Corsicana — Navarro has shown a few important qualities after three games this season. The Bulldogs don’t rely on turnovers to produce points, they have perhaps the most potent offense in school history and they shrug at adversity.
The 7th-ranked Bulldogs moved to 3-0 on Saturday by compiling 658 yards of offense in a 56-14 shellacking of Cisco in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference opener for both teams.
Despite not forcing any turnovers, the Bulldogs (3-0) went on a pair of 28-point unanswered bursts to subdue the Wranglers (0-3).
With several starters on both sides of the ball sitting out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, the Bulldogs rushed for 386 yards and had 272 more through the air while scoring on five drives of 68 yards or longer.
First-team quarterback Stump Godfrey was one of those players who didn’t play in the first period. He sure made up for it in the final three quarters, scoring twice on the ground and tossing a pair of touchdown passes.
Godfrey led all rushers with 124 yards on only nine carries, scoring on runs of 42 yards in the second quarter and 30 yards in the waning minutes. Godfrey and tight end Gerald Shillow hooked up seven times for 121 yards, including scoring tosses of 9 and 22 yards to open the third quarter.
The other offensive star for the Bulldogs was running back Tyler Middleton, who rushed for 62 yards on six carries and caught two passes for another 87 yards. With Navarro trailing 7-0 early in the first quarter, Middleton took a swing pass from starting quarterback Riley Toler that was nearly a lateral and scooted around left end for 47 yards and a touchdown. On the ensuing series, Middleton darted 18 yards for a score, giving the Bulldogs the lead for good. Middleton tacked on a 13-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Navarro’s offense also had quality running from Traylon Shead (14-83-1) and freshman Tim Wright, who gained 82 yards on six carries in his first game of the season.
Navarro was stunned on the first play of the game by Cisco when receiver A.J. Stevenson took a handoff from quarterback Ross Hudson and lofted a pass deep to a wide open Terrell Smith for 66 yards to the Bulldog 16. Four plays later, fullback James Revada bulled over for a touchdown, giving the Wranglers their only lead of the game with 8:44 to go in the first period.
Navarro responded by scoring 28 straight points, the first 14 with several reserves and the final 14 with its full complement of starters.
Toler got his second start in three games and made the most of his short stint on the field. The Kilgore freshman completed two of his four attempts for 66 yards, including the 43-yarder to Middleton.
Middleton was in the end zone less than five minutes later when he stepped off an 18-yard run across the left side. Toler set up the go-ahead score with a 19-yard completion to Eddie Johnson on a fourth-and-five near midfield.
Aside from the 66-yard trick play to open the game, Cisco’s offense averaged less than four yards per play, compared to Navarro’s 8.3 yards per snap.
Navarro faces a showdown next Saturday in undefeated Kilgore, which defeated Trinity Valley 34-17 in its conference opener.
Navarro 56, Cisco 14
Cisco 7 7 0 0 — 14
Navarro 14 14 21 7 — 56
FIRST QUARTER
C — James Revada 1 run (Tanner Graber kick)
N — Tyler Middleton 47 pass from Riley Toler (Patrick Sohrt kick)
N — Middleton 18 run (Sohrt kick)
SECOND QUARTER
N — Stump Godfrey 42 run (Sohrt kick)
N — Traylon Shead 2 run (Sohrt kick)
C — Devante Cloud 9 pass from Ross Hudson (Graber kick)
THIRD QUARTER
N — Gerard Shillow 9 pass from Godfrey (Sohrt kick)
N — Shillow 22 pass from Godfrey (Sohrt kick)
N — Middleton 13 run (Sohrt kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
N — Godfrey 30 run (Sohrt kick)
C N
First Downs 12 27
Rush-yards 42-138 43-386
Passing yards 186 272
C-A-I 11-26-0 15-26-2
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0
Punts-avg. 8-39 2-51
Penalties 4-25 9-90
Individual
Rushing — C: Travis Turner 16-63, James Revada 4-17 Airron Cawthran 16-70, Ross Hudson 3-(-17), Devante Cloud 1-1, Johnathon Bowen 2-4. N: Traylon Shead 14-83 , Stump Godfrey 9-124, Tarlandus Mitchell 1-4, Tyler Middleton 6-62, Cameron Washington 6-25, Tim Wright 6-82, Tony Drake 1-6.
Passing — C: A.J. Stevenson 1-1-0-66, Ross Hudson 9-24-0-124, Jonathan Bowen 1-1-(-4)-0. N: Stump Godfrey 13-22-2-206,. Riley Toler 2-4-0-66.
Receiving — C: Jarred Mapps 1-7, Stevenson 1-33 Terrell Smith 2-83 Conner Shears 2-17, Taylor Hearn 1-17, Cloud 1-9, Tyler McGloughlin 2-24, Cawhthran 1-(-4) N: Gerard Shillow 7-121, Tyler Middleton 2-87, James Washington 1-2, Jordan Jolly 1-6, Eddie Johnson 3-48, Markell Steward 1-8.
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