Turnover after turnover, The Tigers offense was less than impressive tonight. Texas High can give most of the credit for the 13-0 win against the Natchitoches Central Chiefs to their defense.

In the first quarter, the Chiefs met a strong Tigers defense and had to punt almost immediately. Texas High then had a deep drive down the field, before getting a 32-yard field goal by junior kicker Mantis Urienezius.

Later, to start the first of many offensive errors, senior quarterback Dakota Hunter threw an interception. Before ending this quarter, there was a problem between the center and quarterback exchange, resulting in a Texas High fumble picked up by Natchitoches Central.

“Not the game we really wanted to see going into district,” senior defensive Lineman Justin Lewis said. “We know what we need to improve on, and we’ll get better before next week.”

The “wildcat formation” was put into action by the Tigers during the second quarter. Many impressive plays were executed, but they were done in vain because of two more fumbles by Texas High. Nearing the end of the half, the Tigers blocked a Chief field goal attempt that senior linebacker Anthony Rhone ran back for 47 yards. Despite this, the Tigers were still unable to score before halftime due to another interception.

“I wanted to win, so I’m happy about it, but it was a pretty rough game on the offensive part,” Hunter said. “I think district is looking good for the most part; we just need to step it up on offense.”

By the time the third quarter rolled around, the Tigers were able to score a touchdown. Senior running back Treveon Walker caught a pass from Hunter to run in for a 40-yard touchdown. The Tigers were also able to get an interception caught by senior Kevin Harris. But when it looked like the Tigers were going to make it through a quarter without a forced turnover, senior wide receiver Taylor Jackson fumbled.

To finish up the game, Urienezius sent in another field goal to bring the score to 13-0. A couple more plays were made by the Tigers, such as sophomore linebacker Jacorian Walker recovering a muffed punt. Not much else was done except a missed field goal attempt.

“13-0 is good because it’s the win, but we still got things to work on,” Harris said, “We got in the red zone a couple of times and couldn’t score the touchdowns. Just little mistakes here and there, but 13-0 is good.”

In the end, the Texas High defense was solid in forcing a shutout. Meanwhile, the offense should  have performed better, but were limited mostly due to the ridiculous amount of fumbles.

“It didn’t go as well as we wanted it to. The way to sum it up, it’s a win. It’s an ugly win, but it’s a win,” Lewis said. “We played hard on defense, we played hard on offense, we just got to eliminate the mistakes next time.”