Carthage’s Jaden Jeffress and Benny Smith celebrate a touchdown against Van in their state quarterfinal championship game on Friday in Longview. (Audrey Blaschke/The Henderson News)

LONGVIEW — On the second play of the game, Carthage Bulldogs quarterback Jett Surratt connected with cousin Cale Preston for a 62-yard touchdown pass.

That play set the trend as it was all Bulldogs from the very beginning.

Surratt threw for 195 yards and a career high six touchdown passes to six different receivers in just one half of play as No. 1 Carthage defeated Van 53-14 in a Class 4A Division II Region II finals on a chilly Friday night at Pine Tree High School’s Pirate Stadium.

“We came out strong and ready to go,” Surratt said. “This was the round we got beat last year and we didn’t want that to happen again.”

The junior was referencing last season’s Region II finals loss to Gilmer, which was Surratt’s first-ever competitive football loss in his life.

On Friday, Surratt was firing on all cylinders in completing 12 of his 14 pass attempts and didn’t throw an interception.

Surratt throwing for six touchdowns in one half was news to coach and dad Scott Surratt.

“Someone told me he had six at halftime and I had no idea, I thought he had four,” Coach Surratt said. “We’re just glad to be practicing another day and we got it done.”

Carthage (13-1), who defeated Pleasant Grove 28-7 in round three, came out looking to make a statement and make it in a hurry.

After Jett’s touchdown pass to Preston, the defense forced a Van 3-and-out when, on Carthage’s next offensive play, junior running back KJ Edwards got the handoff, found a hole and raced 75 yards down the far sidelines for a touchdown.

“We talked about our intensity has to be better than it was last week,” Coach Surratt said. “I thought it was and we talk about next round and next level. I thought we played at a different level tonight.”

The Bulldogs again forced a Van 3-and-out, but scored again on a five-play 57-yard yard drive that was capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jett to Jaden Jeffress that made it 21-0 with 5:30 left in the opening quarter.

“Offensively we did our thing,” Coach Surratt said. “We threw the ball when we wanted to and we ran the ball when we wanted to, it was exciting.”

Before cars were even done arriving, Carthage made it 27-0 with 3:00 to go in the opening quarter when Surratt dropped a dime of a 30-yard touchdown pass to Junior Henderson.

As the offense was firing on all cylinders, the Bulldogs defense was firing at equal mass as Carthage held Van to 58 yards of total offense in the first half.

Carthage went into the half leading Van 53-7.

“We knew coming into the game that they were going to be physical,” Carthage junior Carson Crawford said. “We had to be more physical than them and they were big up front. We liked our comparisons and what we had so we just went with it.”

Van (10-4) beat Sunnyvale 42-38 in round three and had back-to-back second half double-digit comebacks this postseason. But the Vandals who — who finished in third place in District 7-4A, DII behind Pleasant Grove and Gilmer — haven’t faced a team with the total package of the Bulldogs.

Crawford was a jack of all trades for the Bulldogs as the junior had a 24-yard pick-six interception touchdown on defense, and on Carthage’s next offensive possession capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown reception.

“I knew the formation and knew they were going to screen out of it,” Crawford said of his pick-six. “That’s all we studied in film was them running the screen. I recognized it, caught it and pounced off it.”

Crawford also added a 1/2 sack on defense.

Air Force verbal commit Colt Hodges had a sack and a 1/2, Zay Owens had a sack, while Braylin Allison had a sack with a fumble recovery.

Coach Surratt sat all of his offensive starters the entire second half and played his defensive starters just one series in the second half as the majority of the third and fourth quarter featured a running clock.

Edwards finished with 90 yards rushing on six carries, including the 75-yard touchdown run, to go along with a 15-yard touchdown reception, while Preston had a career-high 96 yards receiving on three catches.

Cade Ross had a 16-yard touchdown reception for the Bulldogs.

“It’s sweet and special just to be able to play for this team and play for the city,” Jett said. “The defense played unbelievable, (Van) scored once on our ones and really they shouldn’t have. They played great all night as Carson had the pick-six and Braylin the fumble recovery. It was a collective from everybody.”

Jaxon Moffatt threw for 68 yards on 7-of-12 passing, including a touchdown and a interception, and also rushed for a 2-yard touchdown.

Asher Hawkins had a 19-yard touchdown reception for the Vandals.

“Our defense played great,” Coach Surratt said. “We forced some turnovers and turned one into six points and Braylin Allison almost ran it in. We just have to keep going.”

Carthage was focused on the task at hand and did not look ahead to the semifinals

“It’s always about the next week and not overlooking an opponent,” Crawford said. “We already beat Pleasant Grove, so it’s pretty much sealed, but that’s not the case. It’s always treat the opponent like they are the best.”

Carthage will shift their attention to the semifinals next week when the Bulldogs will face face Brock at a time and place to be determined.

Brock (13-1) defeated rival Graham 12-10 in triple overtime in the 4A-DII Region I finals.

“We’re as healthy as we’ve been all year and are playing our best we have all year,” Surratt said. “We’re peaking at the right time and I keep saying we have to play our best at the end and we did tonight.”