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The Sabine Pass quarterback tries to escape the pursuit of Lovelady defenders Jordan Blackmon (24), Erik Castillo (54) and Landen LeBlanc in Friday night's game in the Lions Den. Photo by Lawanna Monk

By Lawanna Monk

LOVELADY — Chalk up another blowout shutout for the boys in maroon.

The Lovelady Lions struck for four touchdowns in the first quarter and put 32 points on the scoreboard in the second quarter to rout the Sabine Pass Sharks 62-0 Friday night.

Since the clock ran non-stop in the second half, Sabine Pass fans were able to get a slightly earlier start on their 162-mile trip home.

The Lions (7-0, 3-0) play their final home game Friday against the Evadale Rebels (2-6, 1-2), who are coming off a 22-18 loss to Colmesneil.

Led by Landen LeBlanc, Jayton Crawford, Brandon Fry and Troy Shupak, Lovelady's defense flexed its muscles early as Sabine Pass was forced to punt on its first possession.

The Lions took over at the Shark 42 and scored three plays later. Shaun Easterling carried to the 18 on the first play and Dayvian Skinner took it to the 4.

Easterling dropped back, looked left and connected with Skylar Pipkin for the touchdown. A conversion pass to Pipkin made it 8-0 at the 8:56 mark.

The Lions only had to travel 27 yards for their second touchdown after a 15-yard punt return by Crawford. Easterling carried to the Shark 3 and Cortavies Whitaker punched it into the end zone on the next play for a 14-0 lead with 6:12 in the first.

Lovelady's next scoring drive started at the Shark 40 after a punt. After a short gain by Whitaker and a penalty on the Lions, Skinner scored on a 33-yard run and Crawford caught a pass for the conversion that stretched the lead to 22-0 with 4:18 left.

LeBlanc and Erik Castillo applied defensive pressure that resulted in losses and forced yet another punt. Pipkin returned the punt and a penalty brought the ball back to the Shark 35. Jordan Blackmon picked up 31 yards to the 4 and then took it the rest of the way on the next play. Skinner ran the conversion to make it 30-0 with 1:46 left in the opening frame.

Lovelady's defense continued to bear down. LeBlanc made a tackle-for-loss, Alvaro Gonzalez pressured the quarterback and forced him to throw the ball away, and Blake Patrick broke up a pass on third down.

Sabine Pass punted out of bounds and the Lions took over at the Shark 46. After Blackmon picked up five on first down, the Lions turned a miscue into a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. A lateral pass by Easterling hit the ground but Crawford scooped it up and zipped down the home sidelines for the TD. Skinner's kick made it 37-0.

Continued defensive pressure forced another punt that provided Lovelady another short field. TFLs by Pipkin and Brandon Fry, along with heavy pressure on the quarterback by Shupak and LeBlanc resulted in incompletions.

Taking over at the Shark 35 after the punt, Easterling hurdled several Sharks on the way to the end zone and Lovelady went up 43-0 with 9:45 in the second.

A fumble recovery by Fry at the Shark 12 set up another score less than two minutes later. Blackmon ran to the 3 and carried again on the next play to make it 50-0 with 8:12 on the clock.

Just 15 seconds later, Oscar Sutton scooped up a Shark fumble at the 20-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. That made it 56-0 with 7:57 left in the half.

The Sharks continued to have trouble moving the ball as a pride of Lion defenders swarmed the ball on first down and Gonzalez sacked the quarterback on second down. An incomplete pass on the next play forced another punt and Crawford called for fair catch at the Shark 40.

Skinner carried up the middle to the 29, Blackmon reached the 20, Whitaker took it to the 16 and Alan Baskin ran to the 5. Skinner scored from 5 yards out on the next play, putting the Lions up 62-0 with :39 left in the half.

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District 9-3A DI
Week 8 Scores
Woodville 56, Huntington 12
Westwood 21, Coldspring 18
Diboll 54, Shepherd 26
Crockett - open
Week 9 Matchups
Woodville (6-2, 3-1) at Crockett (4-3, 1-2)
Diboll (5-2, 3-0) at Coldspring (4-4, 2-2)
Westwood (3-4, 2-1) at Huntington (1-6, 0-3)
Shepherd (3-5, 1-3) - open

District 11-2A DI
Week 8 Scores
Shelbyville 55, Grapeland 34
Timpson 70, West Sabine 8
Joaquin 57, San Augustine 0
Garrison - open
Week 9 Matchups
Grapeland (1-7, 0-4) at Garrison (5-2, 2-1)
Timpson (7-0, 3-0) at Joaquin (6-1, 4-0)
San Augustine (0-7, 0-4) at Shelbyville (4-3, 1-2)
West Sabine (3-5, 2-2) - open

District 12-2A DII
Week 8 Scores
Lovelady 63, Hull-Daisetta
Evadale 47, Sabine Pass 12
Deweyville 40, Colmesneil 28
Week 9 Matchups
Sabine Pass (1-4, 0-2) at Lovelady (6-0, 2-0)
Hull-Daisetta (4-3, 1-1) at Deweyville (5-2, 2-0)
Colmesneil (3-4, 0-2) at Evadale (2-5, 1-1)

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Crockett's Corey Simon crosses the goal line to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first in last week's 49-26 district win over Huntington.

By Larry Lamb
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HUNTINGTON -- The Crockett Bulldogs took care of business on the road and knocked off Huntington 49-26 in a crucial district contest Friday night.

The Bulldogs came into the game with their backs to the wall needing a 17-point margin of victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Leading just 28-26 late in the third, Crockett struck for three unanswered touchdowns to win by a 23-point margin.

The Bulldogs received the opening kick and struck on a 9-yard run by Corey Simon. The 70-yard drive included a 36-yard pass from quarterback Jadyn Collins to Devin Bedford and a 17-yard run by Collins. Angel Castillo tacked on the point-after for a 7-0 lead.

Huntington answered quickly with a three-play, 78-yard scoring drive, Quarterback Gabriel Lee fumbled on the first play but scooped up the ball and escaped for 58 yards to the Crockett 20. Quarterback Elijah Mansfield scored two plays later and kicker Connor Leach tied it up at 7-7 with 7:26 in the firstquarter.

The ping-pong match continued as Crockett answered right back a minute later with a three-play, 63-yard scoring drive. Collins broke a 36-yard keeper to the Devil 27 and Tywoin Delane carried for 9. Collins found Bedford wide-open in the end zone and Castillo gave the Dogs a 14-7 lead at the 6:26 mark.
After an interception by Simon at the 4-yard line, Crockett drove 96 yards to pay dirt. Collins broke a 44-yard run to the Devil 35 and then hit Bedford over the middle for the TD. Castillo's kick made it 21-7 with 1:53 left in the quarter.

Early in the second, Huntington stopped Crockett at the 32-yard line on fourth down and put together a 17-play, 68-yard scoring drive that consumed 7-1/2 minutes.

The Red Devils scored on a 10-yard pass to Gabriel Lee with 2:59 left and the extra-point made it 21-14.

Crockett made it 28-14 with 2:11 before halftime. Taking over at their own 30 on the kickoff, Collins reeled off a 63-yard TD scamper and Castillo kicked the PAT.

After halftime, Huntington put together two time-consuming scoring drives to cut Crockett's lead to 28-26.

The Devils received the second half kick and scored on a 13-yard pass to Mansfield with 8:02 in the third. The PAT was no good.

Huntington recovered a fumble on the kickoff at the Bulldog 48 and chewed up another four minutes on the way to the end zone. Mansfield scored from 6 yards out, cutting Crockett's lead to 28-26 with 4:17 left. A two-point conversion failed.

The Bulldogs took a 10-point lead on their next possession when Collins scored from 34 yards out and then carried the conversion to make it 36-26 with 3:15 left in the third.

Crockett put the game away with two more touchdowns in the fourth.

After taking over at midfield on a punt, Delane caught a 23-yarder from Collins and scored from 25 yards out with 9:18 left. The PAT was blocked but Castillo made the stop to prevent Huntington from returning it for two points.

Simon's second interception of the night provided another opportunity. Taking over at their own 29 after the turnover, the Bulldogs scored on a 40-yard scamper by Collins and Castillo nailed the PAT to give Crockett a 23-point lead with 1:04 left.

The Bulldogs rolled up a season-high 523 yards of total offense.

Collins completed 6 of 10 passes for 166 yards. Bedford had 5 receptions for 142 yards, including 2 touchdown catches, and Tywoin Delane had a 24-yard catch.

Crockett picked up 357 yards on the ground. Collins was the rushing workhorse with 18 carries for 256 yards and three touchdowns. Delane had 8 carries for 57 yards and Simon picked up 37 yards on 2 carries.

"Offensively, we played well when we had the ball, but Huntington clocked us before halftime with that 17-play scoring drive and early in the second half with 10 or 11 minutes of possession. In the third quarter I counted nine flags and six of those came on third and fourth downs, so it just ate the clock," said

Crockett head coach Alton Dixon. "We only had two possessions where didn't score-- one right before half and one in the third quarter."

The coach added, "We've got to be able to pull games out like that. Huntington is a tough place to play but at the end of the day I think we took control of what we could in the fourth quarter allowing us to pull away and open up the gap in the point spread."

Dixon noted that Huntington came out in a different offensive look than they had shown in previous games.

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Lion Landen LeBlanc (6) holds as Dayvian Skinner (8) kicks an extra-point in last week's District 12-2A DII opener against Colmesneil. Blockers are Ben Monk (60), Erik Castillo (54) and Jordan Blackmon. LAWANNA MONK HCC

By Lawanna Monk

LOVELADY — The Lovelady Lions jumped out to a 49-point halftime lead, crowned their 2022 Homecoming Queen, and went on to win their District 12-2A DII opener 68-12 over Colmesneil Friday night in The Lions Den.

The Lions improved to 5-0 on the year while the Bulldogs slipped to 3-3.

After forcing Colmesneil to punt on its first three possessions, the Lions scored three touchdowns on just five plays to grab a 24-0 first quarter lead.

Lovelady scored on its second play of the game when Cortavius Whitaker took the handoff from quarterback Shaun Easterling and raced all the way down the visitor sidelines for a 74-yard touchdown. Brandon Fry carried in the conversion for an 8-0 lead with 9:31 on the clock.

After Colmesneil's second punt rolled dead at the Lion 18, Dayvian Skinner hit the gap and galloped 77 yards on the first play to set up a 5-yard touchdown run. Easterling took the handoff from Jayton Crawford on the next play for the score and carried the conversion to increase the lead to 16-0 with 6:45 on the clock.

Punting from the 6-yard line under heavy pressure, the ball went off the side of the Colmesneil player's foot and went out of bounds at the Bulldog 14. Easterling punched it in on the first play and Skinner added the conversion to make it 24-0 with :23 left in the opening quarter.

On the kickoff, a Colmesneil player touched the ball and the Lions recovered at the Bulldog 25. Easterling rushed for 13 and then threw a 12-yard end zone strike to Skylar Pipkin. Jordan Blackmon ran the conversion, putting the Lions up 32-0 at the 11:16 mark in the second quarter.

The Lions cashed in two more turnovers to stretch their lead to 45-0.

Another fumble recovery set up the next touchdown when Pipkin stripped the ball at the Lion 20. Blackmon picked up two and Fry reeled off a 78-yard TD.

The kick was no good, holding the Lions to a 38-0 lead at the 9:30 mark.

A minute later, Lovelady’s Cody Davis picked up a fumble and advanced it to the Bulldog 5. Crawford scored from 5 yards out and Skinner nailed the PAT for a 45-point cushion with 8:23 in the second.

Colmesneil got on the scoreboard with 71-yard scoring drive. Quarterback Reed Best connected with Kaden Butler on a 34-yard TD toss to close the gap to 45-6 with 4:40 left in the half. The Bulldogs went for two, but a botched lateral was scooped up by Crawford and returned all the way for two Lovelady points, making the score 47-6.

An onside kick failed to go 10 yards and the Lions took over at the Bulldog 49. Whitaker took it to the house for his second TD of the night and Skinner's PAT made it 54-6 at the 4:26 mark.

After receiving the kickoff, Colmesneil drove 66 yards and scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Best with :18 left in the half. A 2-point conversion failed.

Crawford returned the kickoff 15 yards to the Lion 45. On the first play, Easterling found Pipkin wide-open on a 55-yard TD strike and Skinner stretched the lead to 61-12 with :02 before halftime.

Late in the third quarter, Crawford picked off a pass at the Lion 34. Blackmon carried seven plays for 61 yards and dove into the end zone from the 4-yard line.

Skinner's extra point put the Lions up 68-12 with 11:47 left in the game.

Alan Baskin also had a nice run that was brought back on a penalty and another 6-yard carry.

Pipkin picked off a pass late in the game enabling the Lions chewed up the rest of the clock.