By Gray Haynes
Friday night, North Webster played host to an East Texas foe, the Garrison Bulldogs. North Webster was riding a three game winning streak and 3-1 overall. Garrison came in as a top 10 team in the state of Texas. North Webster won the opening coin toss and elected to defer their option to the second half. The visitors took the opening kickoff and marched down the field and scored. The extra point made the score 7-0 early in the first quarter. The ensuing kickoff was miss kicked by Garrison and only rolled 10 yards. As luck would have it, on this night, Garrison recovered near midfield and began their second drive of the night before the Knights ran an offensive play. Five plays after the recovery, the Bulldogs scored on a short run. They missed the extra point to make the score 13-0 with 5:19 left in the first quarter.
The North Webster offense sputtered out of the gate and turned over possession of the ball at their own 30 on an interception. Garrison went on another short drive of 5 plays before scoring on a 13 yard pass. The extra point made the score 20-0 with 2:23 left in the first quarter. On their second possession of the night, the Knights had two short runs followed by an incomplete pass and were forced to punt on a 4th down and 6. Garrison’s next drive was hampered by penalties, and they were forced to punt it back to the Knights. After a nifty punt return by Dante Owens, North Webster took over near midfield with 9:44 left in the half. The Knights couldn’t get anything going on offense on this drive and were forced to punt again. Garrison went on a methodical 5 minute drive to eat up the rest of the clock in the first half and score another touchdown. The extra point made the score 27-0. The Knights took the kickoff and ran one play to end the half.
A nice kickoff return by Braylon Washington gave the Knights the ball near the forty yard line to begin the second half. After a dropped pass and a run for no gain, the Knights turned the ball over on an interception near their own forty. On their first play, Garrison gave the ball right back to North Webster on a fumble. The Knights, once again, had trouble moving the ball and were forced to punt it back to Garrison. On their first play, Garrison threw a nice slant pattern to the tight end who was tackled and rolled over on the ground. The receiver got up and signaled a first down. Then, he started running to the end zone. On a crazy play, Garrison was awarded another touchdown. On the extra point try, Garrison was penalized three times for illegal motion and missed the extra point. That made the score 33-0 with 8:21 left in the 3rd period. The Knights opened their next series with a 40 yard run by quarterback, Justin Stewart. Two plays later, Stewart found Owens for a 31 yard touchdown pass and catch. The extra point made the score 33-7. Garrison matched the Knights score to complete a 6 minute drive to end the 3rd period. The extra point was no good. This made the score 39-7. Garrison punched in another score halfway through the final period to make the final score 46-7.
With several players out due to injury for this tough game, the Knights couldn’t get much going on offense or defense. North Webster travels to Monroe next Friday to open district 1 AAA against Carroll High School.
