The Pirates entered Friday night (1-0) in district play after an exciting four overtime victory against Forney last week. They would be going up against the number one state ranked Ennis Lions Friday night. This matchup would test Crandall above and beyond the opponents they have faced before.
Ennis won the toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game. The Lions wouldn’t waste anytime scoring, running the kickoff back for an eighty-two yard touchdown. This was the beginning of an onslaught of scores from a very disciplined offense. Senior quarterback Collin Drake threw for three touchdowns on four offensive possessions in the first quarter. Drake took care of the rushing touchdown in the first as well with an eight-yard run for the score. The Pirates defense had no answer in stopping the Ennis Lions high powered offense. The score was 0-35 Ennis at the end of one quarter of play.
The second quarter allowed the Pirates to gain their composure and execute the game plan. Crandall running back Chris Abron put in some hard-earned carries to put them in a scoring situation. Abron had twenty-two attempts on 102 yards. Sophomore kicker Brandon Perez was able to get the Pirates on the scoreboard with a twenty-three yard field goal. Crandall’s defense found themselves in the second quarter and was able to get some three and outs. Drake tacked on a twenty-yard touchdown pass to make the score 3-41 Ennis at halftime.
The Pirates started with the ball in the second half. Unfortunately, not much was clicking in the Pirate offense as the Lion defense was a stout opponent. Drake threw his fifth touchdown pass of the evening in the third quarter. At the night’s end Drake threw for 252 yards in the air and five touchdowns. The score after three quarters of play was 3-47 Ennis.
Quarterback Jamonte Gordon-West connected with sophomore wide receiver Luke Moffit, in the fourth quarter, on a thirtyyard pass. Ennis tacked on a rushing touchdown to end the night making the final score 9-54 Ennis. The Lions had 367 total yards on fifty-two plays in the game compared to the Pirates 267 total yards on eighty-five plays.
Due to COVID-19 and postponed games the UIL divided districts into two zones to make sure teams played at least a few district opponents. Crandall ended up in Zone A with Ennis, Royse City, and Forney. Zone B included North Forney, Greenville, Corsicana, and Sulphur Springs. The top two teams from each zone will makeup the four playoff teams per Coach Hardin.
This makes Crandall’s opponent on Friday a very important game. The Pirates take on the Royse City Bulldogs at 7:30pm in Royse City. If Crandall wins Friday, they will be the two seed in Zone A and make the playoffs. On November 20th there will be seeding games played to determine the District Champion.
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