By Ronnie Hughes
Leader Correspondent
BRIDGE CITY — The Dontre’ Thomas show stormed into Larry B. Ward Stadium in Bridge City Friday night to boost the Silsbee Tigers over a hot Cardinals team, 62-42 in a big District 10-4A Division I encounter.
Thomas led a potent Tigers offense that garnered 526 yards on the night and kept the Cardinals defense guessing.
Thomas contributed 186 yards on 13-of-21 passing and also piled up 143 yards rushing.
The win pushes the Tigers to 7-2 overall, 4-1 in 10-4A play while the Cardinals fall to 6-3 overall 3-2 in district)
Bridge City got on the board early just a minute into the game. Hunter Denton intercepted Thomas on the second play of the game and returned it to the Silsbee. Cayce Draper polished off the Bridge City possession with an eight-yard touchdown run for an early 7-0 lead. Draper bowled for 114 yards with two touchdowns and now has 1,247 yards for the season.
Thomas, though, answered the call. Following his interception he’d go 9-for-12 passing the rest of the first half. He marched the Tigers 65 yards and capped the eight-play drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kalon Barnes.
The Cardinals would hang tight to a one-point lead, 7-6. after the two-point conversion was no good for the Tigers.
The Tiger defense locked down the Cardinals forcing turnovers and punts the duration of the first half. Bridge City punted on their next possession giving the Tigers excellent field position near midfield. The Tigers didn’t waste time with Adonis Thomas exploding up the middle for a 20 -yard touchdown run while carrying four Cardinal defenders into the end-zone with him.
The Cardinals handed the Tigers the ball on the ensuing kickoff. Zack Honeycutt let the ball slip through his hands, giving the Tigers the ball at the 8. Bruce Newton slipped into the end-zone on the following play for a touchdown to give the Tigers early command up 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Bridge City attempted to turn the momentum at the 6:21 mark when Camden Dubois exploited broken coverage in the Tigers secondary for a 27-yard touchdown pass to Chase Cobb. The excitement was short-lived with Thomas answering the Cardinal touchdown with a pass of his own. Just a minute later he’d hit Kalon Barnes for a 23-yard touchdown pass to extend the Silsbee lead to 28-14 with 5:19 left before halftime.
Silsbee notched one more score before the half. Following a Dubois pass that was intercepted by Westin, Thomas would scoot in from six yards out for a 35-14 lead at half-time.
Bridge City opened the second half on fire, returning the kickoff 40 yards into Tiger territory at the. Denton followed up a Dubois run with a 23-yard run down to the 7. Draper got his second touchdown of the night rolling over Tiger defenders for a 7-yard touchdown run to move the Cardinals within two scores, 35-21. It took the Cardinals just three plays and 54 seconds to score.
The Cardinals caught a brief break on the ensuing Tiger possession after a 73-yard Adonis Thomas touchdown run was negated due to holding on the Silsbee offensive line. Penalties plagued the Tigers early in the second .
The two squads exchanged a pair of punts on the following possessions. Silsbee finally broke it open with Thomas hitting Coffee on a 48-yard wheel-route to set up a 8-yard Adonis Thomas touchdown run. Silsbee led 41-21 with 11:20 remaining in the game. Adonis Thomas had 170 yards on 19 carries to lead all rushers with three touchdowns.
The Cardinals had a trick of their own with Denton shredding the Silsbee defense for a 71-yard touchdown run just two plays later. Denton finished the night with 106 yards on four carries.
Silsbee and Adonis Thomas finished off a tired and weary Cardinals team with just minutes remaining in the fourth. Adonis rumbled for a 37-yard touchdown and Caleb Carey jumped on a fumble in the end zone for back-to-back touchdowns to put the game out of reach for Bridge City, 55-35 with under two minutes remaining.
The Cardinals had one last ditch effort with Dubois taking off for a huge 73-yard touchdown run to move within two scores.
Dontre Thomas added to the 526 yards of Silsbee offense with just over a minute remaining. Needing just a first down, he’d launch into the secondary for a 53-yard touchdown run to seal the game, 62-42.
Bridge City will wrap up its regular season on the road at Splendora before the playoff season cranks up.