THE BATTLE FOR 259 | Kilgore, Henderson meet Friday

Oct. 20—"Throw out the records when (fill in the blank teams) play," an old and somewhat tired cliché.

Rivalry games, though, can reach a different level of intensity, and coach Clint Fuller — who you can bet is aware of that — will be reminding his Kilgore Bulldogs of it all week.

Kilgore (6-1 overall, 3-0 in District 9-4A, Division I) has worked very hard to remain unbeaten in district play, and to set themselves up for a somewhat-easier road in the playoffs, although "playoffs" and "easy" don't exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The Bulldogs continue their haphazard drive through the slippery slate that is 9-4A with a road trip to Henderson Friday night, for the latest version of the Highway 259 Shootout. The Lions even helped contribute to the rat poison, as Alabama coach Nick Saban calls it, by being upset by Palestine last week. Make no mistake: Henderson IS still dangerous, especially to teams named "Kilgore," and will treat this game as if it were the Super Bowl.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night, at Henderson's newly-refurbished stadium. And just prior to that, at 4:30 p.m., there's an important game between the two schools' volleyball teams that has playoff implications.

Hear the call of the football game on 105.3-FM, KDOK, and online at kdokradio.com. There may also be live-streaming video available online; check the Kilgore High School Facebook page for the link.

Speaking of the call, the Ragin' Red Broadcasting team has been calling Kilgore football for 40 seasons. Read more about that in Saturday's News Herald.

There has been some discrepancy in the overall series record here, but this is correct: Kilgore leads the series, 49-32-6, with each team having won a playoff game in the rivalry (Kilgore in the 2003 season on the campus of Stephen F. Austin University, and Henderson in the 2017 season at Pine Tree's Pirate Stadium).

Both teams have head coaches in their first year with the program. Kilgore, of course, is led by Fuller, the high-energy former Pleasant Grove defensive coordinator whose father, Phil, was Kilgore College's defensive coordinator in the 1980s — Fuller was almost destined to coach here.

Henderson is led by Othell Robinson, who was named head football coach at HHS just shortly before Fuller was named to the same position here.

Robinson is a 1997 graduate of Texas A&M Kingsville and has been coaching for 24 years, most recently serving as offensive coordinator at Crowley and before that at Lewisville High School.

Prior to that he served as athletic coordinator and head football coach at Fort Worth's Eastern Hills High School and later Polytechnic Senior High School, leading both to playoff berths.

He has coached at the Class 6A level at Denton's Guyer High School, where he was on staff during their run to the state quarterfinals and at Desoto High, where he was the pass game coordinator during 2016's perfect season and a 6A state title.

Robinson's Lions are 4-3 overall, but 1-2 in district play and desperately needing a win, especially after missing a golden opportunity last week against Palestine, a 38-28 Henderson loss.

The game had gone back and forth, but Palestine had the last word when, with 1:07 left in the game, Taj'Shawn Wilson completed a 15-yard halfback pass to Jermany Walker to give Palestine a 10-point lead, 38-28, the eventual final score. Walker also rushed for 136 yards on 13 carries.

The Lions have lost their last two games (to Lindale and to Palestine) after opening district with a win over Athens. The top four teams in the district, of course, make the playoffs, and Henderson's remaining schedule after Kilgore has them visiting Mabank (Oct. 29) and hosting Chapel Hill (Nov. 5).

Kilgore, on the other hand, is ranked sixth in the state in Class 4A's Division I for the second straight week after an impressive win over Chapel Hill a week ago.

Fuller's Ragin' Red sit, along with Lindale, somewhat fittingly, at the top of the 9-4A, DI standings, each unbeaten. Lindale is the defending district champion.

The Bulldogs' offensive attack is fairly balanced, with an offensive line that includes Alex Cervantes, McCabe Walker, Jared Rich, Justin Flores and Taylor Hill leading the way. Quarterback Da'Marion Van Zandt has been exceptional in his first full season as starter, after backing up record-setter Dalton McElyea a year ago.

Van Zandt has completed 70-of-116 passes (62 percent) for 1,077 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception all season, to 10 different receivers. Jermaine Roney has caught 21 of those passes for 251 yards and five touchdowns. Dadrian Franklin has 13 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown, and Matthew Tyeskie has 10 catches for 114 yards. Corey Rider has nine catches for 285 yards (leads the team in yards) and two touchdowns. Davin Rider, the Bulldogs' starting running back, has seven catches for 118 yards, including a 19-yarder last week.

P.J. Wiley has five catches for 49 yards, including a touchdown last week. Isaiah Ross has three catches for 54 yards, and Zaylon Stoker and Jacob Caruthers each have a catch: Stoker for 31 yards and Caruthers for 3.

As a team, Kilgore has rushed for 1,652 yards and 25 touchdowns, averaging right at 8 yards a carry. Davin Rider has a good chunk of that, having just went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season a week ago with that 227-yard, three-touchdown performance against Chapel Hill.

On the season, Rider has 98 carries for 1,081 yards and 17 touchdowns. He's fumbled the ball twice and lost just one, and averages 11 yards a carry.

Defensively on the season for Kilgore, in 71 opponents' possessions, they've forced 19 three-and-outs. Kilgore has allowed 1,415 total yards rushing through seven games, and 956 yards passing, 2,371 total yards.

Peyton Christian leads the team with three sacks, and also in tackles for loss (four). He has two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown. Jackson Harris has two sacks, Zaelen Matthews has 2 1/2, and Matthews has five quarterback hurries. Alex Chavez, a defensive end, has 10 hurries.

Three Kilgore players have interceptions: Corey Rider, Daverion Franklin and Chris Ervin. Ross has three fumble recoveries to lead the team, and Ervin leads the team in total tackles (46; Kendall Dunn is second, with 44).

Special teams-wise, Kilgore punter Jose Jaime is averaging 36 yards a punt, and is coming off maybe his best game of the season in the win over Chapel Hill. Kicker Chris Baldazo has hit 32-of-36 extra points, and is 3-of-5 in field goal attempts, a long of 41 yards.

Kilgore has two regular season games remaining after Friday: at home against Athens Oct. 29, and then at Lindale Nov. 5.