Mustangs overcome 'Birds in second half

L-N Photo by Chris Barbee Get Back Here Lamar's Jacquizz Rodgers was pulled down here after an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter. Making the tackle in this photo are Larry Williams (left) and Christopher Raun. Coming up to help out is Kris Escobar (55). El Campo lost 41-22 in a tough game with Lamar Consolidated Friday in Rosenberg.

The Ricebirds ran into a tough Lamar Consolidated team Friday, led by one of the state's top running backs.

Jacquizz Rodgers led the Mustangs with an evasive running attack to defeat El Campo 41-22 in the final game of District 24-4A play.

Rodgers juked and danced his way to 174 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns in a great performance against arguably the toughest defense in the district.

Though El Campo ended up losing by a fairly large margin, the 'Birds had the lead at halftime, 16-14.

El Campo struck first in the opening quarter after Landon Applng blocked a Mustang field goal try.

A Ricebird interception two plays into the game gave Lamar the ball on El Campo's 19 yard line. All the Mustangs' quickness and athleticism was no match for the mighty Ricebird defense in this series.

In three plays, Lamar Consolidated moved backward three yards and opted to kick a field goal on fourth down.

A low kick led to a Ricebird block. Thad Deiss scooped up the live ball around the 35-yard line and showed his track-star speed on a return for a touchdown. Tyler Woods followed with the extra point and gave El Campo a 7-0 lead with 9:38 left to play in the first quarter.

Lamar responded with a quick drive to tie the game. The Mustangs drove 59 yards in six plays on Rodgers' quick legs.

The speedy running back finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown.

The next score put Lamar ahead 14-7 and came on another Rodgers play, but this one was through the air.

After moving the ball to El Campo's 30 yard line, Rodgers took a pitch and showed a quick run, then stopped. He heaved a deep pass to the back of the end zone for a touchdown despite a nice attempt by Blake Korenek to knock the ball down.

El Campo went down by seven points with 8:52, but the 'Birds came through to take the lead before halftime.

In El Campo's following series, several Anthony Terrell runs led deep into Mustang territory.

Terrell made a great push through a couple of Lamar tackles to set up a score from the 18 yard line.

Maverick Smith took the handoff on a misdirection play and flewinto the end zone for the tying score with 3:11 left in the half.

El Campo's defense came up strong to prevent Lamar from moving the ball in the next series and scored on another kicking gaffe by Lamar.

The Mustangs started the drive on their own 3 yard line and only moved 18 yards against El Campo's defense.

On fourth down, Lamar sent in the punt team. A bad snap sailed in and out of the end zone for a safety.

The play put El Campo ahead with three seconds left in the second quarter and eventually, the half.

A pair of big-play touchdowns in the third quarter helped Lamar gain a big lead over the Ricebirds.

Rodgers ran the first play of the third quarter in for a 56- yard touchdown. Later, Lamar scored on an 81-yard pass play to move ahead 27-16.

Two fourth-quarter touchdowns extended the Mustangs' lead to 41-16 before El Campo could score again.

El Campo started its last scoring drive with 5:58 left in the game.

Landon Appling came in at quarterback and combined with Smith and Terrell, made a few nice runs to move to Lamar's 20-yard line.

Appling dropped back to pass on second down and nine and found Terrell open.

The fullback made the completion, turned to the end zone and completed the play with a strong run.

A 2-point conversion failed following the score and with 2:16 remaining the game had its final score of 41-22 as Lamar ran the clock out.