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Crosstown Showdown
By Van Hilburn
Published October 16, 2009
The 24th annual Crosstown Showdown kickoff is only a few hours away and it cannot come soon enough for the Paris Wildcats and North Lamar Panthers.
Both the Wildcats (3-3, 1-0) and Panthers (1-5, 1-0) come into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. contest at R.L. Maddox Stadium riding high after recording shutout victories last week in their District 10-3A openers.
The Panthers’ 28-0 win over visting Anna was their first of the season and gave them an added dose of confidence entering tonight’s contest. That they have won only one game is a moot point, according to Paris High head coach Travis Smith.
“They’re on a winning note and we’re both equal at 1-0 in district. That’s all that matters. You can take all the records and everything else and throw them out the window when we play them,” said Smith, whose team demolished visiting Commerce, 63-0, last week in the Wildcats league opener.
While the players were getting ready for the football game, fans in this town were making this week’s game the hottest office gossip. So were the student bodies at both schools, which are located only about five miles apart.
“This game is good for the City of Paris. It’s good for the kids, it’s good for the fans. It’s a rivalry, which is why I expect a packed house and a great ball game,” Smith said.
It doesn’t matter that Paris is favored by at least nine points by most statewide polls against a North Lamar team that struggled through most of the pre-district due in part to injuries.
Paris was favored last year, but it took two fourth quarter touchdowns for the Wildcats to escape with a 12-7 victory on their home turf. They went on to clinch the district title and finish 5-0 in league play, but Smith said the biggest win of the 2008 season for his team was the one against North Lamar.
Fast forward a year and nothing has changed.
“As far as I’m concerned, this game is for the district title. Whoever wins this game has a leg up on everyone else,” Smith said. “That’s why we’re approaching this game like it’s a district championship game. Everything goes and we’re not holding anything back. We just have to make sure we go in there and do what we need to do in order to come out on top.”
North Lamar has beaten Paris High four times on the field, including back-to-back times in 2006 and 2007.
North Lamar coach Tommy Felty — a Paris High graduate and assistant coach for the Wildcats when they won the Class 4A state championship in 1988 — has been a part of all the past Crosstown Showdowns and has coached in them at both schools.
He also understands the importance of not letting his team get fired up too early before a game like this.
“We’re trying to keep it real low-key. There’s no need to get hyped up all week and work yourself into a frenzy. I think with the atmosphere Friday night, there won’t be anything we’ll have to do to get the kids fired up to play in this one,” Felty said.
Felty, in his 13th year as head coach for the Panthers, has guided his team to three wins over Paris and he was assistant coach under Philip Holt for the other.
Felty has spent this week working on ways to slow down the speedy Wildcats and their spread offensive attack, led by sophomore quarterback Corban Taylor and senior running backs Tyrell Smith and Aaron Ethridge.
“Obviously, Ethridge has a lot of speed and can make some big plays. Tyrell Smith has a lot of moves. He can hit the corner and he’s also a good cut-back runner. And Taylor, the quarterback, throws the ball pretty well,” Felty said.
Tyrell Smith has a team-high 448 yards rushing on 71 carries and has six rushing touchdowns. He also leads the team in receptions with 16 catches for 293 yards and three touchdowns.
Ethridge has 51 carries for 278 yards and six touchdowns, and he has two catches for 57 yards.
Taylor, who passed for 197 yards and a career-high four touchdowns last week, leads the Red River Valley in passing yards with 991. He has completed 60 of 115 attempts and thrown 13 touchdowns, while getting picked off five times.
Travis Smith has also worked on ways to contain the Panthers, especially junior running back Dakota Boles, who leads the Panthers’ offensively with 658 yards rushing on 102 carries and six touchdowns, despite missing the first two games due to an injury.
“We’ve opened up some holes, executed, stayed focused and picked up quite a few yards on the ground,” Felty said. “It took a while to develop and to get some kids back from injuries, but it’s better later than never. If it’s going to develop late, it did it at the right time.”
The Wildcat leader also gave North Lamar credit for its ground attack.
“Boles is a good runner. He got a bunch of yards against Pleasant Grove and he did a good job last week. We know he’s their go-to guy,” said coach Smith. “But they also have a former Paris High guy in Troy Pittman. He’s a good runner.”
Pittman, a sophomore who has 28 carries and 97 rushing yards, played for the Wildcats’ freshman team last year before going to North Lamar.
Paris enters tonight’s game averaging 36.7 points and 336.5 yards, while allowing 31.7 points and 338.5 yards. Last week the Wildcats held Commerce to 53 total yards.
The Panthers totally shut down Anna last week, limiting the Coyotes to minus-one yard offensively, while gaining 333 total yards. North Lamar averages 241 yards and 12.8 points a game and is allowing 260.8 yards and 22 points.
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