Big second half lifts Sulphur past Valley

Pauls Valley September 17, 2008 09:03 am

— Zac Swartz threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Sulphur used a dominant second-half performance to blow open a close game and beat former District 3A-2 rival Pauls Valley, 32-14, Friday night.
The Bulldogs, who will compete in District 2A-4 this fall, improved to 2-0 on the season heading into their final pre-district contest Friday at Elgin. Pauls Valley, meanwhile, fell to 0-2.
In other action involving area teams Friday, Allen improved to 1-1 with a 48-0 pasting of Cyril, Stratford fell to 0-2 with a 28-0 home loss to 10th-ranked Stroud in the District A-8 opener for both clubs, Holdenville handed Coalgate its first loss of the season, 26-18, and Konawa dropped to 0-2, losing to Wewoka, 33-28.
At Pauls Valley
Sulphur 32, Pauls Valley 14
Swartz gave Sulphur an early 6-0 lead five minutes into the game on a 15-yard pass to senior wideout Whitt Carter, who already has three touchdown receptions this season and who was a one-man wrecking crew Friday night. In addition to his first-quarter score, Carter also caught a 68-yard toss from Swartz to set up another touchdown, and he was a force all night on special teams returning punts and kickoffs and also had an interception on defense.
“It was a typical hard-fought Sulphur-Pauls Valley game until halftime,” Sulphur assistant head coach Jeff Nye said. “Our kids really took over in the second half. Zac had a good game, but the guy who really had a good night was Whitt Carter.”
Caleb Livingston hit Casey Gardner on a 68-yard bomb just a minute and a half after Carter’s touchdown to put Pauls Valley ahead for the only time in the game at 7-6, then Swartz found Dylan Anderson from four yards out to put the Bulldogs on top 12-7 with nine minutes left in the first half.
Swartz scored on a sneak less than three minutes into the third quarter, and Logan Grinstead scored on runs of five and 12 yards later in the half to cap a run of 26 unanswered points for Sulphur.
Swartz was the leading rusher for the Bulldogs with 48 yards on 11 carries and also threw for 87 yards, and Grinstead added 46 yards on 15 carries. The Sulphur defense was tough against the run for the second straight week, limiting the Panthers to 41 yards on 25 tries. Carter, Nick Anderson and Chance Wallace all had interceptions and Kendall Lance recovered a fumble to pace the defensive effort.
At Allen
Allen 48, Cyril 0
Levi Howard rushed for 96 yards and three touchdowns, and Josh Holder scored twice — once on the game’s opening kickoff — as the Mustangs bounced back from a season-opening loss to Class C No. 2 Grandfield with a dominating effort on both sides of the ball.
Holder gave Allen its second return of an opening kickoff in as many weeks with his 75-yard dash to ignite a 28-0 opening quarter for the Mustangs. He added a 16-yard run later in the quarter to cap a short drive set up by Reece Lewis’s 34-yard interception return.
Howard — who returned the opening kickoff in Week 1 for 70 yards and a touchdown — scored from 33 and five yards to finish off Allen’s big first quarter, and he added a 17-yard run in the second period. Freshman Seth McLean, who ran for 37 yards on just three carries, scored from 26 yards out to put the Mustangs up 42-0 at halftime, and the game ended on the mercy rule when sophomore Gage Coil — who had 78 yards on just eight trips — rambled 65 yards for the final score of the night in the third quarter.
“We got some younger kids in, and we cleaned up our act as far as penalties, but the biggest thing was our defense played outstanding,” first-year Allen coach Kenny Deaton said after watching his young club limit Cyril to just 47 total yards, including minus-17 on the ground. “Their quarterback threw for over 300 yards last week (but just 64 Friday).”
Tanner Ashby led the Allen defense with three solo tackles (one for loss), a sack and a fumble recovery, and Howard, Hazen Adsit and Duane Fendwick all had inteerceptions.
The Mustangs face a tough road test this week when they visit Paoli, a 45-0 winner over Central Friday night.
At Coalgate
Holdenville 26, Coalgate 18
Holdenville’s Bryce Romberg scored from a yard out with 10:42 to play, and the Wolverines (2-0) won a seesaw battle to ruin Coalgate’s Homecoming.
Sophomore quarterback Dale Powell gave the Wildcats the lead three times in the game — the last at 18-13 on a 66-yard pass to Nick Thompson in the third quarter — before Holdenville scored the final 13 points to steal the win.
Powell’s three-yard run with 2:07 left in the first quarter put Coalgate up 6-0 heading to the second, then Holdenville took its first lead of the game at 7-6 on a four-yard burst by Dale Venable later in the period.
Powell’s seven-yard run again gave the Wildcats the lead, but Daniel Velazquez scored from three yards out late in the second quarter to make it 13-12 Holdenville at the break.
After Powell found Thompson for their third scoring connection in two weeks in the third quarter, Holdenville answered with a 24-yard scoring pass from Chris Aguirre to again take the lead at 19-18 after three quarters, and Romberg sealed the win with his plunge early in the fourth.
“We had some missed assignments in the first half that were pretty costly for us, but that’s going to happen when you’re playing a lot of sophomores and juniors,” first-year Coalgate coach Frank Howard said. “Our kids played hard. We just have to keep improving every week.”
Sophomore linebacker Shay Loudermilk again led the Coalgate defense with 12 tackles, and Ryan Brazeal added 10 and D. K. Spears had seven in the loss. J. W. Stanley also blocked an extra point for the second straight week.
The Wildcats are home again this week against Hartshorne before going on the road for their District 2A-4 opener next Friday at No. 7 Plainview.
At Stratford
Stroud 28, Stratford 0
Stratford, an 18-6 loser to Coalgate in Week 1, got another solid effort from its defense but continued to struggle on offense in the loss to Stroud.
Despite the return of senior tailback Austin Black from a knee injury, the Bulldogs managed just 125 total yards and turned the ball over three times. Black, who rushed for over 1,200 yards last season, managed just 46 yards on 15 carries, and sophomore quarterback Chase Chamberlain — the Bulldogs’ other 1,000-yard rusher from 2007 — was held to 20 yards on 14 carries and threw two interceptions.
Cody Pritchard and Dallas Johnson did most of the damage for Stroud, scoring two touchdowns apiece.
“We’ve got to do a better job of blocking than we have so far, and we have to tackle better,” Stratford coach Michael Blackburn said after seeing his young club give up 267 yards rushing and another 70 through the air. “We did some things better this week ... we just can’t do ANYTHING consistently right now.”
Adam Vanlandingham had another big game defensively for stratford with 11 tackles, and John Sinnett and T. J. Bratcher added nine and eight stops, respectively.
Stratford will travel to Dibble Friday for another district contest.

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