Last year, Class 2A Red River rolled into Harold E. Harlan Stadium and almost pulled a big upset against the Class 5A Haughton Buccaneers.
Thursday night in Haughton, the Bucs didn’t let that happen again. Not even close.
Haughton defeated Red River 35-0. The game was called at halftime because of lightning. It was a far cry from last year’s 55-49 victory that went down to the wire.
“We played well,” Haughton Head Coach Jason Brotherton said. “I told them tonight is the first night I’m going to go to bed and feel good about our football team. We had a rough scrimmage and a rough jamboree.”
Haughton rolled up 267 total yards and limited Red River to 87, per Haughton stats.
“Very clean offensively,” Brotherton said. “We did have one turnover down in the red zone so still got to clean that up. One or two penalties, but other than that it was a pretty clean game for us.
“And the defense played well. I think they forced two turnovers. It was pretty much a complete effort for us.”
Senior Colin Rains, entering his third season as the starting quarterback, completed 12 of 16 passes for 184 yards three touchdowns. He also ran 10 yards for a TD.
Rashard Douglas had all three touchdown receptions. They covered 9, 17 and 45 yards.
Jalen Lewis caught four passes for 45 yards.
Tyler Rhodes rushed for 60 yards on 11 carries and scored on a 1-yard run.
“We threw it well and ran it well,” Brotherton said.
Carter Ebarb made all five extra-point kicks.
The defense forced three fumbles and recovered two. Red River completed just three of 13 passes for 2 yards.
Haughton hosts LaGrange next Friday. The Gators were are scheduled to open the season Friday against Barbe.
North Caddo 46, Bossier 0: The veteran Titans were too much for the young Bearkats in a season opener in Vivian.
The game was called at halftime because of lightning.
North Caddo’s touchdowns included an 85-yard pass, a 34-yard run and a 68-yard interception return.
Trailing 14-0, the Bearkats got to the North Caddo 36 but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-1.
Bossier faces Glenbrook next Friday in its home opener. Glenbrook edged Cedar Creek 12-6 Thursday night in Minden.