Cole Jackson

NEW LONDON — Gladewater picked up a big win on the road behind a defense that forced four turnovers, while quarterback Luke Brown rushed for a pair of touchdowns as the Bears pulled away for a 32-20 win over West Rusk on Thursday at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium.

West Rusk received the opening kickoff and quickly moved into Gladewater territory when quarterback Josh Vittitow hit Kameron Brown on a 49-yard pass completion, but the drive stalled as the Bears sacked Vittitow on a fourth down try inside the 25 yard-line.

Gladewater capitalized on the stop as the Bears went on a nine-play, 61-yard, scoring drive that was highlighted by a pair of passes from Brown to Brayson Woods for 37 yards. Brown capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge to give Gladewater an early, 6-0 edge.

West Rusk went three-and-out on their next drive and Gladewater went right back to work as Brown tossed a long pass to Woods for a 36-yard gain to the Raiders 10-yard line. The Bears scored four plays later when Woods scored on a direct snap from 2-yard out to give Gladewater a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter. Woods finished the night with a game-high seven catches for 118 yards.

West Rusk put together its best drive of the game, midway through the second quarter when they moved the ball to the Gladewater 20-yard line, but the drive came up empty when the Bears stripped the ball away from Vittitow and recovered it at the 23-yard line.

The Raiders had another scoring opportunity just before halftime when they started a drive at the Gladewater 46-yard line. West Rusk moved the ball inside the Gladewater 10-yard line, but the Bears made a big defensive play when Woods jumped a route to intercept a pass near the goal line.

Gladewater pushed the lead to 19-0 on the second half kickoff when Trayvion Watts spun out of a tackle at the 25 yard-line then outran everyone down the right side for a 90-yard score.

West Rusk finally got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter when Cole Jackson scored on a 2-yard run to trim the deficit to 19-7. Jackson was the workhorse on the drive as he carried the ball 6 times for 58 yards.

Gladewater and West Rusk exchanged scores and the Raiders pulled within, 25-13, on the final play of the third quarter when Jackson scored on a 1-yard run.

West Rusk continued to ride the second half momentum when the Raiders forced a Gladewater punt and the Raiders pulled within, 25-20 on Jackson’s third rushing touchdown of the night, this time from 2-yards out with 7:47 left in the game. Jackson finished the night with 135 yards on the ground.

Gladewater made sure that would be as close as the Raiders would get as they kept the ball on the ground and grinded out six first downs while chewing up the final seven minutes off the clock. The Bears punctuated the win with 17 seconds left when Brown fooled everyone on a bootleg for a 17-yard score to give Gladewater a 32-20, non-district win on the road.

Gladewater 32, West Rusk 20

Gladewater 6 7 12 7 — 32

West Rusk 0 0 13 7 — 20

FIRST QUARTER

GL — Luke Brown 1 run (kick failed) 4:05

SECOND QUARTER

GL — Woods 2 run (Grafton Morgan kick 11:55

THIRD QUARTER

GL — Watts 90 kickoff return (pass failed) 11:43

WR — Cole Jackson 2 run (Emiliano Rodriguez) 8:42

GL — Mason Budro 1 run (kick failed) 1:41

WR — Jackson 1 run (pass failed) 0:17

FOURTH QUARTER

WR — Jackson 2 run (Rodriguez kick) 7:47

GL — Brown 17 run (Morgan kick) 0:17

TEAM STATS

Gladewater Team Statistics West Rusk

16 First Downs 14

11-17-0—141 Comp-Att-Int-Yards (5-16-2—81)

34-132 Rushing Att-Yards 32-176

11-141 Receptions-Yards 5-81

2-21.5 Punts-Average 3-34.5

3-25 Penalties-Yards 9-80

0-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-2

0 Turnovers 4

Passing — West Rusk: Josh Vittitow, 5-16-2—81). Gladewater: Luke Brown (11-17-0—141).

Rushing — West Rusk: Cole Jackson 22-135, Hunter McCandless 5-40, Josh Vittitow 5-1. Gladewater: Trayvion Watts 14-53, Mason Budro 13-50, Luke Brown 3-18. Kayson Harris 3-9, Brayson Woods 1-2.

Receiving — West Rusk: Kameron Brown 2-64, Cole Jackson 1-13, Jase Reasoner 1-4, Kemontrea McGregor 1-0. Gladewater: Brayson Woods 7-118, Trayvion Watts 2-15, Kayson Harris 1-6, Aubry Floyd 1-2.