FORNEY – Corsicana made big plays when it needed and survived a risky call to edge out Kilgore 42-21 on Friday in their Class 4A Division II Semifinal at City Bank Stadium.
It makes it easy when you have Cameron Washington. The Tigers tailback carried 30 times for 240 yards and three touchdowns.
Corsicana also had a momentum-changing interception return from Tevin McDonald which enabled the Tigers to get past Kilgore. The Bulldogs trailed 21-14 at halftime and used a 20-yard scoring run from LD Anthony to tie it up, but could not muster any more points against Corsicana.
The Tigers (13-1) advance to the Class 4A Division II state semifinals while Kilgore completed its season with a 9-5 record.
The Bulldogs have made it this far with the running game, but a first-half injury to Dondra Halton meant LD Anthony had to pick up the slack. He finished with 47 yards and three touchdowns in the loss while Halton accumulated 64 yards, all coming in the first half. Riley Toler passed for 117 yards, highlighted by a 49-yard strike on Kilgore’s first play from scrimmage that set up the Bulldogs for a touchdown.
But in the end it was Washington.
The senior back averaged 6.1 yards per carry, and even against a defense stacked against him, could not be stopped.
Case in point: the final play of the first half. Corsicana led 15-14 and faced first and goal from the 3, but were out of timeouts and only four seconds remained.
Did Corsicana head coach Phil Castles call for the field-goal team to secure the three points?
Nope.
Instead the Tigers went to the well again with Washington. The 190-pound senior took the toss and immediately went downhill, forcing himself into the end zone. This gave Corsicana a 21-14 lead at halftime.
Then to close the game, leading 35-21, Corsicana used 12 rushing consecutive plays, the majority of which were by Washington, to drain over six minutes off the clock and finish with Washington’s third touchdown.
Corsicana 42, Kilgore 21
Class 4A Division II Semifinal
At City Bank Stadium, Forney
Corsicana 15 6 7 14 — 42
Kilgore 7 7 7 0 — 21
First Quarter
KIL—LD Anthony 11 run (Hugo Orta kick), 8:26
COR—DeVontay Bell 1 run (Tygarius Sheffield run), 5:54
COR—Bell 11 run (Ryan Condley kick), 2:50
Second Quarter
KIL—Anthony 2 run (Orta kick), 2:58
COR—Cameron Washington 3 run (kick blocked), :00
Third Quarter
KIL—Anthony 20 run (Orta kick), 9:17
COR—Jack Saipongi 6 pass from Bell (Condley kick), :19
Fourth Quarter
COR—Washington 1 run (Condley kick), 11:38
COR—Washington 1 run (Condley kick), 3:07
EST. ATT. – 5,200.
COR KIL
First Downs 22 12
Rushes-Yards 39-303 30-135
Passing Yards 75 117
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-9-2 7-14-1
Punts-Avg. 1-40.0 3-31.3
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-Yards 7-46 5-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Corsicana, Cameron Washington 30-240, DeVontay Bell 13-58, Tevin McDonald 1-5 . Kilgore, Dondra Halton 12-64, LD Anthony 13-47, Cornelius Bell 2-9, Shelton Tolliver 1-13, Riley Toler 2-2.
PASSING—Corsicana, Bell 6-9-2 75. Kilgore, Toler 7-14-1 117.
RECEIVING—Corsicana, Christian Hines 4-58, Jack Saipongi 2-17. Kilgore, Tolliver 2-65, Anthony 2-29, Rashaad Edwards 2-8, Kameron Bailey 1-15.