Road Games Take a Toll on Area Teams

Week Four Recap

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – Week Four was an unusual week to start with as all area teams were on the road. Winning away from home can be tough, but most times a few of the teams The Messenger covers can bring home a victory. Not so much in Week Four as five of the six area teams went down to defeat.

The Crockett Bulldogs were the only area team last week to pull out a win but they had a struggle on their hands as they defeated the Garrison Bulldogs by a final of 28-20.

Garrison scored with 44 seconds left in the game to pull to within eight points. They missed the two-point conversion but recovered an onside kick at the Crockett 35. Garrison made it to the 20 with 15 seconds left to play, but back-to-back penalties pushed them back to the 30 where the Crockett defense rose up to finally secure the win.

The Grapeland Sandies had a long bus trip to Kirbyville to take on the Wildcats and even longer bus trip back home as Kirbyville blasted the Sandies 61-18.

The Sandies kept it close throughout the first quarter, but a spate of turnovers put Grapeland in a deep hole from which they could not dig themselves out of. One highlight for the Sandies was the performance of Cadarian Wiley who picked up 120 yards on 27 carries. He also scored a TD.

The Lovelady Lions were in Normangee on Friday night and the Panthers were less than hospitable to their guests as Normangee sent Lovelady back home with 50-12 thrashing.

The Lions scored first and after the Panthers took a one-point lead, Lovelady drove the field to recapture the lead, 12-7. After that, however, a turnover on downs, a fumble and then another turnover on downs sealed the Lions’ fate.

The Elkhart Elks traveled to Corrigan-Camden to take on the Bulldogs this past Friday in a battle of 0-3 teams. The game wasn’t pretty for the Elks as they fell to 0-4 following a loss to a weak Bulldogs’ team by a score of 30-0.

The Elks’ opponent this week is the Westwood Panthers. Westwood had looked good in their first three games but they came back to earth on Friday as the Centerville Tigers took them down a peg with a 36-10 loss.

The Palestine Wildcats also fell to defeat on Friday night as they visited the Waco Connally Cadets. The Wildcats scored first and took a 7-0 lead into the second quarter but the Cadets tied things up before halftime and took the lead in the third quarter, 14-7. That was the way the game ended as the Wildcats simply could not generate any offense after the first quarter of play.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].