Before the John Tyler-Mesquite Horn game Friday night at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium, the public address announcer erroneously called the visitors the Red Raiders.
That was the last time the Jaguars were mistaken for the school the Lions had routed one week before.
Horn scored 30 straight points from late in the second quarter to early in the third to run away from John Tyler for a 47-17 victory on Earl Campbell Field.
Coming in with a vaunted passing attack, the Jaguars instead took to the ground, rushing for 263 yards, nearly 100 yards more than their average coming in.
Quarterback Destri White ran for 73 yards and three scores while running back Justyn Oliphant stepped off 102 yards and two scores for Horn (4-0).
“Any time that you come on the road and play a great football team like John Tyler in not-very-great elements … I thought our kids responded well,” Horn coach Mike Overton said. “We were excited about how we played and we did some good things.”
After winning two straight, the Lions (2-2) were unable to build on last week’s 44-0 win over rival Robert E. Lee.
“We’ve got to be able to learn how to handle success,” JT coach Ricklan Holmes said.
“We’re not there yet. For the past two weeks we’ve been making a lot of strides in the right direction. Today those two weeks that we had that we were moving forward, we just negated that today.”
John Tyler quarterback Geovari McCollister completed 16 of 27 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted twice by Darreon Jackson. The first interception allowed Horn to tack on a touchdown in the final minute of the first half to take a 23-10 lead into the break. The second came early in the second half set up a Jaguar score to make it 37-10.
Del’Michael High added an electric 77-yard punt return for a touchdown and Kakpa Mansaray had three catches for 99 yards for the Jaguars, who lost 35-30 to the Lions last year in Mesquite.
“Any time when you lose a game the year before you want to come back and you want to get that win,” Overton said. “It’s even sweeter to get it on the road. We were proud of our kids.”
Nick Cain had eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns for JT, which played in front of a sparse crowd with rainy weather and the East Texas State Fair going on across the street.
McCollister found Cain open in the middle of the end zone from 12 yards out to put the Lions up 10-7 but the Jaguars outscored them 40-7 the rest of the way. JT didn’t score again until McCollister hit Cain in stride down the right sideline for a 73-yard score with 7:54 to play in the third quarter, after Horn had scored two quick touchdowns to start the second half.
Lions sophomore Duntavion Gross added five catches for 60 yards and senior Greg Johnson intercepted Horn back-up quarterback Chris Robison, but it wasn’t nearly enough for JT.
“At the end of the day it’s about what team makes the most plays and today Mesquite Horn made more plays than John Tyler,” Holmes said.
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Mesquite Horn 47, John Tyler 17
Earl Campbell Field At Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium
Horn 7 16 24 0 — 47
John Tyler 3 7 7 0 — 17
First Quarter
HOR—Destri White 22 run (Taylor Lewis kick), 4:52.
JT—Jose Perez 26 FG, 0:50.
Second Quarter
JT—Nick Cain 12 pass from Geovari McCollister (Perez kick), 9:50.
HOR—Justyn Oliphant 4 run (Lewis kick), 5:18.
HOR—Lewis 30 FG, 2:17.
HOR—White 6 run (kick fail), 0:55.
Third Quarter
HOR—White 47 run (Lewis kick), 10:26.
HOR—Oliphant 18 run (Lewis kick), 8:13.
JT—Cain 73 pass from McCollister (Perez kick), 7:54.
HOR—Lewis 47 FG, 5:35.
HOR—Del’Michael High 77 punt return (Lewis kick), 4:51.
HOR JT
First Downs 21 15
Rushes-Yards 42-263 36-84
Passing Yards 136 223
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-18-1 17-29-2
Punts-Avg. 5-34.0 6-45.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 7-55 6-43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Horn, Justyn Oliphant 12-102, Destri White 10-73, Zach Patterson 5-39, Bacardi Clark 7-30, Jordan Shavers 2-9, Chris Robison 5-7, Cameron McLemore 1-3. John Tyler, Dyran McDuff 7-36, Geovari McCollister 15-21, Reggie Gipson 11-15, Nick Cain 2-11, Jeremy Wilson 1-1.
PASSING—Horn, White 5-14-0—131, Robison 1-4-1—5. John Tyler, McCollister 16-27-2—215, Cain 1-2-0—8.
RECEIVING—Horn, Kakpa Mansaray 3-99, Del’Michael High 1-21, Jarrison Stewart 1-11, Jadden Nelson 1-5. John Tyler, Cain 8-134, Duntavion Gross 5-60, Rodney Bendy 1-18, Andre Crawford 1-8, Gipson 1-4, Wilson 1-(-1).