Carthage erases early deficit in a hurry, rolls by Gilmer to claim 4A D2 state title
Carthage has been the top-ranked team in Class 4A Division 2 all season long.
The Bulldogs had even defeated No. 3 Gilmer, their foe in the 4A D2 title game Friday, in the regular season.
The Buckeyes came out on fire, but that flame was doused in a hurry as Carthage dominated Gilmer 70-14 before 6,562 onlookers at AT&T Stadium.
Carthage (14-0) claimed its eighth state championship in nine title game appearances including four in the past five seasons.
Gilmer (14-2), which had won three state titles in now seven tries, came out like a badger with its tail aflame.
The Buckeyes scored on the third snap of their first possession on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Tennison to Rohan Fluellen to go up 7-0 at the 9:21 mark of the first quarter.
After a successful onside kick, that was recovered by kicker Jose Hernandez, Gilmer scored six plays later when Tennison found Fluellen again for an 18-yard score.
From that point it was all Carthage.
Quarterback Kai Horton was just a little off throwing the ball to start the game, but found his mark as the game went on.
Horton was on the receiving end of an 18-yard TD pass when he lateraled to wide out Craig McNew who had to scramble before throwing the ball back to Horton. The entire offensive line was in front of Horton who weaved his way to the end zone to cut the lead to 14-7 with 4:17 left on the first quarter.
Championship game Offensive Most Valuable Player Mason Courtney tied the game at 14 early in the second quarter on a 27-yard run. Courtney finished with 243 rushing yards on 16 carries and added scoring runs of 69 and 23 yards.
Defensive back Brandon King was the game’s Defensive MVP. King picked off four passes in the game with the first setting up Courtney’s game-tying TD run.
King had back-to-back pick sixes midway through the second quarter to give Carthage a 35-14 lead. The first went for 16 yards and the second from 36 yards out with both coming off deflections in the same area of the field.
The Carthage defense held Gilmer to 187 yards of total offense, even after the initial burst. Kip Lewis and Camden Foster led the Bulldogs with eight tackles each.
Horton finished completing 12 of 22 passes for 243 yards. Horton had touchdown passes of 29 yards to Braeden Wade, 61 yards to Kavonte Brown-Hoskins, and 15 yards to Montrell Smith.
The 61-yarder to Brown-Hoskins gave the Bulldogs a 42-14 lead with 3:40 left before the intermission...the exact final score of the teams’ first meeting.
Strangely enough the 70 points and 621 yards of total offense by Carthage tied both Class 4A state championship game records set by Stephenville in 2012 against El Campo.