Everman comeback is thwarted by Ennis as the Lions remain undefeated in district play

The Everman football team dug a hole that they just couldn’t dig back out of against a good team from Ennis on Friday night.

The Lions scored 28 unanswered points in the second and third quarters then held off Everman 49-33 in a District 5-5A Division 2 game at Marr Stadium.

Everman (3-2 overall, 1-1 in district), No. 5 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A rankings, made just enough mistakes early that Ennis (2-3, 2-0) took advantage of each time.

After a 17-yard punt by the Bulldogs to the Lions’ 36 yard line, Ennis quarterback Wondame Davis took the first snap from scrimmage and raced 64 yards for the score to make it 7-0 with just 1:45 off the first quarter clock.

The Bulldogs answered when quarterback Jarion Basped found Kyron Kennedy racing across the middle and hit him for a 35-yard TD to tie the game with 4:40 left in the first quarter.

Davis made it 14-7 on the Lions’ next series with a screen pass to running back Jeremy Brown who followed his blocking down the right side for a 24-yard score.

Brown was a work horse at running back for Ennis rushing 28 times for 121 yards.

From that point the Everman defense bent, but didn’t break until late in the half. The Bulldogs held the Lions on downs at the Everman 22 and 20, but the Bulldogs couldn’t find any rhythm on offense and had to punt following each defensive stand.

Another short Everman punt gave Ennis the ball at the Bulldogs’ 45 with 1:31 left in the second quarter. Six plays later Davis hit Ayden Jones with a perfectly executed throw back pass for a one-yard score as time expired in the first half.

The Bulldogs opened the second half getting a turnover when Robert McMillian pounced on an Ennis fumble at the Everman 15, but the offense again was unable to move the ball.

A six-yard punt set the Lions up on the Everman 42 and eight plays later Malachi Perez bulled in from the one to give Ennis a 28-7 lead with 7:23 left in the third quarter.

The Lions scored again 12 seconds later. A successful onside kick was recovered by Jamarquez Farsee for Ennis at the Bulldog’s 30. After a personal foul penalty moved the ball to the 15, Davis finished with a 10-yard scoring run to up the lead to 35-7.

“This game was really important for us,” said Davis who finished with 146 yards rushing and 118 passing completing 11 of 13 attempts. “We talked about our game last year and how we could have won multiple times so we knew we just had to come out here and execute and win.”

But the Bulldogs weren’t done. Basped hit Brendan Taylor with a 23-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to 35-14 with 6:05 left in the third quarter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter an Ennis fumble in the end zone was recovered by Cayden Holly for a TD. Basped scrambled and darted in from the 15 to cut the lead to 35-27 with 4:39 left in the game.

But that was as close as the Bulldogs would get.

“We had some opportunities in the first half that we didn’t take advantage of and in the second half we took advantage of those same opportunities and some guys made some plays,” said Everman coach Michael Boone, Sr. “They made some really tough catches. When you’re playing good teams with good athletic players then you have to make the plays when they’re there for you.”

Davis scored on the next snap on a zone read that he took up the middle for a 50-yard score. Ketrevius Tarrant put the game out of reach for Ennis with a 12-yard interception return for a touchdown to make the score 49-27 with 1:18 left.

Kay’den Brooks led Everman with 134 yards rushing on 19 carries including a two-yard TD run to cap the scoring for the Bulldogs with 31 seconds left.

Basped rushed for 98 yards on 11 carries and hit seven of 27 passes for 204 yards. Kennedy caught two passes for 86 yards to lead the Everman receiving corps.

“We had a good game with good football teams, but mistakes will show and they became big,” said Boone. “We made them early and got ourselves behind. Then they made some and it became a ball game, but we turned around and made others.

“It’s a matter of some young guys learning and making plays when they have to make plays and we didn’t do that tonight.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2023 at 1:43 AM.