Burns' kick lifts Cats over Lions

Photo/Jim Jackson Bart Henderson snags the ball over two Henderson Lions defenders in Whitehouse's 24-21 win Friday.

The Tyler paper stated that Whitehouse made winning a close District 12-4A game in a hostile environment look easy last Friday night. The fans of Wildcat Nation that traveled over to Henderson last week would not totally agree with that.

Last year about the same time in the season, freshman kicker, Taylor Burns, booted a 45-yard field goal to defeat the Lions in Henderson for a big win for the freshman team.

Forward the clock a year later, and Burns returned to the place of his heroics and again broke the hearts of Lion fans as he booted the varsity to victory with a 21-yard field goal with five seconds left on the clock to propel the Wildcats to a thrilling 24-21 win.

The kick by Burns ended an 18-play drive by the Wildcats that traveled 76 yards down to the Lion four-yard line and included five third down conversions.

The Lions took the opening kickoff deep into Wildcat territory ending up with great field position at the Cat 37.

However, the Wildcat defense came up big early and forced a Henderson punt, but the Wildcats' initial drive stalled at the Henderson 48, and the Cats were forced to punt the ball back.

The Lions then took over at their own 30 and began the march on a scoring drive that ended on a seven-yard run by Telvin Fryman, but the missed PAT left the Lions with only a 6- 0 lead.

The key play of the drive came on a 3rd down and 7 from the Lion 43 when QB Tyrell Jenkins found the Lions' big receiver, Justin Horton, over the middle for a 17-yard gain.

The Wildcat defense had its hands full with Fryman, the district's leading rusher, all night but made him earn all of his 120 yards on the night and held him in check for most of the second half.

The Wildcats received a break on its ensuing possession when a roughing penalty gave the Wildcats 15 yards and a first down at the Henderson 43.

The penalty was a late hit on QB Brady Attaway and was the first of six such personal foul penalties against the Lions on the night.

Attaway must have not been shaken up much as he hit Bart Henderson deep on the next play for a 43-yard TD, and Burns added the PAT to give the Wildcats the lead 7-6.

The Lions tried to get the lead right back on its next possession, but the drive ended with an interception by Cody Brown at the Whitehouse 10.

The Cats then marched into Lion territory behind the hands and strong running of receiver, Lesley Perdue, who found room underneath the Lion defense to move the chains in the Wildcats' short passing game.

However, Attaway forced a pass into coverage trying to hit Perdue along the seam, and the Lions picked it off at their own seven-yard line.

The Lions again drove into Wildcat territory, but the Cat defense forced a field goal try that was blocked by Quincy Aldridge to preserve the 7-6 lead at the half.

Whitehouse wasted little time extending its lead in the second half as Attaway hit Trey Johnigan on a 56-yard scoring strike on the Wildcats' first possession of the second half, and Burns' kick gave the Cats a 14- 6 lead.

The lead did not last long as Henderson tied things up on the ensuing possession, scoring on a 20-yard reverse by Horton and then converting the two-point conversion on a run by Fryman.

The big play of the drive came on a third down and eight completion of 23 yards down to the Whitehouse 20.

The game began to take on the resemblance of a heavyweight fight as each team took the other's best punch and then came back with its own.

The Wildcats then threw the next punch in the form of Bart Henderson as the senior receiver led the way on the ensuing possession with five catches from Attaway.

The last reception went for 20 yards and the score, and Bart Henderson had to go over two Lion defenders in the end zone to take the ball down.

Burns was forced to back up for the PAT after an off side call against the Wildcats, but his kick was true, and the Cats retook the lead 21-14.

The teams then battled back and forth in the fourth quarter as the Wildcat defense rose to the challenge of Henderson's dirty play by being the more physical team and forcing a turnover on downs at their own 11 to stop a long drive by the Lions.

Henderson then came up with another big play in the passing game as Jenkins hit Fryman along the sideline for a 32-yard connection down to the Wildcat 18.

Five plays later, the Lions scored on a three-yard burst, and the PAT tied things up at 21 with 6:22 remaining.

Many fans in Denver talk about their beloved Broncos and "the drive" engineered by John Always from 98 yards out to defeat the Cleveland Browns in the 1896 AFC Championship.

Well many fans in Whitehouse will talk about the "the drive" several years from now that took place in that final 6:22 last week at Lion Stadium.

The scoring drive engineered by Attaway included those five third down completions as mentioned earlier and some hard running by sophomore back, Chad Lewis, and senior back, Matt Ponce.

Four of the third down completions went to Asher Williams who had been relatively quiet on the night but produced big in the final minutes.

After Williams hauled in a pass from Attaway to set up a first down at the Lion 28, another Wildcat receiver proved big out of nowhere.

Earlier in the third quarter, Perdue went out of the game with an injury and sophomore receiver, Skip Caldwell, took over in the slot on several of the Wildcat formations.

Now late in the fourth quarter on the game winning drive, Attaway called Caldwell's number and the young man took the pass and bounced off of three Lion tacklers and rushed his way 17 yards down to the Lion fouryard line for a first and goal.

The call came in from the sideline for the Whitehouse jumbo package, but the Lion's were ready and stopped running back, Seth Cashion, at the line of scrimmage to force Whitehouse to take its last time out with 10 ticks left on the clock.

The Wildcats tried a pass into the end zone, but Attaway's pass for Cashion sailed just out of his reach, which set the stage for Burns.

The kick was just as drawn up as snapper, Brown, got off a clean snap, and holder, Heath Mayo, got the snap down. Burns then booted it through to send the Wildcat Nation into their loudest roar of the night and the Lions' fans home with a 24-21 defeat.

"Overall, that is the best four quarters we have played as a team this year," stated Coach Randy McFarlin after the game.

"We matched their physical play with physical play of our own and yet we kept our cool and did not pick up the stupid penalties like they did," said McFarlin. "Now we are where we wanted to be at the start of the season and that is in a position to win district."

While the district win is definitely a possibility, it will be a tough road ahead. Friday's win puts the Wildcats in a three-way tie with Kilgore and Nacogdoches at 4-1, all one game behind Marshall at 5-0 who defeated Nacogdoches as the Wildcats defeated the Lions.

Whitehouse must travel to Marshall tomorrow night and then return home to host Nacogdoches. There is one thing for sure: after the Henderson game and with what lies ahead, the Wildcats will play three "playoff" games the final three games of this year.

Individual Statistics:

Rushing - Henderson 6-35, Hicks 6-35, Attaway 2-14, Lewis 4-13, Ponce 5-13

Receiving - Henderson 8- 151-2, Johnigan 1-56-1, Perdue 4-45, Williams 7-42

Passing - Attaway 24-31-313- 3-1