Julian Cromartie and Camden Hughes Connect For 3 Touchdowns As College Park Splatters Willis In A 63 Point Victory

THE WOODLANDS – With district play finally underway, this week's matchup between the College Park Cavaliers and the Willis Wildkats looked like a close contest on paper. That was anything but the case last night, as the Cavaliers crushed the Wildkats 63-28 in a game that felt over before the 1st quarter ended. For College Park, this win is a huge confidence boost, proving they still have what it takes to succeed in the district. For Willis, this loss stings, but they’ve risen from the ashes of these defeats before, and who's to say they can't do it again.

1^st Quarter:

A rough start is hard to overcome, and the Willis Wildkats learned that lesson quickly in the 1^st quarter. On the very 1^st possession of the game, Willis QB Linc Frazier fumbled a backward pass on their own 15-yard line, allowing College Park to scoop it up and score, making it 7-0 before the clock hit 11 minutes. Frazier didn’t recover from that rough start, throwing an interception a couple of drives later after solid plays by RB Jamarcus Williams got them into good field position. Cavalier QB Camden Hughes, who was back to healthy form, took advantage of the turnover, throwing a beautiful deep pass to WR Julian Cromartie, who walked into the end zone for a 40+ yard touchdown.

With the score at 14-0, the Wildkats failed to respond, turning it over on downs after Frazier was stuffed on 4th down. This led to another 50+ yard deep shot from Hughes to Cromartie, giving the duo their 2nd TD of the game and a 21-0 lead just 3 drives in. The Willis offense could not do anything again when they got the ball back, with Frazier unable to move the ball against a swarming Cavalier defense. After a punt, the Cavaliers got the ball back, and RB Duke Stephens kept the momentum going, nearly scoring on a 55-yard run before being tackled at the 5-yard line. Stephens' running mate, Antonio Booker, came in on the next few plays, punching it in for another TD and now ballooning the lead to 28-0. The quarter finally ended with Willis finally driving the ball, but it was going to be hard to come back down this much.

2^nd Quarter:

To start the 2nd quarter, the Wildkats finally got some movement on offense, as WR Deshaun Williams got them into the red zone after Frazier scrabbled for a 1st down. A quick throw to WR Trey Finney gave the Wildkats their 1st touchdown of the game, cutting the lead to 28-7 early in the quarter. On the ensuing Cavalier drive, Cromartie almost made another deep catch, but a PI by the DB who got beat negated it. The Cavaliers converted a 4th & 1 with Booker, and Hughes hit WR Nik Ensminger in the corner of the end zone for his 3rd TD pass of the day, putting the Cavaliers up 35-7.

Even with a lead this large, the Wildkats kept pushing. Frazier ran the ball frequently on the ensuing drive, showing he is more than just a pocket passer. Frazier then completed a screen to Finney again, and the WR took it 30 yards for a quick touchdown, making the score 35-14. What little life the Wildkats showed on the last drive was snuffed out quickly as Stephens silenced the Willis crowd with a 70-yard TD run on the first play of the next Cavalier drive, driving the score to 42-14. In the final drive of the half, the Wildkats made good progress trying to get another score, with Williams running well on the ground. Once again, though, they had to go for it on 4th down, and Frazier was short, ending the half with a turnover on downs.

3^rd Quarter:

Coming out of the half, the Wildkats were down 4 TDs and hadn’t shown much so far that made it feel like they could come back. Frazier was struggling, having to run a lot more than usual, and the Cavalier defense was holding this offense in check. The Willis defense, which had been solid the first 3 weeks, was dominated on all sides, especially the line, which could not get through a Cavalier O-Line that was playing excellent. Hughes looked like the old version of himself from last year, and the offense as a whole looked completely different from how it was at the start of the season.

That Cavalier offense didn’t have the strongest start to the 2^nd half though, as they were forced to punt for the 1^st time all game. Cromartie probably should’ve gotten a pass interference call, as the DB was beaten again and had to practically tackle Cromartie just to prevent another deep pass. Unfortunately, the Wildkats were still ineffective on offense, punting the ball back to the Cavaliers, who made them pay again. This time it was WR Brian Snodgrass making the play, scoring his 1^st TD of the game on a short pass from Hughes, giving the Cavaliers a staggering 49-14 lead. Again, Frazier was stuffed again on a 4th-down attempt, allowing the Cavaliers to get the ball back in a good position. Hughes and Cromartie kept the pain going, with Cromartie catching another deep ball from Hughes to score his 3rd TD of the night, pushing the score to 56-14. As the quarter ended, Willis was driving, but at this point, there wasn’t really anything left to play for but pride.

4^th Quarter:

In games like this, the 4th quarter is usually the fastest part of the night, as both teams would rather get the game over with. The Wildkats were driving to start, though, and while Frazier took some seriously bad sacks on this drive, a penalty gave them a 1st down, which WR Preston Stephenson turned into a TD, putting the score at 56-21. College Park decided it just wanted to waste as much time as possible, burning almost 9 minutes off on the ensuing drive. Booker ran all over the field, eventually breaking off another big run to get the Cavaliers deep into Willis territory before the backups were finally brought in. The final chaotic play from the Cavaliers was a field goal that Willis blocked, but College Park scooped it up and returned it for another TD, making the score 63-21. On the final drive of the game, Frazier and the starters drove down the field against the College Park backups, scoring a garbage-time TD to bring the final score to 63-28. The final drive being a stat-pad isn’t great for Willis, as half of their points came in the final quarter when there was no hope of coming back. The Cavaliers kneeled the kickoff to end the game, winning this one decisively 63-28.

Final Thoughts

This is exactly what we knew the College Park Cavaliers were capable of, and it was an encouraging night for this team. QB Camden Hughes had an incredible night, throwing 5 touchdown passes, 3 of them to Julian Cromartie. Duke Stephens and Antonio Booker were also excellent, getting back into form and each scoring a TD. The defense looked excellent, too, holding this usually strong Willis offense to just 14 points. Both the defensive and offensive lines played a great game, and overall, the Cavaliers seem back to their old selves. As for Willis, this is a tough pill to swallow, and the next few weeks of games will be proving grounds for them. They performed solidly in non-district, but there was nothing in this game that was encouraging. They have a tough road ahead of them to get back into contention, and it will be interesting to see if they step up to the challenge.