West Rusk now at 2-0, outlasts Gorman

TYLER — Turns out T.K. Gorman's Crusaders put up a little fight. But it wasn't enough.

West Rusk High School left McCallum Stadium Friday night with a hard-fought 29-23 win, moving their record to 2-0 in the second season under coach John Frazier. The Raiders have yet to play a home game, having opened in Longview at Pine Tree Stadium with a 20-0 win over Harleton in the first game, then venturing to Tyler and beating Gorman in the second contest. West Rusk fans finally get to see the team in their home stadium this week — the Raiders will host New Diana on Friday.

T.K. Gorman got the first points of the game on a safety, but WR one-upped them. Josh Medford picked off a pass and returned it to his own 45-yard-line, and a few plays later, Josh Patin scored from 13 yards out, giving West Rusk its first lead of the game — Chris Johnson's extra point made it 7-2 WR, with 9:19 left in the second quarter.

Things bounced back in Gorman's favor, though, before halftime, with a 35-yard run and extra point, and the Crusaders took a 9- 7 lead into the locker room.

West Rusk had a six-plus-minute drive in the first game against Harleton, and duplicated that feat Friday against Gorman. The Raiders chewed up 6:26 off the third-quarter clock and capped it with a 1-yard run by Jorge Barrios. Daniel Thompson ran in the two-point conversion, and West Rusk again led, 15-9.

On the first offensive series of the fourth quarter, the Raiders would score again, this time with Beau Bower doing the honors from 2 yards out. Again, Thompson was good on the conversion, and the Raiders led 23-9.

But the Crusaders weren't finished — not by a long shot.

Gorman scored with 4:51 left in the game, but the extra point was blocked. And then the Crusaders made things even tighter, scoring a touchdown on a 9-yard pass play with 2:49 left, and got the extra point, tying things at 23-all.

West Rusk wouldn't fade, though, and like a strong-willed heavyweight fighter, the Raiders refused to go down. Just moments after the T.K. Gorman tying score, Thompson broke free from Gorman defenders and raced 80 yards for the go-ahead score. The point after was blocked, but the Raiders led 29-23, what would turn out to be the final score of the game.

Thompson led all rushers with 207 yards and the touchdown. Patin had 149 yards and the first-quarter score. Barrious finished with 45 yards and a touchdown, and Bower had 43 yards and the score. Medford had 5 yards rushing, and the Raiders had a whopping 31 first downs in the game.