TEXARKANA, Texas - Texas High left little doubt and put together its best offensive output of the young season.
The Tigers built a 4-touchdown lead and piled up 485 yards of total offense during a 62-13 win over Liberty-Eylau Friday at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park.
THS (2-1) scored on eight of its first nine possessions. The Tigers had 283 yards rushing and 202 passing.
The Leopards (0-3) finished with 284 yards in the game, with 272 coming from the ground attack.
Tracy Cooper rushed 11 times for 130 yards to lead Texas High. Tyrell Miller added 66 yards on three carries, and Vontrey Anderson had 61 yards on six totes.
"I'm so happy for Tracy," Texas High head coach Gerry Stanford said. "He's a sophomore playing on varsity is tough and last year he was little banged up, so he could never get going. He's really running with a passion right now for us.
"The offensive line is doing a tremendous job upfront. I'm really pleased with both of them. We have to keep the wheels rolling forward."
Quarterback Rian Cellars completed 11 of 15 passes for 155 yards and three TDs and had two more rushing TDs. Kobe Webster hauled in six catches for 158 yards and two scores.
Liberty-Eylau QB Shannon Roy rushed 25 times for 113 yards and a score, Damian Henderson had 69 yards on 13 rushes, and Korbyn White also had a rushing TD for the Leopards.
"At the end of the day, we have to find out the mistakes we're making and the kids have to own it," Liberty-Eylau head coach Klint King said. "Coaches have to own it. In order to get better, you have to own that fact that you make mistakes. Whenever you own it, you give yourself a chance to get better and improve. If you want to keep blaming someone else, and say it's someone else's fault, you'll never improve. Right now, we have to take the steps to be a better football team."
The Tigers jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised in the first half, taking a 48-13 lead into the locker rooms.
Cellars threw two scores and ran for two more in the first half, and five different players got in the end zone before intermission for Texas High.
The Tigers had 327 yards of total offense in the first half, and the Leopard offense got moving in the second quarter to finish the half with 153 yards of offense.
Webster had TD catches of 11 and 67 yards from Cellars, who scored on runs of 7 and 4 yards, the second coming with 3:41 left before intermission.
Roy broke free on a 38-yard TD run for Liberty-Eylau with 2:54 left to close the first-half scoring. White had an 8-yard scoring run for the Leopards to start the second quarter.
"We got a lot of really good guys that are executing at times," King said. "Then at times, we look really young. We're starting to figure out who our guys are. We moved the football extremely well at times. We have some really talented kids and we'll continue to come up with ways to get the ball in their hands, so they can make plays for us."
Less than a minute later, Miller streaked 37 yards down the sideline to paydirt for a Tiger touchdown.
Jaylen Green had a 39-yard fumble return with 3:15 left in the first quarter, just after Cellars' initial rushing TD at 3:31.
"Each week Rian has gotten better for us," Stanford said. "Each week, he's settling in more and more. The more reps he gets, the better he will be. He has a great set of talent and just natural God-given skill set. He's working hard at being a good quarterback. I've been really pleased with his progression throughout the season thus far."
Cooper covered 17 yards for the first Texas High score with 9:39 left in the first quarter and, following a three-and-out by L-E, Webster caught a strike from Cellars.
The ensuing kickoff was muffed, Matt Arnold recovering for the Tigers at the Leopard 37. A few plays later, Cellars scored his first TD on the ground.
"The defensive staff all year long has done a great job of putting together our defense for us," Stanford said. "I'm really proud of the staff and what they've done with our kids. It starts upfront with the line. Devaughante Jack and Clayton Smith have been playing tremendous for us. We have to keep getting better. We have a tough one with Kilgore next week."