Silsbee sweeps Orange County teams, downs OF 56-20

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Silsbee sweeps Orange Count teams; downs OF, 56-20

Dan Perrine
The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — The Silsbee Tigers completed the Orange County trifecta Friday night. The Tigers won their third straight district game over an Orange County team with a 56-20 victory against the Orangefield Bobcats at F. L. McClain Stadium.

Silsbee (4-4, 3-0) showed why it was leading the District 21-3A through two weeks of district play. The Tigers’ defense held the vaunted Orangefield offense which was tops in the district to just 5 first downs and 85 yards in the first half.

Highly touted Silsbee quarterback Jeremy Johnson started slowly in the contest, throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball a couple of times. In the second quarter Johnson showed his skill leading two touchdown drives and getting the touchdowns on both drives. Johnson added a third score in the third quarter gaining 87 yards rushing for the game.

Orangefield (4-4, 1-2) has a very good quarterback in Corey Huckabay who entered the game as the leading rusher in the district. Huckabay finished the night with 18 carries for 45 yards, and left early following a heavy hit by the Silsbee defense.

One play was all that the Tigers needed to take the first lead of the game. Chris Barnes took a handoff, burst through the middle of the line, and then sprinted 72 yards for a touchdown just 23 seconds into the game. The snap on the point-after was bad, so the holder Jacob McDonald rolled out and passed to Leroy Simmons for two points.

The Bobcats managed one first down their first possession, but their defense made the big play to get them back in the game. Johnson tried to throw a screen pass which the Bobcats’ Josh Shores read to perfection. Shores bobbled the pass initially, then gathered it in and raced 28 yards with the interception for the touchdown. Orangefield went for two, but Huckabay was stopped keeping the score 8-6 in favor of Silsbee with 7:32 to play in the first quarter.

Just two plays after the kickoff Orangefield’s Derrick Evans intercepted another Johnson pass and momentum was definitely on the Orangefield side of the field, or at least for three more plays. On third down Huckabay’s pass was picked off by the Tigers’ Jarrian Rhone at the Orangefield 30, and he avoided several tacklers to score with 5:27 left in the first.

Silsbee threatened its next possession, but the Bobcats’ Quinton Evans recovered a fumble by a Tiger receiver at the Orangefield 28. Orangefield was forced to punt after three plays, and Rakeem Bolton brought the punt back 68 yards for the touchdown with 2:25 to play in the quarter. Caleb Henry’s point-after made the score 22-6 in favor of the Tigers.

Johnson added to the Tigers’ lead with the first of his three touchdowns on 3-yard keeper around right end. During the drive Johnson completed two of three passes for 36 yards and earned a key first down with a 19-yard carry.

The Orangefield offense which had been stymied throughout the first quarter started clicking in the second quarter. Derrick Evans and Huckabay both had 6-yard pickups to get a first down. Huckabay got his lone completion of the night as he hit Quinton Evans over the middle, and Evans gained 27 yards to the Silsbee 23.

David Burton, just called up to the varsity, gained 7 yards before Huckabay got another first down to the 6 with a 10-yard running play. Evan Guidry found paydirt on the next play, and with 6:06 left in the half the Bobcats had cut the lead to 29-13.

When the Bobcats defense forced a Silsbee punt on the next series, the momentum again appeared to be swinging towards the Bobcats. Silsbee quickly reversed the momentum by recovering an Orangefield fumble at the Bobcats’ 26 with only 43 seconds left in the half.

After throwing two incompletions Johnson faded back for another pass on third down. With no one open he scrambled, he dodged tacklers, he carried tacklers, and finally 26 yards later Johnson scored a touchdown that showed why he is one of the top high school talents in the area. The score was 36-13 at the half.

Things got out of hand in the third quarter. Orangefield fumbled on its first series and Silsbee recovered at the Bobcats’ 23. Johnson cashed in the turnover on the very next play sweeping left end and scoring seemingly untouched with less than a minute played in the third quarter.

The next 7:37 seconds would be Orangefield’s. The Bobcats executed an 18 play drive that saw them move the ball from their own 22 to the Tigers’ 1. Orangefield gained 5 first downs on the drive, as many as it made in the whole first half. The net result, no points as the Tigers held on fourth-and-one.

The Tigers then went on a 99-yard drive of their own. Johnson passed 33 yards to Kelson McDaniel for the touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The fourth takeaway of the night by the Tigers setup their last score. After recovering a fumble at the Silsbee 33, the Tigers rotated running Barnes and Bolton. Both picked up first downs on runs of 19 and 12 yards respectively. Barnes got his second touchdown of the night with a 13-yard run.

With Huckabay headed to the locker room, Jacob Nunez came on to lead the Bobcats’ offense. Nunez completed his only pass to Burton for 10 yards and a first down. Derrick Evans eluded the Tigers for a 33-yard gain, the longest play from scrimmage for the Bobcats on the night. Guidry scored the touchdown on a 3-yard carry with 1:30 to play to make the final score 56-20.

Orangefield must bounce back against county rival the Bridge City Cardinals next week in Bridge City. Silsbee returns home to face lowly Hamshire-Fannett.

Silsbee 56

Orangefield 20



OF 6 7 0 7 — 20

Sils 22 14 7 13 — 56

Scoring summary

Sils-Chris Barnes 72 run. Leroy Simmons pass from Jacob McDonald.

OF-Josh Shores 28 interception return. Run failed.

Sils-Jarrian Rhone 30 interception return. Caleb Henry kick.

Sils- Rahkeem Bolton 68 punt return. Henry kick.

Sils-Jeremy Johnson 3 run. Henry kick.

OF-Evan Guidry 6 run. Derrick Evans kick.

Sils-Johnson 26 run. Henry kick.

Sils-Johnson 23 run. Henry kick.

Sils-Kelson McDaniel 33 pass from Johnson. Kick failed.

Sils-Barnes 13 run. Henry kick.

OF-Guidry 3 run. Derrick Evans kick.



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OF Sils

First downs 15 16

Rushes-yards 55-168 31-267

Passing 37 101

Comp-Att-Int 2-8-1 5-10-2

Fumbles-Lost 5-3 5-1

Penalties-Yards 1-5 10-82



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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Orangefield, Corey Huckabay 18-45, Derrick Evans 6-39, David Burton 9-33, Evan Guidry 13-26, Jacob Nunez 5-18, Josh Shores 3-5, Quinton Evans 1-2; Silsbee, Chris Barnes 12-158, Jeremy Johnson 12-87, Rahkeem Bolton 5-23, Kelson McDaniel 1-1, Karrington Stanford 1-(-3).

PASSING— Orangefield, Corey Huckabay 1-7-1 27, Jacob Nunez 1-1-0 10; Silsbee, Jeremy Johnson 5-10-2 101.

RECEIVING—Orangefield, Quinton Evans 1-27, David Burton 1-10; Silsbee, Kelson McDaniel 2-50, Darian Tuck 2-29, Prentice Lane 1-22.