Temple Begins District Play with Shutout Victory

Friday night in Grandfield, Oklahoma, not more than few miles away from the Texas border, the Temple Tigers shutout the Grandfield Bearcats and secured their first victory of the season.

The Tigers jumped on the board early and never looked back. It started with a rushing touchdown from junior, #4, Jamarcus Tisdale with 10:12 in the first quarter. Tisdale would add a 34-yard rushing touchdown just 6 minutes later. Grandfield opened the game with four straight three and outs as the Temple defense was relentless. Quarterback, #3, Jake Smart, would add another rushing score from 35 yards out to end the first quarter. That score and two-point conversion made it 24-0, Temple.

The Bearcats found a little success in the second quarter when they finally secured their first 1^st down of the game, but that triumph was short lived as the Tigers forced the first turnover of the game with 6:06 remaining in the first half. Temple would add two more takeaways and force several turnovers on downs. With just over two minutes remaining, Temple scored again and ended the half with a 30-0 lead.

Head Coach of the Tigers, Barry Giles, praised his team for their effort.

“We’ve talked all week about finishing and tonight they did it. They fought for everything they got, and the scoreboard took care of itself.”

The Grandfield defense found some life early in the third quarter, but the Tigers quickly bounced back and added another score. Smart would go on to score two more times and the game ended due to mercy rule with 2:00 remaining in the 3^rd quarter. If you’re wondering why that is, the Class C, eight-man football rules, if a team is up by 45 points after one half, the game is over.

Smart scored six touchdowns and made several plays on defense for the Tigers. Giles stated that he is a natural leader, he makes sure kids are where they’re supposed to be and doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Jake Smart had this to say about his leadership.

“It is really about staying focused during practice. If I can get the guys fired up, it usually carries over onto the field.”

Smart is also very happy with the new offense Temple has implemented. He said they scrapped the old one a couple weeks ago and things are beginning to flow for them on that side of the ball.

Temple will host Fox next week for homecoming.

Grandfield will play Maysville next week for week two of district play.

We will see you next week under the lights. – Greydon Buhlig