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Hermleigh’s Payton Rivera (7) runs to the outside against White Deer’s Jasper Chaney during Saturday’s game at the Jayton Gridiron Classic. Hermleigh lost to White Deer 55-16 in the season opener.
JAYTON — Hermleigh scored a touchdown on the final play of the first half, but White Deer scored 31 unanswered points in the second half to claim a 55-16 win at the Jayton Gridion Classic Saturday.
White Deer, which was playing its first six-man game after competing in 11-man football, utilized its speed while outgaining Hermleigh 359-286.
Hermleigh’s Devin Hildebrand rushed for 153 yards on 17 carries and scored one touchdown. Hildebrand completed 4-of-15 passes for 50 yards and one touchdown. Tucker Barton caught two passes for 40 yards and one touchdown. Kelton Carroll had three receptions for 37 yards.
Kason Virgil led White Deer with 155 yards rushing and three touchdowns while also catching one touchdown pass. Gage Freeman completed 3-of-7 passes for 90 yards.
“White Deer was a good team with a lot of speed,” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said. “We didn’t help ourselves much and for some reason played flat. White Deer capitalized on that like a good team does. We finished the first half strong when Devin threw to Tucker for the touchdown. Tucker made a good catch and got into the end zone. That rejuvenated us for the second half, but we could not get anything going after the first drive.”
After a scoreless first quarter, White Deer’s Jasper Chaney caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Virgil with 5:43 left in the first half. Hildebrand answered on the first play after the kickoff, outrunning the White Deer defense for a 44-yard touchdown to tie the game at 8-8.
White Deer scored two times before the end of the first half on touchdown runs of six and 32 yards by Virgil. Hermleigh worked quickly, driving 45 yards on four plays in 41 seconds to cut the deficit to 24-16 at halftime.
Hildebrand’s 26-yard run moved the ball to the White Deer 25-yard line. After a four-yard loss, Hildrebrand connected on a 29-yard touchdown pass to Barton.
After receiving the second half kickoff, Hermleigh drove to the White Deer 18, but turned the ball over on downs.
White Deer increased its lead by scoring twice in the third quarter. Virgil had a 13-yard touchdown run and Drake Damon caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Freeman. White Deer led 40-16 going into the fourth quarter.
Freeman completed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mooney while Virgil caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Graysen Freeman.
“I’m not sure what happened in the second half,” Winters said. “It might have been the heat and our conditioning. We do need to work on conditioning. But this game allowed us to get players, other than starters, to get playing time. They did a lot of good things. Knowing those guys can come in and play will benefit us in the long run.”
Hermleigh was scheduled to practice at 3 p.m. today to begin preparing for Friday’s home game against Rule.
WHITE DEER 55, HERMLEIGH 16
Hermleigh 0 16 0 0—16
White Deer 0 24 16 15—55
Second Quarter
WHITE DEER — Jasper Chaney 16 pass from Kason Virgil (Gage Freeman kick), 5:43.
HERMLEIGH — Devin Hildebrand 44 run (Payton Rivera kick), 5:30.
WHITE DEER — Virgil 6 run (Gage Freeman kick), 4:10.
WHITE DEER — Virgil 32 run (Gage Freeman kick), :41.
HERMLEIGH — Tucker Barton 29 pass from Hildebrand (Rivera kick), :00.
Third Quarter
WHITE DEER — Virgil 13 run (Gage Freeman kick), 5:30.
WHITE DEER — Drake Damon 6 pass from Gage Freeman (Gage Freeman kick), 1:36.
Fourth Quarter
WHITE DEER — Mason Mooney 49 pass from Gage Freeman (Gage Freeman kick), 8:55.
WHITE DEER — Virgil 17 pass from Grayman Freeman (Mooney pass), 6:30.
HHS WDHS
First Downs 10 12
By rush 6 7
By pass 3 4
By penalty 1 1
Total yards 286 359
Rushes-yards 30-199 33-229
Passing-yards 87 130
Comp-Att-Int 6-21-2 6-11-1
Punts 1-40 0-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-30 5-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Hermleigh, Devin Hildebrand 17-153, Luis Gonzalez 8-43, Payton Rivera 4-8, Team 1-(minus 5). White Deer, Kason Virgil 17-155, John Perriman 5-40, Gage Freeman 7-28, Hunter Warminsh 3-7, Trystan Hunter 1-(minus 1).
PASSING — Hermleigh, Hildebrand 4-15-2 for 50 yards, Rivera 2-6-0 for 37 yards. White Deer, Gage Freeman 3-7-1 for 90 yards, Virgil 2-2-0 for 23 yards, Graysen Freeman 1-2-0 for 17 yards.
RECEIVING — Hermleigh, Kelton Carroll 3-37 Tucker Barton 2-40 Rivera 1-10. White Deer, Mason Mooney 2-84, Virgil 1-17, Jasper Chaney 1-16, Cy Darrow 1-7, Drake Damron 1-6.