Mount Pleasant buried in first half against T-High
By DEMETRIUS THOMPSON - Tribune Sports Editor
Saturday, October 18, 2008 4:21 PM CDT
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| Mount Pleasant running back Tevin Craddock (11) runs past Texas High defensive end Marquin Brewer (19) as Dee Boyd blocks and Jacoby Thomas (13) pursues during the first half Friday. TRIBUNE photo by Bob Palmer |
The Mount Pleasant Tigers must've had a strange feeling of déjà vu in the first half Friday night. Only one week after seeing Longview build a large first half lead, the Tigers saw Texas High score 41 points in the first half. Wide receiver Cobi Hamilton was held to three catches but two of them were for scores in Texas High's 50-21 victory at Sam Parker Stadium.
Junior quarterback Nathan Sorenson threw four of his five touchdown passes in the second quarter alone as the Texarkana Tigers put up 34 points in the quarter. It would have been 35 if not for La'Darius Wilkerson's blocked extra point after T-High's second score.
"When your only highlight in the first half is a blocked extra point, you've got some problems,' said Mount Pleasant head coach Jimmy Thompson after the game. "At this level of football the offenses are just so good that it's hard to stop them sometimes.”
The Tigers have suffered two of their worst defeats in years in consecutive weeks. While Longview did it mostly on the ground, T-High did their damage mostly through the air. Sorenson went nine of 13 for 172 yards and didn't play a single snap in the second half.
"We knew going in that these two teams were better than us and that if we didn't play really well we would get beat bad,” said Thompson.
The Tigers showed some life in the second quarter when quarterback Terrell Howard found fellow senior Roman Hurndon over the middle. Hurndon outran the secondary with Tevin Craddock blocking 63 yards to the end zone, cutting the lead to 13. But Texas High would take the wind out of Mount Pleasant's sails on the next drive. T-High got three first downs and was helped by a 15 yard face mask penalty. That set up Hamilton's 30 yard touchdown catch with 3:24 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers added two scores in the second half, one coming on Howard's 11th rushing touchdown of the year. Senior fullback Kendrick Walker scored on 31 yard pitch from Howard in the fourth quarter.
After forcing Mount Pleasant into a three and out on their opening drive, Texas High went on a five play 55 yard drive, highlighted by Sorenson's 22 yard scramble. Three plays later, Sorenson found receiver Peyton Tolliver in the left corner of the end zone to take a 7-0 lead.
Mount Pleasant drove down to the T-High 24 on their next possession. But the drive was halted when Howard was sacked on fourth down at the 24.
The Tigers almost got a break when linebacker Cash Thompson recovered a fumble on the very next play. But the turnover was taken away due to a face mask penalty. Rushes by Cody Sutton and Sorenson got Texas High down to the seven where Roderick Collier hauled in a seven yard touchdown pass.
The passing game really started to click for Texas High on their next drive when Sorenson completed first down passes to Collier and Joseph Thurman. Hamilton's first catch of the night was a five yard grab in the right corner of the end zone.
On the ensuing possession, Howard completed an 11 yard pass to Dee Boyd. One play later, Hurndon was in the end zone and the Tigers had cut into the lead 20-7 with 5:01 left in the second half.
Hamilton's second scoring catch put T-High back up by 20 and Mount Pleasant was unable to gain a first down on their next drive. That left time for a 66 yard drive powered by Hamilton's 49 yard reception down to the one. Sutton dived over the line to give Texas High a 34-7 lead.
The back breaker came on Mount Pleasant's next drive when defensive end Raymondrick Brown picked off Howard's pass and returned it to the five yard line That set up Sorenson's fifth TD pass to Collier to give Texas High a 41-7 lead at the half.
Texas High would score on a safety when linebacker Lavert King tripped up Howard in his own end zone midway through the third quarter.
Junior running back Clayton Godfrey would reach the end zone for T-High's last score 37 seconds later on a 25 yard run up the middle.
Mount Pleasant managed to put together a nine play, 58 yard scoring drive that was capped off by Howard's one yard dive 2:20 before the start of the fourth quarter.
Midway through the fourth, Mount Pleasant would catch a break when sophomore linebacker Steven Julian recovered a Texas High fumble at their own 32 yard line. The Tigers got first down runs by DeMarcus King and Austin Turner to move into T-High territory.
On third and two, Walker took a pitch on the right side and reversed field to outrun the defenders for his second touchdown of the season.
Senior linebacker Tevin Elliot led the defense with 10 tackles.
Thompson said that he was pleased with how the team played in the second half.
"Obviously I'm disappointed to lose, but the good thing is that we didn't lie down in the second half like last week. I told them at halftime to just have fun out there.”
Mount Pleasant falls to 1-3 in District 13-4A with two games remaining against Sulphur Springs and Marshall. The Tigers can still make the playoffs if they win out or other teams stumble.
"We're going to keep plugging away until we're mathematically eliminated, "added Thompson. "We're going to keep our spirits up.”
Mount Pleasant goes on the road to face Sulphur Springs next week.
