By Austin Bishop
The Star Herald
ETHEL —
By Austin Bishop
The Star-Herald
When expectations are high and things go wrong, bad things can happen.
That was exactly the formula the Ethel High School football team experienced on Friday night, as early mistakes led to a 53-0 loss to the visiting Noxapater High School Tigers.
"Both teams were sky high before the game and we went straight to the bottom after some things happened and they continued to be sky high" EHS head coach Paul Dees said. "If you would have reversed the situation I don't know that the result wouldn't have been the same in our favor."
A errant play on a punt led to Noxapater recovering a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and then an ensuing turnover led to another quick score. Noxapater led 20-0 after one quarter of play and 34-0 at the half.
"It just kind of took the wind out of our sails," Dees said. "But give them (Noxapater) credit, they came in here and played hard and took advantage of their opportunities."
The Tigers have this Friday off before visiting Edinburg in a Region 3-1A contest on Sept. 10.
"The kids were really disappointed Friday night and have been a little down as expected," Dees said. "But what we have learned is that the sun comes out the next day. You just dust yourself off and get ready to go again. You have to put this behind you just like you put a win behind you."
The first score for the Tigers came on a fumble recovery in the endzone by Steven Strehle. Robbie Gregg's extra point made it 7-0.
Noxapater's Don Whitfield then caused a fumble that was recovered by Strehle and three plays later Ethan Hamilton scored on a 30-yard run. The third touchdown of the quarter came on an 8-yard run by Hamilton.
The second drive of the second quarter culminated in Hamilton scoring on a 45-yard run, before Tippion Houston caught an 8-yard pass for Noxapater's last touchdown of the half. The score was set up by a 25-yard run by Stanley Smith and a 34-yard pass from Hamilton to Greg McBeath.
Deon Coburn ripped off a pair of 25-yard runs on Noxapater's first drive of the second half, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Smith. Coburn scored on a 16-yard run later in the quarter to culminate a drive that was set up by a McBeath interception.
Noxapater's fourth-quarter touchdown came on a 5-yard run by Dexter Thames.
Smith led Noxapater with 100 rushing yards on seven attempts, while Hamilton had seven carries for 90 yards and Coburn had six attempts for 83 yards. Hamilton also hit on 3-of-8 passes for 47 yards.
