HOUSTON — If there were any worries that an off week would slow down the Navasota Rattlers they were quickly erased Friday night.
Jerbrell Lipscomb returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown as the Rattlers rolled to an easy 87-12 victory over the Sterling Raiders at Barnett Stadium in the District 11-4A opener for both teams.
“That was big to get our momentum going,” Navasota head coach Lee Fedora said of Lipscomb’s touchdown return. “The kids knew we don’t take on off week we just continue to get ready. I thought they played a great game.”
With the victory the Rattlers improved to 6-0 overall on the season and 1-0 in district play, which Sterling dropped to 2-4 and 0-1 with the loss.
The 87 points was the most scored by a Rattler team, eclipsing the previous team record of 84 set in 1919 against Caldwell. Last season the Rattlers scored 83 against Sterling in a non-district game.
Navasota, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, scored 66 points in the first half, as quarterback Shelton Eppler threw four touchdown passes, all of them to Tren’Davion Dickson.
Eppler, who did not play in the second half, ended the night 11-of-12 for 258 yards and four touchdowns. Dickson, who is the Rattler’s leading receiver, hauled in five passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns.
Running back Derrion Randle, who finished with 140 yards on 12 carries, scored three times in the half on runs of 31, 25 and 26 yards. The Navasota defense also got into the first-half scoring act as well when Davon Jernigan returned an interception 19 yards for a score.
With a 66-6 lead at the half, Fedora took the opportunity to give his backups reps and they delivered as well.
Running back Keyondrick Philio had a pair of touchdown runs covering 36 and 54 yards and Jarvis Norman added a 26-yard touchdown run. Defensively, Dominque Mallard had the Rattlers’s second interception of the night.
Both of Sterling’s scores came courtesy of Kevion Hall, who scored on a 32-yard pass from Cody Hayes-Tyler and a 5-yard run following an 83-yard kickoff return from Corey Burks.
Navasota will be on the road again next week as it travels to Sealy to take on the Tigers in another 11-4A contest.
NAVASOTA 87, STERLING 12
NAVASOTA STERLING
First Downs 14 7
Rushes/Yards 26/323 26/40
Passing Yards 253 64
Total Yards 576 104
PC-PA-PI 12-13-1 7-24-2
Punts/Avg 1/16 7/39.7
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 1/1
Penalties/Yards 2/20 5-45
NAVASOTA 42 24 14 7 — 87
STERLING 0 6 6 0 — 12
1st Q
N — Jerbrell Lipscomb 99 KOR (Michel Martinez kick) 11:47
N — Tren’Davian Dickson 31 pass from Shelton Eppler (Martinez kick) 11:05 (2 plays 67 Yards)
N — Derrion Randle 31 run (Martinez kick) 8:46 (2 plays 45 yards)
N — Randle 25 run (Martinez kick) 7:09 (2 plays 39 yards)
N — Dickson 85 pass from Eppler (Martinez kick) 4:43 (2 plays 83 yards)
N — Davon Jernigan 19 INT return (Martinez kick) 4:32
2nd Q
N — Dickson 37 pass from Eppler (Martinez kick) 11:05 (8 plays 84 yards)
S — Kevion Hall 32 pass from Cody Hayes-Tyler (pass failed) 6:24 (6 plays 59 yards)
N — Dickson 55 pass from Eppler (Martinez kick) 5:05 (3 plays 55 yards)
N — Randle 26 run (Martinez kick) 4:42 (1 play 26 yards)
N — Martinez 26 FG :00 (6 plays 40 yards)
3rd Q
N — Jarvis Norman 26 run (Martinez kick) 6:17 (3 plays 27 yards)
N — Keyondrick Philio 36 run (Martinez kick) 2:47 (1 play 36 yards)
S — Hall 5 run (run failed) :58 (3 plays 7 yards)
4th Q
N — Philio 54 run (Martinez kick) 7:58 (3 plays 60 yards)
Top passers: N: Eppler 11-12-258 4 TDS, 1 INT; S: Hayes-Taylor 7-24-64 TD, 2 INT
Top receivers: N: Dickson 5-212 4 TDs
Top rushers: N — Randle 12-140 3 TDs […]
