Gladewater Bear Brayson Woods snags a TD pass only to have it nullified by a penalty.
Photos by Jim Bardwell
The Gladewater Bears had a tough task this week as they hosted one of the top teams in the district in the Liberty Eylau Leopards on homecoming night at Jack V. Murphy stadium. And despite a valiant effort from the Bears, they fell 49-34.
Gladewater won the toss and deferred to the second half so the Leopards got the ball to begin the game and took no time getting going as Dequane Prevo ran it 42 yards deep into Bears territory and two plays later, TJ Stewart took it in from 2 yards out to give Liberty Eylau a 6-0 lead as the extra point was no good. After a three and out punt by Gladewater, the Leopards struck again on 1 play as quarterback Trip Baysinger broke free and went untouched 60 yards for a touchdown and Liberty Eylau was up 13-0 barely four minutes into the contest.
But the Bears finally got their offense on track as after a failed onside kick by Liberty Eylau, Gladewater got the ball at the Leopards 40 and 3 plays later, Mason Budro took it in for a 3 yard touchdown run to make it a 13-7 game midway through the 1st quarter. Both defenses began to take over as both teams didn’t score for a while until Paysinger broke free again for a 23 yard TD run to give Liberty Eylau a 21-7 lead with 6 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. But the Bears continued to fight back as De’ondre Jefferson found the end zone for a 1 yard touchdown run with 1 second left before halftime to make it a 21-14 Leopards lead at the break.
Liberty Eylau though came out swinging to open the 2nd half as the Leopards defense forced a Gladewater fumble on the first play of the 3rd quarter and one play after, Paysinger found Stewart again for a 47 yard touchdown pass and it wad quickly 28-14 Liberty Eylau less then a minute into the 3rd.
Gladewater had a nice response drive going but then disaster struck as Luke Brown was intercepted by the Leopards Zaeveya Bell and it was returned 64 yards for a pick 6 and it was suddenly a commanding 35-14 Liberty Eylau lead. But to the Bears credit, they continued to fight back as once again Budro took in a short yardage touchdown to cut it to 35-21.
But the Leopards punched back quickly again with a 1 play TD drive as Paysinger found Jayshaun Weatherall for a 64 yard touchdown pass and a 42-21 Leopards lead after 3 quarters.
Gladewater continued to fight as Luke Brown found Brayson Woods for a 35 yard catch deep in Leopards territory setting up a Jefferson 3 yard TD run to make it a 42-28 game. Jefferson then made a huge play on defense as he intercepted a Paysinger pass which set up a 3rd Budro TD run of the evening.
Gladewater went for two and didn’t get it which left it at a 42-34 game. Liberty Eylau though the put the game on ice as Prevo found the endzone again for a 22 yard score and the final score of 49-34.
“Too many mistakes to beat a good team like Liberty Eylau. I feel we played well on both sides of the ball. But 3 turnovers ended up being the back breakers for us,” said coach Jonny Louvier.
Gladewater is now 3-4 on the season and 1-2 in district play. It will be a short week as they will now be on the road at Tatum next.
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White Oak continued to struggle since they began district play as they were destroyed and overwhelmed 60-0 by district leader Jefferson.
The Roughnecks offense and defense struggled all night against a very well rounded Bulldogs team. Jaxsen Ludlow was 10-19 for 85 yards. Junior Allen lead the way on the ground with 45 yards on 10 carries. Logan Ladwig had 2 catches for 25 yards.
The Roughnecks fall to 4-2 on the season and 0-2 in district play and will make the short trip to Sabine next.
- By Tyler Sutton