Photo by Brian McLean
By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
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BURKBURNETT— Despite having a football program less than a decade old, the Peaster Greyhounds have officially cemented themselves as a recognizable brand in Texas high school football. Despite a rough start in the program’s infancy, head coach Trevor Owens has built his program up amongst some solid programs in class 3A.
Now they get a chance to cement it by playing their first ever game in the month of December after defeating the Vernon Lions for the second time in a month.
After a slow start to the game, the Greyhounds exploded in the middle portion en route to a 36-3 win, ensuring Peaster a spot in the regional final, and the program’s first ever game in the month of December.
The Greyhounds will now get another district rematch against the Paradise Panthers with a regional title on the line. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, December 5th at Porcupine Stadium in Springtown.
After an hour delay due to weather, both teams took an entire quarter of the game to feel each other out. Then, just seconds into the second quarter, Vernon broke the scoreless tie on a 25-yard field goal from Mu Soe. As it turned out, that would be the only points the Lions would get.
After driving into Vernon territory, Peaster’s do-it-all man Cade McCollough came down with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Luke Gray to put the Greyhounds ahead 6-3 after a missed extra point.
However, the missed extra point was made up for on the ensuing drive when the Peaster defense forced the Lions to punt, and successfully tackled the punter in the endzone for a safety, making the score 8-3 and getting the ball right back.
The Greyhounds did not let the opportunity go to waste as running back Hudson Salyers followed up by scoring on a 10-yard run that gave Peaster a 15-3 lead going into the locker room for halftime.
In a daring move, Owens called for an onside kick to open the second half and it proved to be successful. The Greyhounds recovered the ball, and less than three minutes later Gray connected with Kaden Albert from 10 yards out to extend the lead to 22-3.
The offense could not find the endzone after that, but it did not have to as McCollough kicked two field goals, still in the third quarter, from 43 yards and 49 yards to make the lead 28-3.
The defense continued to do its job by keeping Vernon at bay in the fourth quarter, including another safety. On the ensuing free kick, Colt Turner returned the ball 64 yards to paydirt, ultimately bringing the final score to 36-3.
Since its only loss to Paradise back in October, the Greyhounds have now only allowed 21 points in their last six contests, and the three points from Vernon are the only three points Peaster has allowed in the postseason.
