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CROCKETT — Kilgore answered the call in the first round of the schoolboy playoffs, knocking off Huffman Hargrave 37-20 on Friday night at Driskell Stadium.

Davin Rider rushed for 308 yards and three touchdowns, and the Kilgore defense rose to the occasion, limiting the Falcons to just 12 yards, no first downs and no points in the second half.

It was definitely one of those nights as Kilgore stretched its win streak to eight in a row with its 10th win of the season. The Bulldogs will meet Stafford, a winner over Houston Furr in the area round at a site and time to be determined.

Huffman completes its season with an 8-3 record.

The Falcons trailed by three, 23-20,at halftime and seemed to have the momentum. But that didn’t last.

The Falcons couldn’t get off the mark in the second half, against the Kilgore defense, anchored by Alex Chavez, Peyton Christian and Chris Ervin. Huffman also didn’t help itself with costly penalties.

Huffman quarterback Luke Thomas, who completed a 12-yard scoring pass to Vernon Harrison midway through the first quarter to knot the contest at 7-all, led the way with 134-yards rushing.

He scored on a 79-yard run of his own with 3:27 left in the first quarter to give the Falcons a 13-7 lead. But, Kilgore’s Jermaine Roney blocked the extra point attempt and caught the football on the bounce to outrun everyone to the opposing end zone, giving Kilgore a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 13-9.

Rider’s first touchdown of the contest came on Kilgore’s first play from the line of scrimmage to go 72 yards. The drive took 11 seconds.

Trailing 13-9, Rider scored for the second time in the first quarter on a five-yard run to cap a four-play drive with just over a minute left in the first period.

Da’Marion Van Zandt capped a five-play, 50-yard march with a one-yard sneak with 8:12 remaining until halftime to give the 9-4A DI champions a 23-13 lead.

Huffman’s Thomas scored on a five-yard keeper with 1:59 left until halftime to pull the Falcons to within three, 23-20.

Kilgore finished with 451 yards of total offense compared to Huffman’s 253 in a very competitive hard-fought contest.

Kilgore put the game away with a time-consuming 59-yard march with Rider scoring his third TD of the game on a four-yard run with 9:55 left in the fourth quarter. The Dogs followed that, stretching the lead to 17 points with a 93-yard, 10-play sojourn capped by a 14-yard Isaiah Ross scoring run with 2:16 left to play.

Van Zandt was 6 for 9 passing for 95 yard, but he did suffer two interceptions. His leading receivers were Roney (2-45) and Ross (2-38).

Kilgore won the toss and deferred to the second half. The defense held and It took the Bulldogs one play, a 72-yard Rider run, to take a 7-0 lead as Baldazo converted the first of his five extra points.