While it wasn’t a traditional, ultraexplosive Booker T. Washington squad, the Hornets had plenty of athleticism across the board to thwart Durant, 2814, in the District 5A-3 opener last week at Paul Laird Field.
The visitors scored once in every quarter while it took the Lions until the second half to get much going on the offensive side as they were outgained 311200 in the contest.
“We knew they were going to be really good coming down from 6A this year and athletically they did a lot of things that we struggled with,” said Durant head coach Todd Vargas. “They are probably the most athletic team from top to bottom we will face. They were really good up front defensively and it caused problems. We ran the ball some, but a lot of drives stalled out. They have two Division 1 kids up front and it was really tough to sustain blocks against them.
“I thought defensively we had some moments but at times we shot ourselves in the foot again. I was proud of the kids’ effort though, and you just have to remember it was the first district ball game. We can’t get tied up on just one game because we feel like we have three very winnable games coming up and we need to go get some victories in those.”
After getting a pair of nice gainers to Stephen Manhard netted 27 yards on their opening two plays, the Lion offensive attack struggled to get much going over their four first half series. Durant notched just 45 total yards against a big, aggressive Hornet front line.
The Lions had one golden scoring opportunity in the red zone after a sensational James Wallis punt pinned the Hornets at the one yard line late in the first stanza.
A nifty Ryder Jones punt return set them up at the Hornet 23 and they got all the way to the eight yard line before a sack forced them back and Otto Baskin’s long 42-yard field goal attempt was wide left.
Meanwhile, the Booker T offensive unit strung together a pair of drives for rushing touchdowns.
The first was a methodical 64-yard, 10-play march to start the contest.
The visitors cashed in another midway through the second frame, riding a wave of big plays that included 37and 16-yard passes to set up a nine-yard scoring scamper to claim a 14-0 advantage.
That margin could have been more after Cole Robbins was intercepted with 1:22 left in the half, but Jaydon Rangel came through with a massive fourth down sack to thwart that threat in the waning seconds.
Durant was stymied again on the opening possession of the third quarter and the Tulsa squad covered the 46 yards in just 93 seconds, capping it with a 26-yard scoring burst to go ahead 21-0.
The Lions finally found an offensive spark on the ensuing drive with Robbins hitting Jones for 24 yards and another on a beautiful 21-yard scoring strike to Shajen Davis for the touchdown. Baskin’s extra point narrowed the gap to 21-7 Following a strong defensive stand, Vargas’ squad got the ball back near midfield but were stymied and Booker T answered with another lengthy, 81-yard march that pushed the margin back to three scores with just 9:06 remaining in the fourth.
One final flurry by the Lions punched in the game’s final score on Manhard’s sixyard blast with only 58 seconds to play. That culminated the 81-yard, seven-play drive that included a game-best 25-yard completion from Robbins to Aiden Polk.
Robbins finished the game completing eight of 13 passes for 110 yards while Manhard led the rushing attack that was limited to 90 yards with 15 totes for 61 of those.
Rangel, Axel Thurman and Daltry Barker all were credited with 10 tackles to pace the Durant defense.
The Lions remain at home this week to face Tulsa East Central in a virtual must win contest at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Cardinals have a 1-3 record on the season.
“We have to get a win this week,” Vargas added. “I still think we have a chance to be a good football team. We just have to keep getting better. Our kids are resilient and are going to keep on fighting. There aren’t any creampuffs on the schedule. We’ve got to fight for every win.”