The Haughton Bucs remained undefeated with a 43-33 victory over the Byrd Yellow Jackets Friday night in Haughton.
Haughton improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in District 1-5A. Byrd fell to 0-7 and 0-3.
Haughton, Airline (6-1, 3-0) and defending champion Evangel Christian (4-3, 3-0) are tied for the district lead. The Bucs visit Airline Friday. The Vikings defeated Huntington 47-20 Friday night.
Haughton’s Brandon Craig rushed for 219 yards on 23 carries and scored on runs of 65, 2 and 40 yards and a 51-yard pass from Taylor Weathersby.
Craig went over 1,000 yards rushing on the season. He has 1,168.
Weathersby completed 12-of-14 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. His other two went to Case Corkern for 23 yards and Ethan Johnson for 31. He also scored on a 25-yard run late in the game.
Corckern’s catch came on 4th-and-16. It gave Haughton a 19-14 lead with 4:08 left in the first half.
Johnson caught five passes for 105 yards.
The teams combined for 39 points in the game’s first 12:07.
Byrd’s Traylon Johnson returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.
Craig quickly answered, going 65 yards on the Bucs’ first play, Ethan Osbon’s extra-point kick tied the game.
That was Haughton’s only successful conversion. The Jackets blocked one kick and Haughton failed on five two-point conversion attempts.
Byrd used star running back Christian Maxie at quarterback in its option offense for much of the game. The Bucs tackled him for a 4-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Byrd 38 after Craig’s TD.
Westhersby completed two passes to Johnson and Craig scored from 2 yards out, giving the Bucs a 13-6 lead.
Maxie then went 85 yards up the middle for a touchdown and Byrd led 14-13.
The Bucs answered with a 55-yards touchdown drive capped by the fourth-down pass to Corkern.
Haughton led 19-14 after the first quarter.
The Jackets came right back with a touchdown drive for a 20-19 lead.
Haughton drove 77 yards for a touchdown capped by Weathersby’s 31-yard pass to Johnson,. The Bucs went up 31-20 on Craig’s 40-yard run.
Maxie scored on a 3-yard run with 5 seconds left in the half to cut the Bucs’ lead to 31-26.
Haughton opened the second half with a 76-yard touchdown drive capped by Weathersby’s 51-yard pass to Craig on fourth-and-3.
The Bucs stopped the Jackets on fourth down at the Haughton 26. The Bucs then drove 74 yards for a their final touchdown and a 43-27 lead with 10:08 left in the game.
After Byrd scored with 2:56 left, Haughton ran out the clock.