Eighth-graders split pair of great football games

El Campo Middle School's eighth-grade football teams played in a pair of excellent matches Tuesday against Briscoe.

The Red team took revenge over an earlier loss to Briscoe while the white team lost in the last seconds of an incredible game.

8th Grade Red

The Ricebirds played a great game against Briscoe to avenge a loss earlier in the season with a 32-12 win.

El Campo took a 16-6 lead in the first quarter thanks to a pair of Ricebird rushing touchdowns.

The first score came from DeAndre Pratt. He ran 16 yards for a touchdown and Cullen Schoener kicked for the 2- point conversion.

Devin Parks scored the second touchdown on a 21-yard run. Schoener's following kick pushed the 'Birds lead over Briscoe after one quarter.

Both defenses played strong to finish the first half and the score remained 16-6 at halftime.

Pratt earned his second touchdown of the night on a 29-yard run early in the third quarter. The play put El Campo ahead 22-6.

Parks made another touchdown on a huge running play. He broke free for an 81-yard touchdown run. Schoener's kick was good and The 'Birds' lead grew to 30-6.

Briscoe answered with a touchdown to cut the lead to 30- 12, but the extra point attempt went in favor of El Campo.

The Ricebird defense blocked the kick and Ryan Reyna reacted quickly to scoop up the ball and run 90 yards to add two more points for the 'Birds.

El Campo's rushing attack had a nice game due to several big holes opened up by the offensive line. Ryan Bartosh, Ryan Reyna, Landon Drapela, Adrian Piloto, Niko Yanis and Clint Gold all played well for El Campo up front.

Parks led the Ricebird rushers with 10 carries for 149 yards. Pratt ran for 144 yards on 10 carries, Tanner Schoener ran for 24 yards on 1 carry and C. Schoener ran for 12 yards on 1 carry.

C. Schoener completed a pass to Parks for 32 yards.

Leading tacklers were Bryan Sparks, Josh Bishop, Eric Williams, Pratt and T. Schoener, who also intercepted a pass.

The win moved the Red team to 5-2 on the season.

8th Grade White

The Ricebirds played a great game and took a big lead into the fourth quarter only to see it turn into a 22-18 loss.

El Campo scored first after it stopped Briscoe on fourth down and short.

Castrong Richardson took the handoff from Derek Yackel and bounced outside for a 74- yard touchdown.

In the second quarter, the Ricebirds scored their second touchdown of the night after a punt return to the Briscoe 25- yard line.

Behind great blocking by the offensive line, the 'Birds moved close to the end zone and Richardson scored from 6 yards out.

A second-quarter Briscoe touchdown left the Ricebirds with a 12-6 lead at halftime.

El Campo scored again in the third quarter.

Jacorric Malone connected on a 22-yard pass to Richardson to set up the scoring play. Bartolo Salgado finished with a 16-yard run up the middle for a touchdown and gave El Campo an 18-6 lead.

Briscoe came back in the fourth quarter in a tough struggle.

After holding the lead for most of the game, Briscoe scored with about a minute left to take a 22-18 lead over El Campo.

With time running out, Yackel completed a 22-yard pass to Salgado that brought the ball down to the Briscoe 7-yard line. With no remaining time-outs, however, El Campo was unable to score.

Richardson led El Campo with 133 rushing yards and Salgado ran for 40 yards. Both boys also had 22-yards receiving.

Logan Howard, Collin Jansky, Datrel North, Salgado and Richardson all had several tackles on the night.

Andrew Solis recovered one fumble.