LUFKIN — The playoff victory for Tatum’s football team on Thursday was courtesy of the rushing firm of Overstreet, Johnson and Johnson.
The firm is Jalen Overstreet, L.J. Johnson and Shaq Johnson. The group fueled a Tatum running game attack which ran for 408 yards as Tatum overwhelmed Woodville, 50-13, in a Class 2A Division I bi-district playoff at Abe Martin Stadium.
Overstreet, a verbal commitment to The University of Texas, led the way with 134 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. L.J. Johnson had 106 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries while Shaq Johnson had 79 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
The ground game helped Tatum out-score Woodville 29-0 in the second half. Tatum (9-2) advanced to an area playoff against Cameron Yoe (6-4) next week with the time, date and site to be determined. Woodville ended its season with a 5-6 record.
A defensive play started the second-half onslaught. After Woodville’s Dominique Lockhart returned the second-half kickoff 50 yards, Tatum’s Jordan Noel intercepted a pass by Woodville quarterback Tyler Weatherford at the Tatum 13-yard line. This set up a 29-yard screen pass from Overstreet to Nate Pickett, which fueled an 80-yard drive which was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by L.J. Johnson with 7:06 left in the third quarter, giving Tatum a 28-13 lead.
Tatum scored two touchdowns in nine seconds to put the game away.
Overstreet capped an 80-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff L.J. Johnson recovered the pooch kick by Samuel Zapata at the Winnsboro 32-yard line.
On the next play, Overstreet threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Pickett to give Tatum a 42-16 lead with 16 seconds left in the third quarter. Jaylon Shans concluded the scoring with a 66-yard touchdown run, followed by a two-point conversion run by Pickett on a broken play with 6:04 remaining.
Both team s had good starts on offense as the game’s first five drives ended in touchdowns.
Tatum struck first as a seven-yard touchdown run by Overstreet with 9:21 left in the first capped a 55-yard drive.
Woodville countered with a 71-yard drive, with a looping, 24-yard touchdown pass from Weatherford to Dominique Lockhart tied the game at 7-7.
A 19-yard pass from Overstreet to C.J. Whitaker set up a five-yard touchdown run by Overstreet with 4:32 left in the first quarter, giving Tatum a 14-7 lead.
Overstreet had 64 total yards of offense in the first half. Woodville’s second drive was a slow march, going 69 yards on 11 plays before a one-yard touchdown run by Marcus Harrison with 10:54 left in the second quarter. Harrison led all players with 99 yards rushing on 14 carries in the first half, but the score remained 14-13 as the extra-point attempt by Torin Hickman was wide left.
Harrison finished with 118 yards rushing on 18 carries.
Tatum struck on the next play from scrimmage as Shaq Johnson broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run.
Shaq Johnson led Tatum with 73 yards rushing on seven carries, leading a first half in which Tatum gained 150 yards on the ground while Woodville had 158 yards rushing. Woodville had 226 yards rushing for the game.
Neither team had a serious scoring threat for the rest of the first half after Shaq Johnson’s long run. Kiano Lucas led Tatum with seven first-half tackles, his total for the game which led Tatum. Javolick Garrett also had an interception for Tatum.
Philip Noble forced a fumble for Woodville which Sana Moran recovered in the third quarter. Harrison Noble led Woodville with six tackles each.