Commerce defeats Rains in district opener
By TREY HILL | News-Telegram Correspondent
Oct. 14, 2007 - COMMERCE - The Commerce Tigers took advantage of four turnovers to win their District 10-3A opener 30-14 over the Rains Wildcats on Friday night at Memorial Stadium at Texas A&M-Commerce.
Both teams had difficulty holding on to the football in the opening minutes of the game. Commerce lost possession on its own 36-yard line, then before Rains could take advantage of the miscue, the Wildcats fumbled the football into the end zone for a Commerce touchback.
Jake McCarty put Commerce on the scoreboard first with a 27-yard field goal. Two plays later, the Tigers recovered another Rains fumble that resulted in another trip deep into Wildcat territory. The Rains defense held, though, and Commerce gave up possession on downs at the Wildcat 6-yard line.
The Rains offense continued to struggle and Commerce quickly regained possession following a Rains punt. The Tigers then drove 68 yards in five plays that resulted in a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback Landon Allen. The point-after try was blocked by Colby Hoover leaving a 9-0 score with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Rains finally got its offense on track on the following possession. The Wildcats drove 73 yards in 11 plays to post their first score of the night on a 3-yard touchdown run by Travis Gibson. Devan Anderson added the PAT to make the score 9-7.
Commerce put together one more scoring drive before the end of the first half. The Tigers drove 82 yards in 14 plays in the final four minutes of the half. Derek Johnson capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that gave the Tigers a 16-7 lead at the half.
Rains began the second half with a 67-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Taylor Marshall. Anderson added the point-after kick to make the score 16-14.
Commerce answered right back with another scoring drive. Landon completed a 45-yard pass to Trey Hicks to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Hicks to increase the Tigers' lead to 23-14.
All through the first three quarters of the game the Wildcats had ran the football. On his second pass attempt in the fourth quarter, Marshall's pass was intercepted by Hicks and returned 54 yards for another Commerce touchdown.
Twice the Wildcats tried to overcome their deficit in the final eight minutes. The Cats drove down to the Commerce 3-yard line before losing possession on downs. Their final drive ended when Chris Anderson intercepted Marshall's pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage.
Friday night the Wildcats will host the Wills Point Tigers while Commerce travels to Royse City to take on the Bulldogs.
Commerce-Rains, Stats
Rains 0 7 7 0 - 14
Commerce 3 13 7 7 - 30
First Quarter
Comm – Jake McCarty 27-yard field goal, 5:53
Second Quarter
Comm – Landon Allen 9 run (kick blocked), 9:06
Rains – Travis Gibson 3 run (Devan Anderson kick), 4:06
Comm – Derek Johnson 2 run (McCarty kick), 0:06
Third Quarter
Rains – Taylor Marshall 4 run (Anderson kick), 7:17
Comm – Trey Hicks 1 run (McCarty kick), 3:56
Fourth Quarter
Comm – Hicks 54-yard interception return (McCarty kick), 8:05
Rains Commerce
First downs 20 23
Rushes-yards 42-264 44-262
Passing yards 111 192
Total yards 375 454
Comp-Att-Int 8-12-2 12-14-0
Punts-Avg 2-48.5 1-40
Penalties-yards 4-40 5-35
Fumbles-lost 5-2 5-2
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING – Rains:Montrea Hobbs 16-100; Montrel Christian 11-77; Taylor Marshall 9-47; Travis Gibson 6-40. Commerce: Derek Johnson 18-122; Landon Allen 13-95; Terrance Walker 6-34; Trey Hicks 5-11; Coty Hall 1-3; Joey Farquar 1-(minus 3).
PASSING – Rains: Marshall 8-12-2, 111 yards. Commerce: Allen 12-14-0, 192 yards.
RECEVING: Rains: Colby Hoover 3-62: Blake Hicks 3-26; Jake Ferguson 1-24; Christian 1-(minus1). Commerce: Hicks 5-80; Derek Hines 4-63; Taner Burnett 1-32; Josh Pannell 1-13; Bobby Draughn 1-4.
