The Frenship Tigers found more firsts of the Jay Northcutt era Friday night, this time the first back-to-back District 2-6A wins in his tenure and they clinched their first playoff berth as well. The Tigers (6-2,2-1) took down the Odessa High Bronchos 65-21 at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa. The Tigers imposed their will on all three sides of the ball and the majority of Frenship’s starters did not see the field in the second half.
The biggest producer of the night was junior running back William Bayouth. He started the scoring for the Tigers with an 8-yard run from scrimmage to strike first in the game. Cooper Scott scored the other touchdown of the first quarter on a 19-yard strike from Donovan Smith who was near perfect on the evening. Bayouth would tack on two more touchdowns in the second quarter, a 3-yard carry to open things up and a 31-yard scamper to put the Tigers up 35-7. Bayouth finished the half with 166 yards and 3 touchdowns on 9 carries, including a 40-yard long. That marks the fourth game this season he has carried for over 100 yards, bringing his average up to 95.9 yards per game. The junior running back leads the Tigers from scrimmage with 767 yards and 9 touchdowns on 109 carries through eight games. That’s good enough for a 7 yards per carry average.
Donovan Smith also connected with Jordan Maden on a spot-on 44-yard bomb to put the Tigers up 28-0 in the second quarter. Klein Coker closed out the Tigers’ air raid near the end of the second with a 22-yard touchdown reception from Donovan smith as well. Although he didn’t catch a touchdown, it was Drew Hocutt who led the Tigers with 6 receptions for 94 yards and a 30-yard long. Hocutt also leads the team in receiving this season with 731 yards and 8 touchdowns on 45 receptions. That’s an average of 16.2 yards per catch and 91.4 yards per game through eight. Hocutt has eclipsed the 100-yard mark twice and the 200-yard mark once as well.
Smith finished the day going 16/17 for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns. For the second time this season Smith did not log a rushing yard, demonstrating impressive arm strength, control, downfield vision, and ability to roll the pocket and throw on the run. Smith is fourth among Texas 6A quarterbacks with 2,423 yards and 21 touchdowns passing, he’s also picked up 263 yards and 7 touchdowns rushing on 57 carries.
It was also a special day defensively and on special teams for the Tigers. They blocked a punt which the Bronchos recovered in their own endzone resulting in a safety. Perhaps the most memorable touchdown of the day was a 31-yard interception returned for a touchdown by senior strong safety Alyjah Garcia, that scoring scamper was the second for the Tigers’ defense on the season. Elijah Gomez followed that with another defensive takeaway and returned this one 26-yards setting up the touchdown pass to Coker.
The Tigers will be back in action Friday at 7:30pm as they host the Permian Panthers in their penultimate regular season game of 2019. The Panthers are 5-3 (3-0) coming off a 62-0 drubbing of the Midland High Bulldogs. It’s Senior Night at Peoples Bank Stadium and the Lubbock Truck Sales Pregame Show with Keith Patrick and Chois Woodman will go live on Double T 97.3, www.doublet973.com, and on the mobile app at 7:00pm.