CARTHAGE — Scott Surratt and his Carthage Bulldogs football team’s program has become known for their incredible run of nine state championships in the last 16 years.
The journey to get to state has to start somewhere, and for the Bulldogs that doesn’t just begin with regular season success — it begins with regular season dominance.
The Bulldogs put that on display once again as No. 1-ranked Carthage turned a dogfight — no pun intended — into a one-sided affair in defeating No. 10-ranked Van 35-7 to clinch the program’s seventh-straight undefeated regular season and district championship on Friday at Bulldog Stadium.
“First of all, I’m at the best school in the state and the country for high school, there’s no doubt,” said Surratt, whose team now has the state’s longest active winning streak at 26 games. “It starts with the administration and then the community support. Then it goes to our coaches and really good players.
“We’re excited to be 10-0 again and to be going back to the playoffs as undefeated district champions.”
Carthage (10-0 overall, 6-0 District 8 4A Division II) came in knowing they were going to be in for a battle against Van.
Van (7-2, 4-1) was able to play the game at their style and pace in the first half by having slow methodical drives that kept the clock running.
The Vandals were able to string together a 13-play, 82-yard drive that resulted in a Colton Miller two-yard touchdown run that tied the game 7-7 with 1:37 remaining in the first half.
“We faced a great team tonight, and we struggled a little bit in the first half,” Carthage sophom*ore quarterback Jett Surratt said. “But our defense stepped up big in the second half and we scored a bunch in the second half.”
Jett Surratt — who was named the Dave Campbell’s 4A Quarterback of the Week this week — engineered a 13-play 55-yard drive that resulted n a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bradan Manning with 6.7 seconds left in the first half.
Carthage took a 14-7 lead going into halftime.
“We committed some penalties in the first half, but we were able to get them off the field the second half,” Surratt said. “KJ (Edwards) ran the ball very effectively in the second half, and we set the tone running it in the second half.”
Edwards — who scored the game’s first points on an 11-yard touchdown run on Carthage’s first drive of the game — made the most of his carries by scoring two more touchdowns in the second half on just four carries.
Edwards finished with 71 yards on 10 carries including three touchdowns.
“I just came out playing hard because I knew if I was a senior I’d want the young guys to play hard for me too,” Edwards said. “We knew we had to turn it up a notch because we weren’t excited, so we came back out and did our thing.”
Carthage’s defense was stingy in the first half, holding Van to just 108 total yards of offense, but the Bulldogs put the clamps on the Vandals even more in the second half.
Carthage held Van to just 96 yards in the second half and 204 in the game.
Leading the way defensively for the Bulldogs was junior linebacker Klayton Ingram, who had a sack and an interception in the second half.
Ingram intercepted Van quarterback Jaxon Moffatt, ending a 10-play drive, and Carthage validated that interception by icing the game five plays later when Surratt found Mikel Fields for a one-yard touchdown pass that made it 35-7 with 6:35 left in the game.
“It was a good feeling, when I caught it, I knew we had it,” Ingram said. “This was a very fun and intense game.”
Jett Surratt — who came into the game leading all East Texas quarterbacks in passing yards and touchdowns — finished with 234 yards and two touchdown passes while completing 19 of his 30 attempts.
Manning had nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, Fields two catches for 52 yards including a score, Cale Preston had two catches for 40 yards, and Cade Ross had five catches for 23 yards.
“We knew during halftime we weren’t excited about how we came out playing,” Edwards said. “We still had a plan and had to execute and we came out the second half and did our thing.”
Moffatt threw for 108 yards on 9-of-15 passing for 108 yards and twin brother Austin Moffatt had 56 yards rushing and three catches for 30 yards.
Coach Surratt said so many people expect Carthage to put up 50 points every game, but putting up 35 against Van in the fashion the Bulldogs did was quite impressive.
“They are a very good team and we scored 35 points against a very good team,” Surratt said. “In big games we need to run the ball, and this was a very big game. We felt we had some one-on-one advantages with our wide outs and got it to them.”
The Vandals will wrap up their regular season next Friday when Van hosts Bullard at 7:30 p.m.
Carthage will enjoy another undefeated regular season and district title with their bye week coming up next week.
The Bulldogs will take a few days to enjoy this then get right back to work to defend their 4A D-II state championship.
“It’s awesome to get (the seniors) a district championship on Senior Night, but we still have work to do,” Jett said.
