H.S. Football: Palestine looking to rebound against Jacksonville

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September 5, 2012

H.S. Football: Palestine looking to rebound against Jacksonville

By JUSTIN RAINS Palestine Herald-Press The Palestine Herald-Press Wed Sep 05, 2012, 04:03 PM CDT

There are one of two ways the Palestine football team can move forward after its heart-breaking, overtime loss to No. 5 La Vega this past Friday.

The Wildcats could sulk about what might have been, and go into this Friday’s matchup against Jacksonville flat. Or, they can use the game as motivation, and go into this week hungry.

To hear PHS coach Lance Angel tell it, his squad is leaning toward the latter.

“I think after Friday, and little on into Monday, our kids were down, and that’s not always a bad thing,” Angel said. “Our kids were fully confident that we were going to win the game. They were confident all summer, they were confident into the game.

“I do think what we have to look at is, if we can play with them, we can play with anybody. We have to.”

The Wildcats prepare to face a team that’ll be riding high. The Indians, behind sophomore quarterback Carter McCown, upset Class 3A No. 9 (then No. 3) Carthage, 34-30, on the road Friday.

“This is almost like being in the playoffs. This is how the playoffs would be,” Angel said of his team’s tough early-season schedule. “You’re going to play a good team one week, then when that game’s over...you’ve got to start getting ready for the next one.”

McCown had a huge varsity debut, throwing for 325 yards and four touchdowns, none bigger than his 11-yard strike to Darrell Minifee for the game-winning score with less than a minute to play.

“I think our secondary will respond. We’ve just got to make some plays back there. There are going to be times when (Jacksonville) will out-jump us for balls, that’s what they did against Carthage. We’re not going to stop every pass, but we’ve got to try and make some plays back there.”

That big offensive output from the Indians will run counter to what might have made Angel happiest about his team’s performance Friday.

The Wildcats held La Vega to only 247 yards of total offense in the game, an almost unheard of feat considering the amount of weapons the Pirates had returning from last year’s stellar team.

“You have to have a good defense to have the kind of season we all want to have. It’s a credit to kids and the defensive coaches, who have put this thing together. It’s exciting to have a defense that can get out there and stop people and make things happen.”

But, run-heavy La Vega will be complete different from pass-happy Jacksonville, Angel said.

The Palestine offense should have plenty to build on after the game against La Vega. The Wildcats gained 350 yards on the Pirates with 251 of those yards coming on the ground.

Darrius Stephens ran for 120 yards on only 10 carries, while Ben Luckett’s varsity debut saw him run for 76 yards and two scores, including the Wildcat touchdown in overtime.

The Palestine passing game, however, was a different story. The Wildcats threw for only 99 yards in the win, with both Brian Gummelt and Gee Clark seeing time under center.

That trend will continue Friday, with both seeing the field offensively as the Wildcats try to find a solid starter.

While the Wildcats may look back at the La Vega game and see some opportunities missed in the passing game, the biggest disappointment would be in a late turnover and a drive-killing penalty inside the 10-yard line.

“There were a couple of times we had opportunities that we missed,” Angel said of his passing attack. “But, for us, we’ve just got to make sure we don’t have penalties or turnovers at crucial times. We didn’t have many on Friday, we just had them at crucial times.”

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jacksonville’s Tomato Bowl (202 Austin St., Jacksonville, Texas 75766).

THIS WEEK IN PHS HISTORY

Sept. 3, 2004 — Playing in their home-opener, the Wildcats rallied from a three-point deficit, scoring the game’s final 14 points en route to a 42-31 win over Carthage to move to 2-0. Cameron Jones had 156 yards and two touchdowns in the win, the first of his 10 100-yard rushing performances of the season.

Have a PHS football memory you’d like to see here? Email sports@palestineherald.com

———

Sports editor Justin Rains can be reached via email at jrains@palestineherald.com

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