The Texas Tigers defeated the Hallsville Bobcats 56-31 in the district season opener. The Tigers got off to a rocky start but managed to bounce back and sprint past the 3-1 Bobcats.

Texas started off slow, dropping the opening kickoff and letting the Bobcats recover in great field position. Although the Tigers managed to hold the Bobcats scoreless, the momentum was not on their side. To add on to the unfortunate start for the Tigers, a bad snap and recovery landed the Bobcats at the 9 yard line in prime scoring position.

Bobcat quarterback Jace Mosely then sprinted into the endzone giving Hallsville the jump on Texas High. The Tigers did not back down however as they managed to strike back with the sophomore-to-sophomore connection between quarterback David Potter and receiver TJ Gray for a 45 yard touchdown.

“We just kind of settled down, made a couple plays, got some stops, created the fumble on the pass to number four and we just got to relax,” head coach Gerry Stanford said.

Hallsville seemingly put everything into their next drive; only resulting in a 30 yard field goal from senior Bobcat kicker Zach Southard. The Bobcats went stale after this, not scoring again until quarter-way through the third quarter.

Tigers however were more lively than ever, they had seemingly found their rhythm and momentum. This started with a 34 yard touchdown run from freshman running back Tradarrian Ball followed by an insanely athletic jump ball catch from senior receiver Xavier Dangerfield.

The success was not just offensively however, the defense also found their stride as junior defensive back CJ Brown jumped a route and strutted his way back 50 yards for the pick-six.

“It took a second to adapt but we figured it out and we played really good defense,” senior defensive end Ean Crite said.

Things started looking gloomy for the Bobcat players and fans after Ball rushed his way 22 yards for his second touchdown of the night and the Tigers 28th unscored point; this put the Tigers up 35-10 going into half.

“The goal was to finish strong right there, That’s something we’ve been preaching and talking about all week long,” Stanford said.

Hallsville came out of the half a new team, with multiple deep connections from Mosely, senior running back Blayde Bullard punched it in for the 1 yard touchdown run.

The Bobcats saw this as their chance to weasel their way back into the game, so they came out in an onside kick. This couldn’t have gone worse though as the Tigers recovered and junior linebacker KJ Reader ran it all the way to the endzone for the touchdown.

Hallsville answered the call, bouncing back with a 33 yard touchdown reception from the huge senior tight end Ashton Garza.

After this play, calls started getting creative. Texas High began this trend with a double reverse sweep to junior receiver Brandon Hall for the 15 yard touchdown run. Hallsville matched them however as they scored on a 6 yard touchdown reception from Mosely on their own variation of the infamous “Philly Special”.

The fourth quarter seemed the time where the game finally slowed down and the defenses started to show out. With both teams holding each other scoreless for the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter Potter broke the silence on a rollout right 5 yard touchdown pass to Gray.

This was the dagger that finally put the Bobcats to rest; giving the Tigers their first district win 56-31.

The Tigers next game is at Mt. Pleasant next Friday, Sep. 30, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.