LC's Brown player of the week
Sep. 29—Leverett's Chapel sophomore De'marion Brown is the Chick-Fil-A / Kilgore News Herald player of the week, after his performance in the Lions' 54-0 win at home over Trinidad last Friday night.
It was just the Lions' second game of the season, after a few teams could not play due to various reasons. LC is a UIL six-man football program, and has been since the school district revived football in the mid-2000s.
Brown rushed for two touchdowns and 72 yards on just three carries, had a 47-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, recovered two onside kick attempts, had a forced fumble, and 10 tackles on defense.
A trio of former players of the week also had big performances.
Kilgore's Davin Rider had two touchdowns and 140 yards on just nine carries against Palestine, averaging a little more than 15 yards a carry. On defense and special teams, he had seven tackles, six of them solo, one for loss, a sack, and to cap it all, blocked a punt, got the ball in mid-air, and took it all the way back for a touchdown.
Sabine quarterback Jace Burns lost his mind against New Boston. Burns had four touchdowns and 287 yards rushing, then threw for 125 yards and a score.
West Rusk quarterback Andon Mata ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns, then threw for 91 yards and another TD in the Raiders' district opener against Troup.
In other noteworthy performances:
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Kilgore's Chris Ervin had 12 tackles and a pass break-up to lead the Bulldogs' defensive effort against the Wildcats. Omarion Smith had nine tackles and a pass break-up; Kendall Dunn also had nine tackles; Zalen Matthews had six; Corey Rider had five, and a forced fumble; Jackson Harris and Peyton Christian each had four tackles — Harris had two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry; Alex Chavez had four hurries and two tackles.
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KHS quarterback Da'Marion Van Zandt completed 9-of-12 passes for 149 passes and a score, and scored in the first quarter on a quarterback sneak. Corey Rider had two catches for 51 yards and a touchdown, and Jermaine Roney had three catches for 45 yards to go with two big kickoff returns, one for 48 yards. Zaylon Stoker had a 1-yard catch and Davin Rider a 13-yarder. Chris Baldazo was 5-for-5 in extra point attempts.
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West Rusk's Tate Winings scored three touchdowns and had just 10 carries in the game against Troup. Teammate Jamal Ford rushed for 164 yards on 15 carries.
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Sabine's Brannigan Willige ran for 103 yards and two scores, and had 17 tackles, as well. Caden Richardson had 19 tackles, Carter Patterson had 18, and one for a loss.
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For Leverett's Chapel in the win over Trinidad, De'Quincy Brown had four touchdowns and 55 yards on just five carries; teammate Mikey Dennis had four rushes for 62 yards and a score, and Jonathan Perry had seven tackles.
