’Cats in postseason after two year absence

By SCOTT TYLER

Sports Editor

For a five year stretch, from 2002-06, the Palestine Wildcats were one of the top football programs in the area.

Palestine, which had seven playoff wins in the five-year span, went into a drought, not making the postseason the last two years.

After a two-year hiatus, the Wildcats are back in familiar territory — the playoffs.

“Anytime you have been to the playoffs five years in a row, the kids know about it and they want to get back there,” Palestine head coach Booker Bowie said. “We are happy that we were able to make it.”

Palestine (6-4) opens the playoffs against a former district foe — the Mexia Blackcats (8-2). The Class 3A-Region III, Division II bi-district playoff game is at 7:30 p.m. at Longhorns Stadium in Cedar Hill.

This is the first playoff experience for any of the Palestine players, who were either freshman or still in junior high the last time the Wildcats made the postseason.

“It feels good to make the playoffs,” Palestine quarterback Olin Terry said. “But we are not satisfied with just that. We still have work to do.”

Palestine faces a Mexia squad that was one of the causes for starting the Wildcats on its playoff slide.

In 2007, Palestine was 2-1 in district going into Mexia for the fourth game of district play and just needing a win to make it seven straight playoff appearances. But Mexia knocked off the Wildcats, 42-17, to force a three-way tie for second place between the Wildcats, the Blackcats and Westwood. Palestine was the odd-man out and the playoff streak was over.

In what became a rebuilding year with Bowie in his first year as the Palestine head coach, the Wildcats went 3-7 in 2008.

Palestine bounced back this season, finishing 4-1 in district and capturing the District 20-3A title after owning the tiebreaker with Brownsboro, who also was 4-1 in district play.

“I think everything changed from last year to this year,” Terry said. “The energy changed, there was better attitude and we were more confident.”

The Palestine offense this season has gotten back to putting up numbers like it did during those five playoff years. The Wildcats are averaging 436.8 yards a game — an increase of 114 yards a game from last year.

Palestine has a pair of 1,000-yard rushers — Terry and Terrance Simon — which is something the Wildcats did not do even during 2002-07. Terry has rushed for 1,292 yards and 18 touchdowns. Simon has rushed for 1,250 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Terry also has thrown for 1,324 yards and 13 touchdowns — both career highs for the three-year starting quarterback.

E.J. Spurlock, another three-year starter who is getting his first playoff experience, had a career-high 40 catches for 613 yards and six touchdowns this season.

On Friday night, Bowie is looking for his offense to keep its hands on the ball and control the clock, limiting Mexia’s offensive opportunities.

“We have to keep their offense off the field and to do that, we need to have long drives where we score at the end,” the Palestine head coach said. “The best defense is a good offense.”

Palestine showed that kind of offense in the last game against Westwood. In the second half, the Wildcats kept the ball for more than 17 of the 24 minutes and had a drive of over five minutes and two drives for more than four minutes.

“The offensive line came out and blocked real well allowing us to move the ball down the field,” Bowie said. “Those are the kind of drives that we need against Mexia.”

Notes: Mexia leads the all-time series against Palestine 11-8-2. The two teams first meet in 1924 (a 39-14 Mexia win) and played 17 times from 1924 to 1945. The two teams have played one another only twice this decade, when they were both in the same district in 2006 and 2007. ...Palestine and Mexia have two common opponents this season — Crockett and Athens. Against Crockett, Palestine won 54-35 and Mexia won 45-21. Against Athens, Palestine lost 29-14 and Mexia won 61-22.

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Scott Tyler may be contacted via e-mail at styler@palestineherald.com

WILDCAT STATISTICS

Team

Offense

First Downs: 206

Rushes-Yards-Avg: 416-2,999-7.2

Passing Yards: 1,369

Total Yards: 4,368

Comp-Att-Int: 91-170-11

Fumbles: 6

Penalties-Yards: 57-492

Opponents

First Downs: 157

Rushing-Yards-Avg: 553-2,023-3.6

Passing Yards: 1,056

Total Yards: 3,079

Comp-Att-Int: 68-167-10

Fumbles-Lost: 7

Penalties-Yards: 55-407

Individual Stats

Offense

Rushing

Att-Yards-Avg-TD

Olin Terry, 153-1,292-8.44-18; Terrance Simon, 180-1,250-6.94-12; DeCory Chivers, 64-.398-6.22-3; E.J. Spurlock, 2-20-10.0-0; Kenneth Green, 5-18-3.60-1; Sam Wren, 4-15-3.75-0; Kyle Cargill, 4-11-2.75-2; Joe Anthony, 2-3-1.5-0; Randal Johnson, 1-(-2)-(-2.0)-0.

Passing

Comp-Att-Yards-Yards/Att-TD

Olin Terry, 90-169-11-1,324-7.83-13; Eric Robertson, 1-1-0-45-45.0-0.

Receiving

Catches-Yards-Avg.-TD

E.J. Spurlock, 40-613-15.33-6; Kenneth Green, 24-369-15.38-2; Eric Robertson, 14-264-18.86-3; Kyle Cargill, 4-42-10.5-1; Terrance Simon, 4-15-3.75-0; Devin Venoy, 2-49-24.5-0; Sam Wren, 2-17-8.50-0; Meschach Willliams, 1-32-32.0-1; DeCory Chivers, 1-2-2.0-0.

Scoring

Olin Terry, 108 (18 rushing TDs); Terrance Simon, 76 (12 rushing TD, 2 conversion); E.J. Spurlock, 36 (6 receiving TDs); Travis Atkinson, 36 (1 field goal, 33 PAT); Kenneth Green, 18 (2 receiving TDs, 1 rushing TD); Kyle Cargill, 18 (2 rushing TD, 1 receiving TD); Eric Robertson 18 (3 receiving TD); DeCory Chivers, 12 (2 rushing TDs); Meshach Williams, 6 (1 receiving TD); Eric Martinez, 6 (1 field goal, 3 PAT); Deon Davis, 2 (1 conversion).

Defense

Tackles (Solo-Assist)

Ryan Pardue, 69 (34-35); Sam Wren, 51 (33-18); Bobby Walker, 37 (22-15); Kyle Cargill, 32 (17-15); Michael Smith, 31 (20-11); E.J. Spurlock, 30 (21-9); Kenneth Green, 28 (19--9); Colin Turner, 28 (16-12); Carlos Bryant, 25 (18-7); Jatavian Powell, 21 (7-14); Olin Terry, 18 (12-6); Michael Walker, 16 (10-6); Alex Owens, 14 (7-7); Sammy Calhoun, 13 (7-6); Randle Johnson, 7 (4-3); Dave Simpson, 7 (4-3); Devin Venoy, 6 (6-0); Deon Davis, 6 (4-2); Meshach Williams, 3 (3-0); Terrance Simon, 2 (0-2); Booker Winn, 2 (2-0); Wesley Bennett, 2 (1-1); Derek Chapman, 1 (0-1); Issac Moya, 1 (1-0); Eric Martinez, 1 (1-0); Eric Robertson, 1 (1-0); DeCory Chivers, 1 (1-0).

Interceptions

Bobby Walker, 3; Olin Terry, 2; E.J. Spurlock, 2; Sam Wren, 1; Kyle Cargill, 1; Carlos Bryant, 1.

Sacks

Sam Wren, 4; Kyle Cargill, 3; Ryan Pardue, 2.5; Bobby Walker, 1; Colin Turner, 1; Michael Smith, .5.

Fumble Recoveries

Ryan Pardue, 2; Sammy Calhoun, 2; Colin Turner, 2; E.J. Spurlock, 1; Michael Smith, 1; Olin Terry, 1.

Forced Fumbles

Ryan Pardue, 2; Sammy Calhoun, 2; Olin Terry, 1; Michael Walker, 1; Kyle Cargill, 1.