After a tough loss to Minden in Week 2, Haughton coach Jason Brotherton believed his players would be able to bounce back quickly.
Of course, it’s always tough to tell how a team will respond until they take the field.
The Bucs responded by routing the Woodlawn Knights 40-6 Friday night in Haughton.
“I’ve been trying to tell the kids all week that even though we lost we were a better team when that game ended than we were at the beginning of it,” Brotherton said of the 23-20 loss to Minden. “It’s hard to sell them on that sometimes when you lose, but it kind of showed tonight that we did improve last week. We just came out not on top of that one but we got better.”
The Bucs improved to 2-1. They play their final non-district game at home this Friday against Green Oaks (1-2), which defeated Fair Park 12-6.
Haughton has dominated Woodlawn in their series. But this was a Woodlawn team that came in 2-0 and was averaging 35.5 points per game. The Knights also boast one of the area’s top backs in junior Trivenskey Mosley.
The Bucs held Mosley to just 45 yards on 11 carries.
“We got after it on defense,” Brotherton said. “Our guys ran to the ball well and tackled well. They’ve got good skill players and a really good running back and we tackled him which is more than we did last year. Last year he broke a bunch of tackles and we just did a good job of making tackles when we were in position to do so.”
The Bucs also forced six turnovers — four fumble recoveries and interceptions by Jalob Walker and D.J. Monroe. T’Marquise Winfield led Haughton with five solo tackles and two assists. Duncan Smith had five solos and one assist.
Mario Cook and Hunter Harlan had three solos each. Mikail Warren had two solos and two assists.
Nico Broadway kicked three field goals of 29, 39 and 42 yards. Korbin Schmidt kicked a 24-yarder.
Haughton piled up 393 total yards. Lavonta Gipson continued his impressive play with 94 yards on 13 carries. He scored on runs of five and 16 yards.
“We played well in just about every facet of the game,” Brotherton said. “It was really a team effort. The O line played well, controlled the line of scrimmage. And we kicked four field goals; that was good too.”
Quarterback Pryce Curry accounted for 174 yards. He completed eight of 13 passes for 117 yards, including a 49-yard TD to Josh Lister.
“Lister made one of the best plays I’ve ever seen on a catch and run,” Brotherton said.
Curry also rushed for 57 yards on 10 carries. Lister gained 56 yards on five carries.
Kynan Hayes rushed for 41 yards on five carries and scored on a 6-yard run.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
