
Palestine 21 Diboll 12
Rusk 56 Palestine Westwood 33

REMAINING SCHEDULES
Crockett: @Palestine, Diboll, @Rusk
Diboll: @Rusk, @Crockett, Westwood
Huntington: Westwood, Rusk, @Palestine
Palestine: Crockett, Westwood, Huntington
Westwood: @Huntington, @Palestine, @Diboll
Rusk: Diboll, @Huntington, Crockett

[texasjeremy]

Palestine holds off Diboll for first district win

10-16-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor


DIBOLL - Get out of their own end zone and run time off the clock.

That was the game plan for Palestine with 10 minutes left in Friday night's game and an eight-point lead when the Wildcats took over at their own 5-yard line after a critical defensive stand.

Palestine ran the game plan to perfection, putting together an 8-minute drive, resulting in a 2-yard touchdown by Cameron Jones as the Wildcats went on to defeat Diboll 21-12 at Lumberjack Stadium.

"This was a great team effort," Palestine head coach Glen Tunstall said. "This is a big win to get back to 1-1 in district and we are still in the hunt for the district championship and a playoff spot."

Palestine (1-1, 5-2) rebounded after a tough loss a week before to Rusk. The win puts Palestine in a tie with Diboll (1-1, 3-4) and a game behind Crockett and Rusk, who are both 2-0 in the district.


"This was a big game for us because of last week," Palestine quarterback Fred Williams said. "We stepped up and came in mentally ready tonight."

Palestine led 14-6 late in the third quarter when Diboll put together a drive, getting the Lumberjacks inside the Palestine 11-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter.

Three plays later and Diboll had a fourth and 4 from the 5-yard line but Diboll quarterback Dillon Tobias threw an incomplete pass in the end zone to give Palestine possession.

"We knew we had to make that stop, there was no way we were going to let them score," Palestine linebacker Gerald Singleton Jr. said.

Singleton had two sacks on a defense that held Diboll to 50 rushing yards.

"Coach (Booker) Bowie had a great game plan," Singleton said. "We played really hard and made the plays when we needed to, so the offense could get the ball back."

Palestine was looking to get out of its own end zone when it took over on downs and Cameron Jones did that when he rushed up the middle for 27 yards.

That started a 14-play drive, all running plays, that lasted over 8 minutes of the fourth quarter. Palestine converted all four third downs it faced on the drive.

"We knew that every first down was important because it ate up clock," Palestine offensive coordinator Tommy Allison said. "We felt we could exploit them on the run and our offensive line did a great job."

On the 50-yard line, Palestine faced a third and 5 when Jones, on the option, took the pitch and went 20 yards down the sideline for the first down.

Five plays later, Palestine faced another third down, this time for 14 yards, when Williams, on a keeper, followed his blockers through the middle for an 18-yard gain and a first down at the 2-yard line.

"We were all up tempo in the huddle during that drive," Williams said. "We knew with our offensive line in front, we were going to move the ball."

Jones finished off the drive on the next play when he was stopped at the 1-yard line, but twisted his body and got the ball over the goal line for the score, giving Palestine a 21-6 lead with 1:55 left to play in the game.

"We put the ball into the hands of Cameron, Fred and the offensive line and they came through," Tunstall said.

Jones finished with a game-high 126 yards on 23 carries while Williams had 97 yards on 14 carries.

"Cameron struggled at the beginning of the game but he responded well in the second half and ran like the old Cameron," Allison said. "Fred played a really hard and tough game."

Diboll responded with a last-ditch effort putting together an 8-play drive in just over a minute, resulting in a Steven Lewis touchdown. But after the two-point conversion pass failed, Palestine led 21-12, putting the game out of reach for Diboll.

The Lumberjacks attempted the onside kick, which was knocked out of bounds by a Palestine player and the Wildcats downed the ball once for the win.

Palestine opened the game looking to get into the end zone and Palestine drove inside Diboll's 5-yard line, but Williams fumbled on a keeper as he tried to fight his way into the end zone.

Diboll was forced to punt on its next possession and Palestine's Nigel Cooper took the punt on the Palestine 43. He evaded a tackle near the 50-yard line, got a block to spring him to the outside and did the rest, juking the punter at the 10-yard line to get into the end zone for a 56-yard punt return.

Diboll struck right back on its first play when Tobias threw a jump ball down field to Jermichael Finley and a pair of Palestine defenders. Finley came away with the ball, avoided a tackle and scored for a 67-yard touchdown reception. Diboll went for two point and tried some trickery with Courtney Tillman taking the pitch and then looking to throw, but his pass was incomplete.

The score remained 7-6 until the final minute of the first half. Palestine stopped Diboll on a fourth and 1 on the Wildcats' 24-yard line with 44 seconds left in the half.

After a 16-yard run by Jones, Williams found Leon Mickens down the middle as Mickens had beaten his defender. Mickens caught the pass in stride near the 20-yard line and went in untouched for a 63-yard touchdown reception as Palestine went into the locker room with a 14-6 lead.

Wildcat Notes: Palestine place kicker Cason Davis made all three of his extra point attempts. ...Wildcat Eric Turner had an interception in the second quarter. ... Palestine will finish the season with three homes games against Crockett, Westwood and Huntington.

[texasjeremy]

Westwood falls to Rusk

10-15-04
By Wayne Stewart
H-P News Editor


Westwood stood toe-to-toe with the Rusk Eagles Friday night but came up a little short, losing 56-33 in what turned into an offensive explosion.

The Sturns and Glenn show was as good as promised as the pair teamed for 564 yards rushing; helping to set the frenetic pace.

"We really thought going into this it could be a high-scoring game," said Westwood head coach Shane Jones. "This was a team (Rusk) that had given up a lot of points so we knew we could score against them."

An early mistake which hurt the Westwood Panthers the most may have been in the first quarter when Panthers' quarterback Matt Paul threw an interception to Rusk's Justin Sturns on a screen pass.

Rusk failed to make any points off the turnover, but in a way it broke Westwood's momentum from the opening drive when the Panthers drove 88 yards on three plays, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown run by Paul Kennedy.


The Eagle's dynamic duo of Sturns and Cody Glenn were undaunted though as Rusk answered right back with a two-play 64-yard drive which ended with a 59-yard sprint to the end zone by Sturns.

While the Panthers managed to score a lot of points in the game, the Panthers failed to score on four consecutive possessions in the first half which allowed Rusk to build up a 28-7 lead before the two teams traded a pair of touchdowns before halftime.

Rusk went into intermission owning a sizable 42-21 lead.

Westwood showed no signs of giving in though in the second half as the defense managed to hold Rusk on its opening drive in the third quarter when the Panthers forced a fumble out of Sturns on Westwood's 5-yard line.

The Panthers took the ball to the Rusk 18-yard line where they faced a fourth-and-nine situation.

Jones and the Panthers decided to go for the touchdown on fourth down and Paul found Gerry Mickens on a fade route. Mickens fought through his defender and came back to the ball before finally making it into the end zone, helping to cut the Rusk lead to 42-27 with just over six minutes left in the third quarter.

When Rusk got the ball back the Westwood defense managed to hold the Eagles out of the end zone again, forcing them to punt.

Westwood took possession on its own 25 and began a drive with the hope of ending it within a touchdown of Rusk.

They got close.

Westwood drove to the Rusk 18 before Paul fumbled the snap from center, giving Rusk the ball on its own 20.

"We're still making silly mistakes," Jones said of his team's performance. "We're hurting ourselves with turnovers and penalties."

The Panthers gave up two interceptions and a fumble to Rusk. Westwood also had three delay-of-game penalties on the night.

After recovering the Paul fumble the Rusk running attack drained the clock and the Westwood defense as Sturns once again found the end zone at the end of a 20-yard run.

Still not giving in, Westwood answered back with a 58-yard scoring strike from Paul to Mickens, bringing the Panthers to within, 49-33 of Rusk.

Rusk put the game on ice though when Glenn scored on a 4-yard run with just over four minutes left in the game.

Despite the loss, Jones said he was pleased with his team's performance.

"You can't fuss about the kids' effort tonight," Jones said. "We just need to cut out the penalties and stop the big plays."

As for the Panthers' offensive explosion, Jones said his team spread the field a little more tonight using four wide receivers at times in an effort to spread the field.

The experiment worked as Kennedy rushed for 184 yards on 22 carries with three touchdowns; and Paul throwing for 250 yards through the air on 8-of-20 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

It was the duo of Glenn and Sturns and their penchant for big plays which frustrated Westwood most of the night.

Sturns rushed for 313 yards on the night on 20 carries while Glenn gained 251 yards on 26 rushes.

"We have to cut out the big plays," Jones added. "We've got to start making them (opponents) line up and earn every bit (of yardage) they get."