Whitehouse helmet

WHITEHOUSE — In a battle of Smith County rivals, the Whitehouse Wildcats used a 20-point scoring outburst at the end of the first half, and then held on for dear life to take a 43-36 victory over the Lindale Eagles in a District 9-5A Division II matchup Friday night at Wildcat Stadium.

Whitehouse (5-2, 4-0) came into the contest in a three-way tie for first place in the district race, while Lindale (4-3, 2-2) held down sole position of second. The win keeps the ‘Cats tied for first and the loss leaves the Eagles still in the thick of the playoff hunt.

The Wildcats scored on the first play of their first possession of the game on a 68-yard sprint off a zone read by quarterback Kaden Casey. The Eagles responded with a six-play, 60-yard drive. Quarterback Brayson Campbell scrambled 28 yards for the score. Landon Love added the PAT to tie the game 7-7.

The Eagles took the lead on a 4-yard run by running back Jordan Jenkins to cap a 16-play, 94-yard drive to make the score 14-7. After a 27-yard field goal by Wildcat kicker Cooper Clemons, Lindale extended the lead to 21-10 on another touchdown run by Jenkins.

The momentum of the game changed in favor of the Wildcats when Ken’Della Wood returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown putting the ‘Cats within four points 21-17. Whitehouse would score twice within the last 1:23 of the second quarter to go up 30-21 at halftime. Casey hit Peyton Kennedy coming out of the backfield for 14 yards. The point after failed. After a short punt by Lindale, Casey hit Trevor Theiring on a 27-yard post route. The senior quarterback finished the night passing for 212 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 211 yards and another touchdown.

The Eagles pulled within two points late in the third quarter when quarterback Sam Peterson lofted a pass to Dylan Worrell in stride for a 47-yard touchdown. The Wildcats responded with a 20-yard touchdown from Casey to Skyler Trevino to make the score 36-28.

Lindale took advantage of a fumble recovery by Corey Sanders midway through the fourth quarter. Peterson hit receiver Conner Boyette in the end zone from three yards out and then tossed to Worrell for the two-point conversion to knot the score 36-36 with 5:41 remaining in the game.

Whitehouse drove 91-yards for the go ahead touchdown when Casey located receiver Austin Barron in the corner of the end zone for the game winner from 23 yards. Lindale had one last chance to tie the game but turned the ball over on downs deep in Whitehouse territory.

Lindale entertains Mount Pleasant and Whitehouse visits Pine Tree next Friday night.

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Whitehouse 43, Lindale 36

Lindale       7 14 7   8 — 36

Whitehouse 7 23 0 13 — 43 

First Quarter

W—Kaden Casey 68 run (Cooper Clemons kick), 10:06

L—Brayson Campbell 38 run (Landon Love kick), 6:59

Second Quarter

L—Jordan Jenkins 3 run (Love kick), 10:02

W—Cooper Clemons 27 field goal, 7:37

L—Jenkins 4 run (Love kick), 4:41

W—Ken’Della Wood 99 kickoff return (Clemons kick), 4:25

W—Peyton Kennedy 14 pass from Casey (kick fail), 1:20

W—Trevor Theiring 27 pass from Casey (Clemons kick), :23

Third Quarter

L—Dylan Worrell 47 pass from Sam Peterson (Love kick), 2:36

Fourth Quarter

W—Skyler Trevino 20 pass from Casey (kick fail), 11:53

L—Conner Boyette 3 pass from Peterson (2 pt conversion), 5:41

W—Austin Barron 23 pass from Casey (Clemons kick), 2:15

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — Lindale, Jordan Jenkins 25-144, Brayson Campbell 8-86, Sam Peterson 2-28 Conner Boyette 2-8 Whitehouse, Peyton Kennedy 14-47, Kaden Casey 12-211, Ken’Della Wood 2-13, Cooper Clemons 2-13

PASSING — Lindale, Brayson Campbell 3-9-29, Sam Peterson 5-10-73, Whitehouse, Kaden Casey 10-19-212

RECEIVING — Lindale, Conner Boyette 6-48, Dylan Worrell 2-54, Whitehouse, Skyler Trevino 4-76; Austin Barron 1-23, Ken’Della Wood 1-9, Peyton Kennedy 1-14, Dylan Craver 1-6, Trevor Theiring 2-84