MOUNTAIN PINE -- Kason Porter set the tone of Thursday night's regular season finale for Mountain Pine early as the Red Devils cruised to a 41-0 rout of Quitman at Stanley May Field.
The junior wide receiver broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run on the Red Devils' second play from scrimmage with 44 seconds off the clock. Bryce Sales split the uprights to make it 7-0 as Mountain Pine (7-3, 6-1 2A-5) kicked off its scoring spree against the Bulldogs (6-4, 3-4).
"He moved the ball for us early," said Mountain Pine head coach Sam Counce. "He was kind of relentless. He dances a little bit, but he keeps his feet. He did a good job for us."
Porter finished with eight carries for 122 yards along with one catch for eight yards.
Coming into the game, Counce said he was a bit nervous about how the Red Devils would respond since the outcome of the game would not have any impact on the playoffs next week.
"You play in the mud; you're playing your last game," he noted. "Your destiny is already put in front of you. Sometimes, you look past it, but we didn't tonight, and I'm proud of them."
The Red Devils scored twice more in the first quarter and once in the second to take a 28-0 lead into the break.
Junior quarterback Collin Smith picked up the pieces of a busted play halfway through the third frame, spinning out of and breaking numerous tackles on his way to a 21-yard touchdown run with 5:59 left. With the touchdown and the point-after by Sales, Mountain Pine took a 35-0 lead to set the clock in motion for the remainder of the game.
"Collin is a threat now, and people have to honor him," Counce said. "And they have to pay attention to what he's doing. They key on him a lot more, and they should because he's a big part of our offense now as always.
"He's really been productive for us. He's been a good player for us this year. He does so much for us just being out there because they have to know where he's at all the time."
Quitman head coach D.J. Marrs said he was disappointed with his team's performance.
"It was a sloppy game," he said. "We played bad, offensively. We had some guys get hurt early, and we didn't respond very well to adversity.
"We kind of got moved up front a little bit and gave some holes and got some scores. We just didn't battle back. We dropped passes and had a lot of missed assignments tonight."
Counce said he was pleased with his defense's performance.
"Our defense has come a long way this year," he said. "On Mondays, if they score, they have to do up-downs for however many points they score. It's been kind of a running deal for them. They hate doing them.
"Last week, I didn't make them do the 28. I told them if they have a shutout tonight, I'd zero it. The defense has really played hard for a lot of reasons. They have a lot of pride in what they're doing now."
Quitman sophomore quarterback Hayden Martin was 10-for-29 for 90 yards with two interceptions and a fumble.
"It was a bad game for him," Marrs said. "He's usually a lot more accurate, a lot more comfortable in the pocket. Receivers were slipping a little slower into their routes and stuff. He held onto the ball a little long and missed some throws.
"We dropped some passes and things like that. We didn't make the plays when we needed to and the timely plays, and that cost us and gave them the opportunity to get the ball back."
Having already secured the No. 2 seed from the conference, Mountain Pine will face either Lavaca (4-5, 3-3 2A-4) or Hackett (3-5, 2-3) Friday night at 7 p.m. at Stanley May Field. Quitman, the No. 5 seed from the conference, will face Hazen (9-1, 7-0 2A-6) at Hornet Field.
;1Q;2Q;3Q;4Q;F
Quitman;0;0;0;0;0
Mountain Pine;21;7;7;6;41
First quarter
MP--Kason Porter 42 run (Bryce Sales kick), 11:16
MP--Elijah Browning 14 run (Sales kick), 8:23
MP--Sales 2 pass from Collin Smith (Sales kick), 0:33
Second quarter
MP--Ja'on Smith 10 pass from C. Smith (Sales kick), 5:53
Third quarter
MP--C. Smith 21 run (Sales kick), 5:59
Fourth quarter
MP--Josh Walpole 8 pass from C. Smith (kick blocked), 8:13
;Q;MP
First downs;7;18
Rushes-yards;18-25;38-293
Passing yards;81;28
Comp-att.;10-29;5-8
Punts-avg.;1-38;1-34
Fumbles-lost;4-1;1-1
Penalties-yards;7-37;4-30
Individual statistics
Rushing: Quitman, Hayden Martin 4-23, Spencer Sipes 8-15, Trey Lovelady 2-(minus 5), Holden Martin 4-(minus 8). Mountain Pine, Kason Porter 8-122, Collin Smith 11-99, Elijah Browning 14-75, Ja'on Smith 2-2, Asa Gatlin 1-2, Kayden Anzaldua 2-(minus 7).
Passing: Quitman, Holden Martin 10-29-2-90. Mountain Pine, C. Smith 5-8-0-28.
Receiving: Quitman, Isaac Clemons 4-38, Lovelady 3-26, Landon Luman 2-13, Seth Haynes 1-13. Mountain Pine, J. Smith 1-10, Porter 2-8, Josh Walpole 3-8, Bryce Sales 1-2.
Sports on 11/03/2018