Ryan Silapan: Carthage's defense anchors season opening win over Kilgore

Sports Editor

Ryan Silapan joined the Panola Watchman in May of 2021 after previous stints with the Sequoyah County Times, Prep2Prep.com and the Santa Cruz Sentinel. He's in his 11th year as a sports writer and in his free time enjoys golf and watching pro wrestling.

KILGORE — The Carthage Bulldogs football team — the reigning 4A Division II state champions — showed they don’t have to be flashy on offense and play suffocating defense the entire way to win a game.

But when the fourth quarter of the game came, Carthage’s defense took over.

Carthage held Kilgore — who came into the game ranked No. 9 in 4A D-I — to just two first downs and just 25 yards of offense in the fourth quarter as Carthage opened their season with a 30-27 victory.

“I just thought we outlasted them,” Carthage Coach Scott Surratt said. “The conditioning was good, and we made a lot of mistakes and knew we were going to. We have a lot of young players and we played a heck of a football team.”

With 2:35 remaining in the game, Carthage punted and Kilgore took over on Carthage’s 39-yard line.

Following a 13-yard connection form Derrick Williams to Taylor Oliver, Kilgore advanced the ball all the way to Carthage’s 39-yard line following a late hit penalty by Carthage.

Williams connected with Oliver for a seven-yard reception, but after that Carthage wasn’t giving up anything else.

Williams was incomplete on his next pass attempt, and Isaiah Watters — who led Kilgore with 71 yards rushing one nine attempts, including a 39-yard rushing touchdown — was knocked back for a one-yard loss.

Then facing a 4-and-4 with less than 1:20 left in the game, Carthage junior lineman Colt Hodges got the edge and was able to sack Williams — all but securing the game.

“I saw him going back and I started running up,” Hodges said. “I knew I had to go make that play. When I got that sack, I was hyped. We need to keep making improvements and keep getting better.”

Hodges said Carthage needed to make up for giving up such long plays as Watters’ 39-yard touchdown and Williams’ 64-yard touchdown run.

“We had some bad plays and missed tackles early,” Hodges said. “We just had to overcome it, not think about it and just play the next play.”

Carthage led Kilgore 23-20 going to the half.

Through three quarters, Carthage was trying to figure themselves out on defense just as the offense — who committed three turnovers in the game — was.

This wasn’t unexpected by Surratt, who recognizes how young his team is this season.

“We knew we were going to make lots of mistakes tonight,” Surratt said. “We got young guys, and that’s why they call it experience. It was a great opening game and we were fortunate to get the win.”

As the game went on, you could see the game slowing down for the defense as they started figuring things out.

By the time the fourth quarter came around, the light bulb went off above the heads of Carthage’s defense.

“We tackled better and got up there more tighter,” Surratt said. “Coach (Darren) Preston did a great job adjusting as the game went on because they are new players. We’re adjusting, and we were able come out with a win.”

The offense and defense will assuredly get better as the season goes on — what Surratt led team hasn’t?

But pulling out a victory against a ranked Kilgore team on the road is a sure step in the right direction.

“We have a lot of young guys over there, and we’ll continue to get better,” Surratt said.

Sports Editor

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