Cleburne outlasts Chisholm Trail in game that featured more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage

In a game with more than 1,000 combined yards from scrimmage, the Cleburne Yellow Jackets prevailed over the Chisholm Trail Rangers, 48-35, on Friday night at Yellow Jacket Stadium.

Cleburne used a rushing attack that chipped away at the Chisholm Trail defense with several intermediate runs before picking up chunks of yardage on several explosive runs.

Cleburne junior Cleo Chandler rushed for 261 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Chandler had runs of 75 and 68 yards that set up short touchdown scores for the Jackets.

After Cleburne junior quarterback Gunner Hammond opened the scoring on a one-yard keeper, Hammond connected with receiver Tylar Chumley for a 63-yard touchdown pass and a 13-0 Jacket lead with 3:16 left in the opening quarter.

Chisholm Trail answered on its ensuing possession as Garrison Haskell tossed a 33-yard touchdown to Isaiah Ortega with 27 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Cleburne reclaimed a two-possession lead early in the second quarter on a 30-yard scoring strike from Hammond to senior receiver Isaak Cunningham.

But the Rangers would respond again, this time on a 27-yard run by Jaylon Coulson just 2 minutes later to pull to within 20-13.

The back-and-forth second quarter continued as the Jackets answered again on a five-yard run by Chandler for a 27-13 advantage with 5:37 left until halftime.

With the help of two big penalties on Cleburne’s defense, the Rangers pulled to within a one-score game yet again on a seven-yard touchdown run by Moise Mpala to pull to within 27-20 with 3:05 left.

On the final possession of the first half and a wild second quarter, Cleburne overcome three big penalties to march 85 yards downfield, including a 75-yard run by Chandler on second-and-23, to set up a nine-yard touchdown pass from Hammond to tight end Ethan Steck with 13 seconds remaining as the Jackets took a 34-20 lead into halftime.

On the first drive of the second half, Chisholm Trail lined up to punt on fourth-and-3 from its own 38 when the punter felt pressure from the Cleburne rush and tucked the ball trying to pick up the first down, but Cleburne’s Braxton Bailey tackled him shy of the marker for a turnover on downs.

A few plays later, Cleburne extended its lead on a 10-yard pass from Hammond to Gabriel Griggs for a 41-20 lead.

Late in the third quarter, Chisholm Trail cut into the lead on another Haskell-to-Ortega touchdown, this one from 28 yards. The Rangers got a defensive stop and were set up with a first-and-10 inside the red zone after a 68-yard pass from Haskell to Eljiah Stallworth, but the shotgun snap on the next play was low and Cleburne’s Jaxon Bigham recovered it.

Two plays later, Chandler took off for a 68-yard run to set up a one-yard scoring run, and the Jackets reclaimed their three-score lead.

Hammond finished with 178 passing yards, 124 rushing yards and five total touchdowns.

Stallworth led Chisholm Trail with six catches for 110 receiving yards while Haskell was 19-of-34 passing for 313 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

Cleburne has a week 3 bye while Chisholm Trail visits Crowley.

This story was originally published September 6, 2019 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Cleburne outlasts Chisholm Trail in game that featured more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage."