Redskins feel the bite from the Sulphur Bulldogs

Fall Break was this past week, and that meant high school football moved to Thursday night. That was on the menu on October 14, 2021, as Kingston played host to the Sulphur Bulldogs, who came in undefeated in district play. Despite the Redskins’ best efforts, the Bulldogs were able to keep that district record spotless, and Sulphur came away with a 34-19 victory.

Sulphur’s first drive was ominous, at least for the Bulldogs. On their third play from scrimmage, the Bulldogs faced third-andthirteen. Senior quarterback Reese Ratchford was looking for sophomore Brytan Gaddy on the left sideline, but Kingston junior Devin Tipton jumped the route, picked off Ratchford and took the ball 39 yards into the end zone to give Kingston an early 7-0 lead.

That lead would not last however, as Sulphur’s offense went back to work. Behind a powerful offensive line, Sulphur started pounding the ball. Nine plays for 60 yards, all runs to the left side, topped off by a 17-yard scoring run by freshman Nash Williamson, allowed Sulphur to tie the game at 7 with just under six minutes left in the first quarter.

Kingston’s offense went back to work. Starting at their own 19, the Redskins converted a couple of third downs, and moved the ball near midfield. There, Sulphur’s defense stiffened, stopping senior running back Brandon Watson on first down, and forcing two incompletions by junior quarterback Klete Finley on second and third down, and the Redskins had to punt.

Sulphur took over on the Bulldogs’ 27. Hammering again on the ground, it took Sulphur 10 plays to cover the 73 yards to the endzone. This time, Ratchford scored on a keeper to the right side from two yards out, and Sulphur led 14-7 early in the second quarter.

Senior Hayden McKinney returned the ensuing kick to the Kingston 41, and now the Redskins’ offense put together a drive. Runs by Watson and senior fullback Grant Holmes, interspersed with passes by Finley, marched Kingston down the field to a third-and-two at the Sulphur 29. Kingston pulled out a trick play on third down, with Finley flipping the ball to McKinney who had lined up in the slot then moved into the backfield, and then McKinney tossed a pass to freshman Eli Oliger that fell incomplete, but drew a passinterference flag on Sulphur’s senior Gage Graham, and Kingston had first-and-ten at the Sulphur 14. Three plays later, Kingston faced fourthand-five from the Sulphur 9, and Finley overthrew Watson in the flat, turning the ball over on downs.

Taking over at their own 9 with 3:45 left in the half, Sulphur showed no signs of urgency, running the ball over and over again. The Bulldogs ran 9 times, but ran out of clock at the Kingston 37, and Sulphur took its 14-7 lead into half.

Kingston came out for the second half ready to take it to Sulphur. On their fourth play from scrimmage of the half, the Redskins ran the wide receiver pass that they ran late in the first half, but this time McKinney found senior Braden Matchen down the middle, and Matchen beat double coverage for a 29-yard gain to the Sulphur 13. Watson took a pitch the rest of the way on the next play, and after Sulphur junior Daniel Amaya blocked Kingston sophomore Rhett Coble’s extra point attempt, Kingston had trimmed the Sulphur lead to 14-13.

The Bulldogs went back to work on the ground, pounding away at the Kingston defense. However, on thirdand-three from the Kingston 41, Sulphur’s Amaya was stripped by Watson, and Tipton recovered the loose ball at the Kingston 40. Kingston was unable to move the ball, and punted after three plays and an untimely false start on an attempt at a fourth-down conversion.

The Bulldogs took over at their own 38, and started driving again. Seven running plays drove the ball 52 yards to the Kingston 10, where Sulphur faced fourthand-five. Ratchford then attempted his second pass of the night, but his receiver couldn’t handle the high pass, and it fell incomplete, turning the ball over on downs.

Kingston proved unable to handle the good fortune, however, as Finley gave the ball back, fumbling the snap on Kingston’s second play, and Sulphur senior Braxtyn Sanford recovered the loose ball, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the Kingston 11. Three plays later, Ratchford scored again on a keeper from the Kingston 3, and Sulphur led 21-13 late in the third.

Kingston came back and drove out near midfield, but Sulphur senior Brant Flood sacked Finley on third down, forcing the Redskins to punt again. Taking over at their own 21, the Bulldogs needed only six plays to cover the 79 yards to their end zone against an exhausted Kingston front, and Williamson scored from three yards out to make it 28-13 Sulphur, midway through the fourth quarter.

The Redskins weren’t done, however. Finley started the next drive off with a pass in the left flat to Matchen, who ran 47 yards to the Sulphur 31. Kingston continued to move the ball, on the ground and in the air, and Watson scored from four yards out to bring Kingston within 9. However, Coble missed another extra point, leaving Kingston down two scores, 28-19, with just under three minutes left.

After Ratchford recovered Kingston’s onside kick at the Sulphur 48, the Bulldogs pounded away again, cover-ing 52 yards in six plays, with Williamson scoring again from one yard out with less than a minute left, to give Sulphur a 15-point lead. Kingston’s offense could not score in the remaining time, and the clock ran out with the scoreboard reading Sulphur 34, Kingston 19.

Finley finished the night completing 7 of his 13 attempts for 89 yards to lead all passers. Watson led all rushers with 120 yards, but needed 27 carries to get there, two of them for scores. Matchen led all receivers with 76 yards on his two catches.

Defensively, sophomore Sammy McNiel led Kingston with 14 tackles, while McKinney and sophomore Rafe Patterson each had 13. Tipton had the game’s lone interception, and also recovered a fumble to go with his 8 tackles. While Kingston held Ratchford 0-2 on his passing attempts, the Redskins surrendered 402 yards and all 5 Sulphur touchdowns on the ground, as the Bulldogs ran up nearly 7 yards per carry on the night.

Asked for comment after the game, Kingston Head Coach Tommy Bare called it a “tough loss to a very good Sulphur team.” He “felt like the kids played hard and never quit.”

With the loss, Kingston (2-2 in district play, 4-3 overall) falls to a tie for fourth place in the district standings with Pauls Valley (2-2, 3-4), making this week’s journey to Pauls Valley to play the Panthers a pivotal game for Kingston’s playoff hopes. Kickoff in Pauls Valley is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. Friday night.

EXTRA POINTS

As Coach Bare noted, his Redskins put up a heroic effort on Thursday night. Badly overmatched at the line of scrimmage, Kingston was nevertheless in this game until the final two minutes. Kingston’s young lineman have noticeably grown and matured as this season has worn on, and hopefully these Redskins are saving their best play for an end-of-theseason run into the playoffs. Speaking of playoffs, the Redskins can’t afford many more losses if they plan on making that run. Around the district, Sulphur (4-0, 5-2) moved into first place with the win over Kingston, when Lone Grove (3-1, 5-2) shocked Plainview (3-1, 4-3), beating the Indians 42-34. Pauls Valley squeaked by Madill (1-3, 4-3) 10-7, and Dickson (1-3, 1-6) celebrated its first win of the season with a 61-14 thrashing of hapless Little Axe (0-4, 0-7). If the playoffs started today, Kingston would be an also-ran along with Madill, Dickson and Little Axe. Thus, the winner of this week’s Kingston-Pauls Valley game will take a one-game lead, plus the tiebreaker, with two games left to play.

This game was a tough one to watch Kingston lose. Sulphur clearly has an excellent offensive and defensive line, and used both to great effect throughout the game. However, Kingston could very well have won this game. After Kingston stopped Sul phur with the turnover on downs in the third quarter, the Redskins took over with a chance to take the lead, but then fumbled the chance away on their own 11, giving Sulphur a short field that the Bulldogs turned into points. Coach Bare noted in his post-game comments that the fumbled snap was a huge turning point, and indeed it was, as the Redskins had to play catch-up the rest of the game. As a fan, you like to see your team rewarded with such a fine effort with results on the scoreboard, and it hurts to lose one where they plainly gave it their all.