Two pick-sixes, kickoff return fuel Western Hills by Carter-Riverside in district opener

Cam Hawkins continues to have a solid season for the Fort Worth Western Hills Cougars.

After scoring a pair of touchdowns in two of the first three games, Hawkins was back at it Thursday night in a District 6-4A Division 1 opener against Fort Worth Carter-Riverside.

Hawkins returned not one, but two interceptions for long touchdowns and the Cougars handed the Eagles their first loss of the season, 50-30 at Scarborough-Handley Field.

Carter-Riverside was 3-0 for the first time since 2015.

The Eagles haven’t been 4-0 since Max Preps started tracking football in 2004.

The Eagles (3-1, 0-1), who was 3-0 for the first time since 2015, dominated time of possession within the first 10 minutes of the game with Western Hills (3-1, 1-0) having run just one play. The Cougars fumbled of their first play from scrimmage and Carter-Riverside recovered.

After the fumble, the Eagles ran six plays before Oscar Andrade nailed a 32-yard field goal to give them a 3-0 lead with 5:41 left in the first quarter.

However, the lead was short lived, 15 seconds to be exact as Western Hills’ return man Aaron Martin scored on the ensuing kickoff. It appeared Martin let the ball bounce, waited to see if it would go out of bounds before picking it up, changing field and going 90 yards for six.

Carter-Riverside responded on its next drive with 55 yards on six plays, capped off with a 17-yard touchdown from quarterback Jayden Thomas to Brian Terrell on a third-and-8.

The Eagles took the lead 10-7 with 1:49 left in the quarter.

Again, that lead would also be short lived as Western Hills scored early in the second quarter. After driving from its own 31 to the Carter-Riverside 33, the Cougars faced a fourth-and-7 when the snap was low and went by quarterback Keyon Butler.

Butler went to pick it up 16 yards behind the line and still managed to score on a 33-yard touchdown run. Western Hills led 13-10 after the extra point was missed with 11:09 left in the second quarter.

Western Hills added one more touchdown before the break to take a 20-10 lead. Carter-Riverside was able to cross midfield, but on third-and-11, a pass was picked off by a leaping Hawkins and the junior defensive back returned it for a 60-yard touchdown.

The Cougars extended their lead to open the third quarter when Kaream Williams took a toss from Butler and scored on a 45-yard touchdown run. After a successful conversion, the lead was 28-10.

On the ensuing drive, Hawkins made his presence felt again.

Carter-Riverside drove the ball from its own 35 to the Western Hills 24 and on a second-and-11, Hawkins was there for the interception and returned it for an 88-yard score to up the lead to 35-10.

Hawkins also had a two-point run in the fourth.

The Eagles pulled within 35-17 late in the third quarter when Jakobi Tucker took a hand off 30 yards to the 3 and then capped the drive off with a 3-yard touchdown.

The Cougars answered with another touchdown as Butler hit Armani Perry-Brown on a short pass and Perry-Brown broke two tackles to scored 45 yards later to make it 42-17. Butler added a 56-yard TD run with under two minutes left in the game.

Jameer Muhammad, who led all rusher with nearly 268 yards, scored 46 yards out for Carter-Riverside to bring the score to 42-24 with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter. He added a 1-yard TD run late in the game.

The 31 points from Carter-Riverside were the most against Western Hills in the past eight meetings.

The previous high was 23.