South-Doyle pours it on in second half to beat Austin-East

By David Klein

Friday night at South-Doyle High School, there were offensive fireworks galore in the first half as the South-Doyle Cherokees and Austin-East Roadrunners traded big play touchdowns and huge plays. Fifty-seven points were scored by both teams in the first half as Austin-East took a 30-27 halftime lead, but South-Doyle would crank it up in the second half to win 52-30.

The offensive fireworks started on the third play of the game as Roadrunner freshman running back Keyvon Booker took a handoff up the middle for a 66-yard touchdown run with 10:13 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.

South-Doyle took its first possession and, after a 39-yard run from running back Isaiah Winfield, got the ball into Roadrunner territory. Quarterback Benson Brang flung a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kamariyon Rice to put the Cherokees on top 7-6 with 9:29 left in the first quarter.

Austin-East wasted no time in countering. Quarterback Jayden Norries threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Braden Sands. The Roadrunners’ 2-point conversion attempt failed, but they led 12-7 with 7:44 left in the first quarter.

Four plays later, South-Doyle retook the lead on Brang’s 55-yard touchdown pass to Reed Reynolds. The Cherokees led 14-12 with 6:23 left in the first quarter.

Following an Austin-East punt, the Cherokees went four plays and ended their drive with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Brang to Rondell North to go back on top 20-12. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.

“I really give credit to the O-line and the outside receivers,” Brang said. “Our receivers are some of the best athletes in the region. I mean it really feels like we’re unstoppable on the outside,” he emphasized.

The Cherokees pushed the lead to 27-12 after a second Brang touchdown pass to Rice with 9:49 left in the second quarter. “We came out executed, never gave up,” Rice said. “My team did a great job, we executed well, we fought well to the end,” Rice added.

Just when it looked like the Cherokees were pulling away, Austin-East’s Travis Tucker took a kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown to cut South-Doyle’s lead to 27-18 with 9:33 left in the second quarter.

Austin-East then recovered an onside kick and had the ball at the Cherokees’ 31-yard line. Two plays later, Norries threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Marcos McCord to cut the Cherokees’ lead to 27-24.

The special teams’ miscues for South-Doyle continued. Austin-East kicked another onside kick and South-Doyle fumbled the kickoff to give Austin-East the ball in Cherokee territory again. Five plays later, Austin-East took the lead on Booker’s 1-yard touchdown run for a 30-27 lead just before halftime.

“We got to clean up, we’ll clean it up and be better next week,” South-Doyle head coach Larry Headrick said about the Cherokees’ special teams’ mistakes.

In the second half, the Cherokees held the Roadrunners scoreless and outscored them 25-0. South-Doyle took the lead for good on Mill Crenshaw’s 6-yard touchdown run. The score made it 33-30 South-Doyle with 1:40 left in the third quarter.

Rice would nab his third receiving touchdown of the game on a 29-yard catch from Brang to make it 39-30 South-Doyle. The extra point was good and South-Doyle led 40-30 with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter.

The Cherokees tacked on a touchdown run from Crenshaw and an interception return for a touchdown from Rondell North to make the final score 52-30 South-Doyle.

“We played a really good first quarter,” Headrick said. “Second quarter, we didn’t play. They got momentum, they got back-to-back onside kicks. We just didn’t handle that very well. But we came back out in the second half and I thought our guys responded to the adversity. They grew up. We were a young football team last year. This year, we’re a mature football team, and I think it showed in the second half.”

South-Doyle (1-0) plays at Karns (0-1) Friday night at 7 p.m.