The Pirates and Lions headed into Friday’s matchup both with wins under their belts in each team’s season opener, Kaufman with a strong win over state finalist Lindale 39-36 and the Pirates with a convincing win over Jacksonville.
Only eleven miles separate the Pirates and Lions down US -175. This has been a heated rivalry for many years in which Kaufman has held Crandall’s number. That changed two years ago when the Pirates marched into Kaufman and decimated the Lions 48-0. Needless to say, you could feel the tension in the air as the Pirates stepped off the bus in Kaufman after not playing them last season due to Covid matters.
Crandall Pirate pride was in full effect as the Pirate Band sang the school song as loud as possible due to their 18-wheeler breaking down on the side of the road. Kaufman started the game off with the ball from their own thirty-seven-yard line. The Lions didn’t take long to score making quick work of the Pirates defense in an eight-play scoring drive. Quarterback Jamonte Gordon-West took the field hoping to lead the Pirates down the field in similar fashion. On the second play of Crandall’s drive, West threw to his right only to have a Lion defender hand knock his ball sky high in the air. It landed in the hands of a Lion cornerback who took it thirty-four yards for the score. The Pirates were not off to a great start allowing fourteen points to be scored in five minutes. Crandall marched back onto the field composed as running back Chris Abron rushed into the endzone from nineteen yards out. Kaufman was up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was controlled by the Lions from both sides of the ball. Crandall couldn’t get anything going on the ground or in the air with the Lions’ strong defensive front. The Lion offense did not struggle scoring two more times in the second quarter, one on a seven-yard completion and the other a three-yard rushing touchdown. Kaufman headed to the locker room at the half with a convincing 26-7 lead over Crandall.
The Pirates came back onto the field with the strong running game of junior back Chris Abron. Abron scored the only touchdown of the third quarter on a two-yard rush to the endzone. He also caught the two-point conversion pass from West. This made the score Kaufman 26-15 at the end of three quarters.
You could feel the tide turning in the game as the Pirate offense came onto the field for the fourth quarter. The Pirate defense came up big, with a quick three and out, putting the Pirate offense in great field position. On the third play of the drive Abron rushed for forty-two yards pulling them within scoring distance. Three plays later Abron ran it in from twoyards out scoring his third touchdown on the night. Abron ended up with 185 yards rushing on twentytwo attempts. The score was Kaufman 26-21 with eleven minutes left in the game. The Lions took possession and moved down the field. It was fourth and eight on the twenty-five-yard line when the Lions decided to go for it. The Pirate defense came up big forcing the turnover on downs. West didn’t squander the beautiful gift given to him by his defense. On the third play of the drive West hooked up with his favorite target of the season, junior receiver Luke Moffitt, on a forty-five-yard touchdown reception. After a failed two-point conversion the Pirates took the lead for the first time of the night 27-26. There was 2:56 left on the clock. The Lions ran more than two minutes off the clock, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with thirty-six seconds left in the game. The Pirates weren’t able to strike again. Kaufman won a thriller 32-27.
Crandall’s Homecoming game will be played against Alvarado on Friday September 10th at 7:30 pm.
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