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ROCKWALL – North Crowley quarterback Chris Jimerson said his team’s offense has not reached its top level yet. If that’s the case, the way the Panthers played on Thursday should have the rest of Class 6A football in Texas scared.
North Crowley receiver Quentin Gibson had 118 total yards on offense and four touchdowns on five first-half touches while Jimerson passed for 218 yards and five touchdowns as North Crowley routed Rockwall 70-17 in a matchup of state-ranked squads at Wilkerson-Sanders Memorial Stadium. After averaging 53.0 points in its previous two games, including a 57-51 win over defending Class 6A Division II state champion DeSoto two weeks ago, North Crowley’s offense marched ruthlessly against Rockwall, scoring touchdowns on its first 10 drives of the game.
“We had a couple mistakes, but overall we did a better job finishing. We did better finishing than what we did last week,” said Jimerson, referring to a 49-28 win over Denton Guyer. “Our receivers did well running routes and blocking downfield. Everybody did their part.
“This was not as good as how we played against DeSoto. We haven’t reached our top level yet.”
North Crowley (4-0) – ranked No. 1 in The Dallas Morning News’ Class 6A area poll and No. 3 in the Associated Press’ 6A state poll – extended its current regular-season winning streak to 25 games. Rockwall (2-2) – ranked No. 10 in The News’ poll and No. 16 in the state – suffered its largest margin of defeat since a 68-6 loss to Forney in 1969.
Rockwall had onside kicks on all four of its kickoffs in the first half, but only recovered the opening kickoff and gave the ball up on downs on the ensuing drive.
With shorter fields to work with, North Crowley made Rockwall pay by scoring touchdowns on all seven of its first-half drives with Gibson compiling all of his numbers in the first half.
Jimerson connected with Gibson on a pair of 16-yard touchdown passes in the first half, the second giving North Crowley a 28-10 lead with 8:52 left in the second quarter. University of Texas commit Jonathan Cunningham got a tackle for loss when Rockwall went for it at its own 32-yard line with 2:27 left in the second and Gibson took a jet sweep 32 yards for a touchdown two plays later to extend North Crowley’s lead to 42-10.
North Crowley capped a 35-point second quarter when Gibson took a short Jimerson pass and broke four tackles for a 38-touchdown play with seven seconds left to give North Crowley a 49-17 halftime lead. Jimerson passed for 176 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. Cornelius Warren had nine carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half.
North Crowley’s Ja’Brelle Asberry forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the second half that Neudre Cassey recovered at the Rockwall 34-yard line, setting a one-yard touchdown run by Daniel Bray. Kiante Ingram led North Crowley with 103 yards rushing, including a 23-yard touchdown run with 3:40 left for North Crowley’s 10th touchdown.
Cunningham finished with two tackles for loss. Tulsa commit Draden Fullbright added an interception for North Crowley.
Rockwall’s A.J. Hatcher rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries, including a 38-yard touchdown run with 7:06 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-all.
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