Football: Highlanders, Cavaliers earn big victories

Quarterback Blaine Gillespie returned to The Woodlands High School football team with a vengeance Friday night in Lufkin.

After missing last week's loss to A&M Consolidated with a concussion, Gillespie returned to the lineup with three first-half touchdown passes en route to a 354-yard, five-touchdown night as the Highlanders drilled Lufkin 49-21 at Abe Martin Stadium.

The victory put the Highlanders (4-3, 2-1) in the driver's seat for the District 14-5A championship. It also served as a special gift to Highlanders head coach Mark Schmid, who was not on the sideline for the game, but rather was forced to listen to the game over the internet from a hospital bed with a perforated intestine.

Gillespie threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more in the most complete game of the season for The Woodlands. Gillespie threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Sean McCann then fired scoring strikes of 30 and 40 yards to Houston Brown, who finished with 104 receiving yards on five catches.

In between those, Gillespie ran for touchdowns of 13 and 67 yards and finished with 179 yards rushing on 12 carries. He also threw for 175 yards, completing 12 of 21 passes.

When Gillespie wasn't making touchdowns, running back Patrick Carr was doing the damage. Carr rushed for 236 yards, including touchdown runs of 3 and 68 yards, on 21 carries.

The Highlanders totaled 627 yards of offense.

Cole Little and Kolbi Brown came up with late interceptions, two of three on the night for the Highlanders' defense.

The Highlanders never trailed though the game was tied twice early on. The Woodlands grabbed a 21-14 halftime advantage and never looked back, roaring to a 21-point third period to win going away.

The Highlanders are idle next week before hosting Bryan, 0-2 in district play, at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Woodforest Bank Stadium.

College Park defeats Conroe

The College Park Cavaliers earned their first District 14-5A victory with a 28-23 nail-biter over Conroe on Friday at Buddy Moorhead Stadium.

The Cavaliers (4-2, 1-1) jumped out to a 14-0 lead on the first of two touchdown runs by Connor McPherson and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Brett Buckley to Charrod Henry. McPherson made it 21-9 with a 12-yard touchdown run and the teams traded touchdowns the rest of the way.

Nick Black scored on a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to make the difference.

Black and McPherson combined for 83 yards rushing and Buckley added another 92 yards passing.

The Cavaliers host A&M Consolidated at 7 p.m. Thursday in Woodforest Bank Stadium. The Tigers are 2-1 in District 14-5A and tied with The Woodlands for first place.