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Paris High dominates in opener
by Van Hilburn
The Paris News
Published October 12, 2008
COMMERCE — Total domination best describes what the Paris Wildcats did to Commerce Friday night in the District 10-3A opener at Texas A&M University-Commerce’s Memorial Stadium.
Paris’ offense played its best game of the season, and the Wildcat defense pitched a shutout en route to a 40-0 whipping of the winless Tigers.
Walter Gunn rushed for 161 yards on 18 carries and started the onslaught with a 50-yard touchdown run at the 7:25 mark of first quarter. Harper Hunt added his first of four extra points and the onslaught was on.
Paris racked up 445 yards of offense, including 332 yards rushing, while limiting Commerce to 172 yards and 10 first downs. But 85 of the Tigers’ yards and six of their first downs came during a substitution-riddled fourth quarter after Paris had taken a 34-0 advantage.
For more than three quarters, Commerce (0-6) could only muster 87 yards and four first downs.
“We still didn’t play our ‘A’ game. We’re not near our ‘A’ game yet. We had some mistakes, but we still scored 40 points and our defense played well,” Paris coach Travis Smith said of his Wildcats.
“Anytime you can get them, shutouts are nice, and we our defense deserved it. We played a lot of kids, rotated a lot of kids in and out. They deserve time because they practiced hard. This was a good game to let all those kids get in,” Smith said.
Paris (2-4, 1-0) even had a few new faces offensively, namely Robert Staples, who has been one of the star players at linebacker on defense this season. Friday night, he got his turn at running back and made the most of them, rushing for two touchdowns and a first down on his three carries.
“I’ve never carried the ball. Ever. At least not in a game, said Staples, whose two-yard first quarter run helped put Paris ahead 14-0. “We worked on it this week in practice. I really don’t think I was supposed to get the ball, but I guess desperate times calls for desperate measures.”
There wasn’t much desperation in this one by Paris, which was playing its first Class 3A district game after dropping from Class 4A in February.
Wildcat junior Aaron Ethridge gave Paris a 21-0 lead in the second quarter with a 42-yard touchdown run. Ethridge finished with 84-yards on seven carries. Tevin McCleary gained 70-yards on 11 totes.
Wildcat quarterback Quin Rollerson completed 8 of 14 passes for 90 yards, and threw a third-quarter 40-yard touchdown toss to Rod Ceaser that help put Paris ahead 28-0. Rollerson also ran for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that basically sealed the win.
“We wanted to send the message to let everyone know that we’re serious. This was our first district game and our first 3A game, and this was the first message that we had to send,” said Rollerson.
Dominique Mitchell caught four passes for 42 yards, while Ceasar caught two for 45. Mitchell and Roro Barr also intercepted passes on defense.
Seven different players ran the ball and five different receivers caught the ball for Paris.
Defensive end Ced Hill led the Wildcat defense with a game-high 20 tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss. Linebackers Nathan Jordan and Staples had 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. Lineman Westley Martin had nine and Jerred Guerra had eight.
Commerce running back Chance Martin was the Tiger offense, as he finished with 95 yards on 17 carries.
The Wildcats played a turnover-free and nearly a penalty-free game. Their only miscues were botched snaps on punt and extra point attempts, and a missed extra point.
Paris had a two-year low in penalties, finishing with only four for a minus 30 yards.
The Wildcats led 21-0 at halftime after out-gaining Commerce 215-79 total yards, and limiting the Tigers to four first downs.
“I’m so excited about these kids and their work habits and character. We won and we won with class. We just played good football and I’m awfully proud of the kids,” Smith said. “That was the first 3A win in the history of Paris. There’s going to be a lot more, but this was the first.”
Smith hopes the Wildcats can get a second district win this week at home against crosstown rivals North Lamar (3-2, 1-0), which shut out Anna 34-0 Friday.
PARIS HIGH 40, COMMERCE 0
Paris 14 7 7 12 - 40
Commerce 0 0 0 0 - 0
First Quarter
Paris - Walter Gunn 50 run (Harper Hunt kick), 7:25
Paris - Robert Staples 4 run (Harper Hunt kick), 3:23
Second Quarter
Paris - Aaron Ethridge 42 run (Harper Hunt kick), 5:42
Third Quarter
Paris - Rod Ceasar 40 pass from Quin Rollerson (Harper Hunt kick), 7:27
Fourth Quarter
Paris - Rollerson 1 run (kick failed), 11:58
Paris - Staples 2 run, (run failed), 1:36
Paris Commerce
First downs 21 10
By run 16 8
By pass 3 1
By penalty 2 1
Rushes-yards 50-332 39-151
Passing yards 113 21
C-A-I 9-15-0 2-12-2
Total yards 445 172
Penalties-yards 4-30 6-61
Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-0
Punts-avg. 2-24.5 4-45.8
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: Paris - Walter Gunn 18-161, Aaron Ethridge 7-84, Tevin McCleary 11-70, Quin Rollerson 2-14, Derrick Kennison 3-9, Robert Staples 3-7, Tyrell Smith 5-7, Team 1-(-20). Commerce - Chance Martin 17-95, Gabriel Conner 14-24, Barry Askew 5-37, Derek Johnson 3-(-5).
PASSING: Paris - Rollerson 8-14-0 90, Jon Mark Abbey 1-1-0 23. Commerce - Conner 2-12-0-2 21.
RECEIVING: Paris - Dominique Mitchell 4-42, Rod Ceasar 2-45, McCleary 1-9, Josh Wallace 1-11, Darian Jones 1-8. Commerce - Jurase Brown 2-21.
INTERCEPTIONS: Paris - Barr, Mitchell
RECORDS: Paris 2-4, 1-0. Commerce 0-6, 0-1.
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