Wise Old Owl

Carthage, under Coach Surratt, won’t set very many offensive records because he pulls the first-team offense at the half if they’re up by 4 TDs or so. If they’re not, he pulls them as soon as they do get that far ahead. Gilmer, on the other hand, always tries to score as many points as they can. They don’t mind scoring 70-plus on a team. Not to take anything away from Navasota, which had a great offense for a few years, but their district opponents during those years were awful.

How do the Tigers get within 2 or 3 scores if they can’t get a stop on defense?

Totally agree. Carthage was the two-time defending state champions when they beat Brownwood in 2010. So much for history. It certainly seems that Carthage will score a lot of points tonight. They have scored at least 41 in every game they have played this year. And that includes going against at least a couple of teams that had (or have) fairly good defenses - Henderson and 5A Whitehouse. Silsbee thus needs to score often and find a way to get a couple of stops. The kicking game is an area that the top-ranked Bulldogs have shown some vulnerabilities, having given up kickoff returns for TDs in two straight games to end the regular season. However, Coach Surratt sees everything we fans see...and plenty more. I don’t expect to see many deep kickoffs tonight that allow Tiger speedsters opportunities to return. With revenge on their minds, the Tigers will play hard. And they’ll no doubt have a good game plan, as their coaching is top-notch. But this year’s Bulldog team appears to be special. My prediction is Carthage 45, Silsbee 31.

Pre-game story [Hidden Content]

Carthage has won 22 games in a row - 10 last year and 12 this year.

I saw the movie, but I'm not certain what this means. Their players are robots?

Good post. However, I believe Kilgore won state in the 4x200 rather than the 4x100.

CHS Bulldogs' Season-to-date stats Points scored per game 46 Points allowed per game 19 Yards gained per game 446 Rushing yards per game 217 (49%) Passing yards per game 229 (51%) RB Keaontay Ingram's Season-to-date stats Carries 145 (12/game) Rushing yards 1,700 (142/game) Avg. yards per carry 11.7 TDs 29 (28 rushing) WR Dee Bowens's Season-to-date stats Catches 46 (3.8/game) Receiving yards 947 (79/game) Avg. yards per catch 20.6 TD catches 16 WR Dewaylon Ingram's Season-to-date stats Catches 48 (4/game) Receiving yards 879 (73/game) Avg. yards per catch 18.3 TD catches 12 WR Mekhi Colbert's Season-to-date stats (an All-State DB) Catches 39 (3.3/game) Receiving yards 618 (52/game) Avg. yards per catch 15.8 TD catches 4 QB Gunner Capps's Season-to-date stats Completions 167 (14/game) Attempts 270 (22.5/game) Yards 2,749 (229/game) Avg. yards per completion 16.5 TD passes 35 (2.9/game) INTs 6

Has any high school team in the country (other than Silsbee's previous opponents)?

Article on four of Carthage's players, all of whom are related [Hidden Content]

REBgp commented on Carthage's ability to make halftime adjustments. The Bulldogs' final non-district game this season was against Gilmer, which was ranked #2 in the state at the time. The game, which was played in Gilmer, was sold out during the week of the game. The Bulldogs, who have been ranked #1 in the state all year, trailed at halftime 28-13. The 2nd half was a different story. Carthage outscored the Buckeyes 35-0 in the final 24 minutes to win 48-28. The Bulldogs' defense limited Gilmer, which had more than 350 yards of offense in the 1st half, to only 50 yards in the 2nd half and scored 2 TDs on back-to-back Buckeye possessions. This is a dramatic example of Carthage's ability to adjust at the half.

Waco La Vega was a big problem for Carthage two years ago in the semi-finals. RB Keaontay Ingram, then a sophomore, was out with an injury, and what was left of CHS's running game wasn't effective. Being forced to rely on the passing attack didn't work too well against the La Vega secondary, which included 2 DI DBs. Having been down this road many times recently, I imagine all of Carthage is aware the road tends to get tougher week by week.

Although Carthage has won 5 state championships in the past 9 years and got all the way to the semi-finals 2 of the other 4 years, many of their fans think this may be their best team ever. They have not only the best RB in the state according to many of the recruiting services, but also 3 legitimate threats at WR, all of whom started for last year's state championship team. And their junior QB has the arm to get it to them. Defensively, 4 of their front 7 started last year. One of those is a 225-lb. All-State LB. Of the 3 new starters, one is another 225-lb. LB who was All-State at Crockett last year. Another new starter is a sophomore DE who is projected to be a DI player. I'll provide season stats later for those who are interested.

Folks in Carthage have been pleased with it! By the way, the freshman Morgan played some safety in the 4th quarter last night. He was 1 of 9 Carthage freshmen who got into the game last night.