Bishop Gorman's Dickson McKellar tackles Parish Episcopal's Luke Hoyle last Friday. (Shannon Wilson | Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Bullard Brook Hill was in a fierce battle Friday night against a motivated Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill squad.

The Tigers were hosting the Guard on homecoming and had the bonus of getting back a few players that had previously been injured.

But Brook Hill jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the second quarter and was able to respond every time TC-CH mounted a comeback.

“I thought we did a great job of if they scored and made the game close we always seemed to be two scores up in the game,” Guard coach Terry Pirtle said.

When the Tigers cut the deficit to 13-10 in the third quarter, Guard running back Gabe Lucio scored to make it 20-10. Another TC-CH score again cut the difference to 3, but Seth Brasher hauled in a 75-yard pass from Will Weathers to make it 27-17.

Weathers then put the game out of reach with an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter to keep Brook Hill perfect in district, increasing their league winning streak to 29 with a 33-24 win.

“The kids did respond well each time we needed them to,” Pirtle said.

Facing a run-oriented offense, Brook Hill limited TC-CH to 107 yards on the ground and 226 total yards. Junior linebacker Ryan Young led the stop unit with 11 tackles and a sack, with senior Mason Dickey also turning in another stellar performance on the line.

“Overall with the size and athleticism that Trinity Christian has, the defense held its own,” Pirtle said.

Up next for Brook Hill, a showdown with the only other unbeaten team in TAPPS D-II District 2, Dallas Christian.

 

GRACE WINS ANOTHER BLOWOUT

Since a loss to Dallas Christian to open district play, Grace Community has been humming along nicely.

Despite a slight injury setback to quarterback Blake White, the Cougars throttled Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill (48-7) and Dallas Shelton (55-17). On Friday’s win over the Chargers, Grace averaged 16 yards per rush and White completed 91 percent of his passes.

“I thought we were focused and locked in for the game,” Cougars coach Mike Maddox said.

The Cougars are now averaging 200.8 yards per game through the air and 300.8 on the ground.

Kade Clayton continued his spree of impressive running performances with 143 yards and three touchdowns and Garrett Newman added 106 yards on three carries.

White, who was asked to stay in the pocket, completed 10 of 11 passes for 204 yards (18.5 yards per attempt) with two TDs and no interceptions, while not registering a rush. White has 386 rushing yards on the year, most coming in the first three games of the year.

“He’s just one of those guys that’s very adaptable,” Maddox said. “If we need him to run, he can run. If we need him to throw he can complete a high percentage of his passes.”

The Cougars’ offense led to another blowout for the Cougars, who have yet to play in a game decided by fewer than 21 points. They’ve won five games by an average of 35.8 points per game, while their one loss was 49-7 to Dallas Christian.

 

CRUSADERS STAY POSITIVE IN LOSS

Bishop Gorman suffered its worst loss of the year Friday, falling 63-0 to Dallas Parish Episcopal. It was the first time the Crusaders failed to score at least 20 points.

Despite that, coach Coby Gipson said the team had a good video session Saturday and came back Monday ready to get back to work, with many staying after practice for additional training.

“Life never stands still,” Gipson said he tells his players. “You’ve got to prepare for whatever comes next.”

Next is a rivalry game against Gipson’s former team, Grace Community. Heading into that game, Gorman can look back at what they did well against Parish Episcopal.

“We came out and got them to third downs early and just couldn’t finish off defensively and gave up big plays,” Gipson said. “We had a number of good plays (on offense), we just didn’t string them together consistently.”

The Crusaders also did well to keep their heads in the face of constant pressure from the Panthers on both sides of the ball and after the play. Parish Episcopal was called for 11 penalties for 125 yards, many on personal fouls.

“You have to be mentally tough enough to walk away and not seek revenge and retaliate,” Gipson said. “We teach our kids to do the right thing every time in the face of adversity.”

 

SAME STORY FOR THE TROJANS

As has been a factor all year for All Saints, turnovers proved costly in the Trojans’ 31-13 loss to Colmesneil on Friday.

All Saints scored on the opening drive of the second half to cut its deficit to 12-7 before giveaways ended any thoughts of a comeback.

“We’ve got to quit helping people,” Trojans coach Mike Hall said. “We can’t afford to be helping people with turnovers.”

A bright spot for All Saints was the continued success of linebacker Brice Borgeson. The sophomore averages a team-best 13 tackles per game. Hall also praised the defensive work of Chandler Hammond and the consistency of the offensive line.

The Trojans hit the road for the seventh and final time this year Friday when they play unbeaten Honey Grove, about 2.5 hours away.

“That will be nice,” Hall said of playing the team’s last road game. “Although it’s long enough that it could count for two.”