The Forney Jackrabbits came into Friday night’s matchup against District 10-4A foe Newman Smith Trojans with the knowledge that this was the final game of the 2013 season.
The Forney Jackrabbits came into Friday night’s matchup against District 10-4A foe Newman Smith Trojans with the knowledge that this was the final game of the 2013 season.
With an overall season record of 2-7 and any chance at the playoffs long since gone, the senior Jackrabbits were looking to salvage a positive memory to end many of their careers with. As has happened too many times this year, things did not go the way of the Jackrabbits.
Newman Smith, with their 1-8 overall season record going into the game, was also playing for pride in this final game of their season and it seemed to make a difference in their play when compared to their previous results of the year. At the end of the night, Newman Smith had their second highest scoring game of the year with a 44-21 win and an offensive performance that netted 522 yards.
Davonte Galbert was the main undoing of the Jackrabbits, as he amassed 184 rushing yards on 25 attempts. Keith Burse was also a thorn in the sides of the Jackrabbits all night with 8 receptions for 177 yards and 4 touchdowns. Burse did his best impersonation of big play receiver David Burnett by averaging 22 yards over those 8 catches.
After a slow start by both teams, Newman Smith put up the first points of the night midway through the first quarter on a 10 yard touchdown pass. This first score seemed to deflate Forney’s enthusiasm for the game. The Trojans added 17 more points in the second quarter on a 51 yard touchdown pass, a 23 yard run and a 26 yard field goal. The end result was a 24-0 halftime lead and a Jackrabbit team that was somewhat shell shocked and unable to move the ball. The Jackrabbits went into halftime with a paltry 50 total yards and more questions than answers.
Facing that 24 point deficit, the Jackrabbits finally showed some life on the first drive of the second half which culminated in a 40 yard touchdown run by Sophomore QB Luke Skipper. Unfortunately, this was the only score the Jackrabbits could manage in the third quarter. The Trojans not only answered this first score by Forney, they added a second touchdown of their own and went into the final quarter with a 37-7 lead.
Forney did manage to finally outscore Newman Smith in a quarter with a 14-7 advantage on the scoreboard. No matter how you add that up, the 7 point advantage in the quarter does not make up the entire 30 point deficit Forney had at the start of the quarter.
Forney will now head into the off-season awaiting an important district realignment. As always, rumors abound as to what the UIL will do in this edition of redistricting. This reporter expects to see a very similar district with Forney, North Forney, Mesquite Poteet, Terrell, West Mesquite and then a few newcomers. The UIL always throws a few surprises in the mix, so nothing is set in stone and I certainly would not be placing bets on the final product. Stay tuned to inforney.com as we will publish the district realignment as soon as it becomes available.