ROWDY CAYCE

Sports correspondent

HENDERSON – Patrick “Buddy” Jackson connected with Jonathan Shepherd on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 21.2 seconds remaining in the contest, lifting the Kilgore Bulldogs to a 28-26 win over No. 6 ranked Henderson on Friday in a key District 9-4A Division I clash at Lion Stadiuim.

Henderson had taken the lead with 3:39 to play on a 26-yard touchdown run by quarterback Trae Hall.

Jackson completed 6 of 13 passes for 64 yards and the one TD toss to Shepherd while rushing for 60 yards. Melek Hamilton carried 29 times for 120 yards and one touchdown for the Bulldogs, and Jamal Nobles carried four times – scoring twice – and finishing with 10 yards.

Hall completed 10 of 16 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns and added 66 yards and one score on the ground for the Lions. Trestan Ebner added four catches for 31 yards, and LaKendrick Van Zandt added a pair of catches for 79 yards and a TD while adding 17 carries for 90 rushing yards.

Henderson took a quick lead when Van Zandt hauled in a pass from Hall and went 62 yards at the 10:33 mark, but the Bulldogs came back five minutes later and got on the board with an 8-yard TD run by Hamilton.

A 48-yard touchdown reception from Hall to Matthew Childers early in the second moved Henderson back in front, but Nobles crashed in from 1-yard out with 3:14 to play in the half to make it a 14-14 contest at halftime.

Ebner’s 3-yard run with 7:30 to play in the third was followed by a missed 2-point conversion, and Kilgore took the lead just 16 seconds later on another 1-yard run by Nobles and the PAT by Elivan Torres.

Hall gave Henderson a 26-21 lead with his 26-yard TD run, but the Bulldogs marched back and got the game winner on the Jackson-to-Shepherd connection with less than a minute to play.

Kilgore, which has won four in a row after an 0-3 start, will take a 4-0 league mark into a bye week. Henderson (6-1, 2-1) will visit Center on Friday.