Haughton head coach Jason Brotherton wasn’t thrilled with some aspects of his team’s performance Friday night against Southwood at Harold E. Harlan Stadium.
But the bottom line is the Bucs took care of business, defeating the winless Cowboys 41-19.
Haughton improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in District 1-5A. The Bucs trail co-leaders Airline (6-1, 4-0) and Captain Shreve (6-1, 4-0) in the standings.
Haughton faces Shreve on Friday at Lee Hedges Stadium. The Gators got past Natchitoches Central 10-7 Thursday night.
Brotherton said the Bucs may have been looking ahead a little against Southwood.
“It wasn’t pretty,” he said. “That’s for sure. Just lack of intensity was the biggest thing. I just didn’t feel like we took the field ready to play which is disappointing and that’s probably on me. It took us awhile to get going and it just wasn’t a pretty football game.”
“Too many penalties. All the things that can make football ugly they all happened tonight for us.”
Senior CJ McWilliams had a big game, scoring touchdowns on runs of 10 and 24 yards. He also returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.
McWilliams’ first TD run came less than three minutes into the game. The Bucs went up 14-0 on Peyton Stovall’s 28-yard pass to Elijah Rochon and Carter Jensen’s second PAT with 3:18 left in the first quarter.
But Southwood (0-7, 0-4) scored early in the second quarter to cut the lead in half.
It took awhile, but the Bucs answered with a 4-yard TD pass from Stovall to Whitten with just 4 seconds left in the half.
McWilliams’ second touchdown run gave Haughton a 28-7 lead early in the third quarter. After the Cowboys returned an interception for a touchdown, McWilliams returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD.
Stovall’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Sweeney put the Bucs up 41-13 with 8:11 left in the game.
“I saw somebody a couple of weeks ago who said you should never apologize for winning,” Brotherton said. “A win is a win, especially this time of year. It’s hard to win games in October and November so any win you get at that point is good. We’ll watch the film and try to correct all the mistakes.”
Brotherton said his team’s at times sloppy play may also have been the result of a bit of a hangover from last week’s 22-19 loss to Airline.
The Bucs may have also found it difficult to get fired up playing a team that has now lost 15 straight over the last two seasons.
“So it just took us awhile to get going and wasn’t as clean as we would like, but there were some good things in there,” he said.
Haughton had 392 total yards. Stovall completed 15 of 26 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns. Keyshawn Davis had a team-high 76 yards on 19 carries.
Sweeney caught four passes for 85 yards. Whitten had six catches for 78 yards.
Logan Wilkerson picked off two passes.
Haughton should have no problem staying focused and maintaining a high intensity level against Captain Shreve. The Bucs and the Gators were the preseason favorites to win the district title.
“We’re excited to play in another big game,” Brotherton said. “I think that was part of the deal tonight. We’ve played in a lot of big games this year and it’s almost like tonight didn’t have that big game feel, big game atmosphere.
“Our kids are used to playing in big games. They love playing in big games. We’re excited about it. That’s a good team we’re going to play. I know they’re excited. They’ll be looking forward to it also. It’ll be a big challenge but from what I’ve seen I think we’re pretty evenly matched so I think it’s going to be a good game
