Dogs must watch out for Yellowjackets - and vice versa

By ART LAWLER

The Eustace Dogs are still prowling around in search of a playoff, but the Jackets are looking to put a stinger in those hopes Friday night, hoping to claim the same playoff spot for themselves.

Something has gotta give at Yellowjacket Stadium.

After seven games, the two teams have identical 3-4 records, similar talents and playoff aspirations.

Kemp, after a miserable 0-3 start against tough competition, has now rebounded with three wins in its last four games.

Mabank, on the other hand, traveled to Mesquite and handled Poteet with relative ease, 32-6, giving the Panthers a 2-1 league record in District 15-4A, losing only to Red Oak in overtime.

And guess what? For the first time in two seasons, all three lake-area teams posted victories last Friday night.

The races just keep getting better.

Not only do Kemp and Eustace face off Friday, Canton and Mineola, which also have 1-1 records, also play Friday.

Undefeated Van (2-0) plays Wills Point (0-2).

In District 15-4A, Mabank travels to Forney.



KEMP 33, WILLS POINT 20.

Only league-leading and undefeated (in district) Van, has been able to handle the Jackets during the last month.

The main difference? Kemp stopped beating itself. Penalties and turnovers killed the Jackets in September.

“We just started playing better,” said Coach Gregg Anderson. “We had a very tough non-district schedule, and I think it helped us. We’ve won three of our last four, so hopefully that got us playing our best football at the right time of the year.”

Asked about the turnaround, Anderson says, “I just kept preaching fundamentals and staying focused and taking care of the football.

Against Wills Point, running back John Carr had 110 yards rushing.

The Jackets, as a rule, don’t throw the ball that much (they completed three of four last week for 68 yards), even though they run out of the spread formation.

The Jacket touchdowns all came on the ground, two of them by quarterback Jeremy Quick. One was from 33 yards out, the other from three.

Corey Henderson and Wesley Carr scored touchdowns of 12 and 15-yards respectively, and Brian Fivecoat had two field goals, one from 42 yards out.

The other was from 30-yards away.

Winless Wills Point suffered three blocked kicks in the game, four of them point after touchdown kicks, and one on a field goal attempt.

Travis Thomas and Lance Roberts blocked punts in the game

“We saw that they used their quarterbacks on punts by just moving him back a step from their spread formation,” Anderson said. “ We just found some ways to get through their protection.”



EUSTACE 35, CANTON 26:

Coach Doug Wendel’s pesky Dogs are giving up mileage instead of yards at times defensively, but they usually figure out a variety of creative ways to score, too.

The Dogs made at least four stops the other night, but it sometimes took the length of the field to get it done.

Still, their goal-line-to-goal line stretch, is paying off.

In a series of high-scoring games, the Dogs have won some squeakers and lost some squeakers.

What the Dogs have simply refused to do through seven games now, is provide their fans with a comfortable cushion — at least not one they’ve been able to keep.

Take last Friday’s 35-26 win over Canton.

The Dogs stormed to a 28-7 lead shortly after the half.

With 3:29 left in the game, those same Dogs were hanging on to a 28-26 lead, yielding an eye-popping 87 yards in just seven plays on the drive that pulled Canton to within two.

The elasticity in the defense occasionally stretches into the wrong end zone.

With the pressure one, the Dogs drove 56 yards in seven plays to put the game out of reach with 46 seconds left.

Nothing comes easy in Dogdom land.

Neither will a spot in the state playoffs, beginning with Kemp.

These two teams played down-to-the-wire last season in a game Kemp probably should have — but didn’t — win.

The two teams are right back in Yellow Jacket Stadium again Friday, with realignment having worked out in Kemp’s favor on the scheduling.

One player Anderson may not have planned for is Eustace newcomer Jo Jo Bradburn, who transferred into the school about six weeks ago.

He’s been eligible the last two weeks, and Eustace coaches have been using the former Lewisville Hebron player, in both its offensive and defensive schemes.

Bradburn plays a halfback position on offense and a safety on defense.

He also threw the ball about 60-yards in the air on one flea-flicker play, suggesting a strong, if not necessarily accurate, arm against Canton.

The ball traveled 10 yards or so over the receiver’s head. But there may be something there for the coaches to work with.

Eustace’s unorthodox passing attack, features players taller than 5-5 quarterback Chis Compton.

But not necessarily larger, players.

Trevan Johnson, all 140-pounds of him, threw two touchdown passes to Zach Keeling and broke for two more long touchdowns in the Canton game.

He also saved the Dogs some long gainers by Canton with his open-field tackling as a defensive back.

For Kemp to win Friday, the Jackets will have to keep Johnson contained on the outside.

Having said that, Anderson will have to keep in mind, that Johnson also scored on a 44-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Canton line.

Both teams have outstanding quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.

Eustace has a strong offensive line which enables the Dogs to control the ball on most teams, and Kemp has an outstanding defensive line, which can keep that from happening.

Should be a dogfight, stinger of a contest.

Wendel says so. So does Anderson. So does history.



MABANK 32, POTEET 7

The Panthers jumped to a 25-7 halftime lead, then put away Poteet with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

Kolton Browning was held to just 18 yards on 12 carries, but the Panther quarterback burned Poteet for 357 yards in the air on 25 completion in 41 attempts.Junior Jordan Featherston had one completion for five yards, including two touchdowns to Brandon Rasco, who caught nine passes for 158 yards.

Jake Birch had five catches for 92 yards and junior Michael Tanner had six catches for 66 yards.

Once again, though, the Panthers had trouble running the football, gaining just 51 yards on 20 carries, Anthony Hendrix getting 21 of those on four carries for a 5.3 average.

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