By HARRIET PROTHRO PENROD, Journal Sports
It took Haughton a little time to get going against Southwood Friday night as the Buccaneers couldn’t get much going in the first half.
Leading 10-6 at halftime, Haughton came out and converted an onside kick to kick-start its offense and came away with a 37-24 Homecoming victory over Southwood in the District 1-5A matchup at Harold E. Harlan Stadium.
After recovering the onside kick at the Cowboys’ 38-yard line, the Bucs (1-1, 3-2) went on a four-play scoring drive capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run by Tyler Rhodes to take a 16-6 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Haughton scored on its next two possessions on touchdown runs by quarterback Colin Rains (17 and 35 yards), opening up a 30-6 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the game.
“In the first half, there was not much energy out there,” said Rains, who finished with 55 yards on nine carries and 3 TDs.
Neither team could get anything going in a first quarter that was marred by penalties. Southwood (0-2, 0-5) got on the board first at the start of the second quarter on a 17-yard touchdown run (the 2-point conversion failed) by Corinthian Walters, who started at quarterback for the Cowboys.
Rains’ 3-yard scoring run with 1:52 left in the first half gave Haughton a 7-6 lead with Carter Ebarb’s PAT. With 51 seconds to go in the first half, Southwood fumbled and gave Haughton the ball at the Cowboys’ 31. Seven plays later, Ebarb connected on a 27-yard field goal. Ebarb was 4-for5-on PATs.
“The onside kick was huge,” said Haughton head coach Jason Brotherton. “That was a big momentum shift. We work on that all year long for just the right time to use it. The guys say, ‘Why do we keep practicing it.’ That’s why.”
The Bucs relied on the run game in the second half, amassing 215 of their 264 rushing yards in the final two quarters.
“Line up and run the ball,” Brotherton said when asked what he told his team at the half. “Tyler and Colin, they played well. We threw it a lot in the first half, but we were a little off. We had two touchdown catches in the endzone, but the receivers were out of bounds. We were just a little late on those throws.”
Rains was 11-for-20 for 123 yards and 1 interception.
Rhodes finished with 137 yards on 16 carries. Davontay Moss added 55 yards on 4 carries and scored Haughton’s final touchdown on a 35-yard run.
The Cowboys, who had to forfeit their two victories, had two long touchdown passes from Cornelus Martin to Detonion Arkansas (85 and 60 yards) and a 4-yard scoring run by Melvin Coleman in the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach.
Walters led the Cowboys with 70 yards on 13 carries and Coleman finished with 48 yards on 13 carries.
“It was too little, too late,” said Southwood head coach Jesse Esters. “Penalties killed our drives. That’s the most penalties we’ve had in a game. We’ve had some distractions. But we’ll clean it up. We’ll fix those things.”
Next up for Southwood is a Thursday night game against Parkway while Haughton will meet Byrd on Friday night.
Contact Harriet at sbjharriet@gmail.com
Haughton 37, Southwood 24
Score by quarters
Southwood | 0 | 6 | 0 | 18 | – 24
Haughton | 0 | 10 | 13 | 14 | – 37
Scoring summary
SW – Corinthian Walters 17 run (run failed)
HAU – Colin Rains 3 run (Carter Ebarb kick)
HAU – Ebarb 27 field goal
HAU – Tyler Rhodes 5 run (kick failed)
HAU – Rains 17 run (Ebarb kick)
HAU – Rains 35 run (Ebarb kick)
SW – Detonian Arkansas 85 pass from Cornelus Martin (run failed)
HAU – Davontay Mos 34 run (Ebarb kick)
SW – Arkansas 60 pass from Martin (pass failed)
SW – Melvin Coleman 4 run (run failed)
Individual leaders
Rushing – Southwood (28-130), Walters 13-70 1 TD, Coleman 13-48 1 TD, Martin 2-12. Haughton (35-264), Rhodes 16-137 1 TD, Moss 4-55 1 TD, Rains 9-55 3 TDs, Trent McGowen 1-20, Marlon Montgomery 2-(-1), Christian Turner 3-(-2).
Passing – Southwood (5-12-1-187), Martin 4-7-0-178 2 TDs, Walters 1-5-1-9. Haughton (11-20-1-123), Rains 11-20-1-123.
Receiving – Southwood, Arkansas 3-154 2 TDs, Marrio Stevenson 1-25, Detravion Williams 1-8. Haughton, Jalen Lewis 3-28, Jamarion Montgomery 3-20, John Ecot 2-47, Rhodes 2-8, Cayden Hinkie 1-20.
