Devontay Bell Runs for 385 Yards, Helps Corsicana Beat Jacksonville

[By Larry Krantz, Special to ETSN.fm]

JACKSONVILLE – Corsicana quarterback Devontay Bell ran for 385 yards and five touchdowns Friday as the Tigers drove the final nail into Jacksonville’s winless season with a 48-31 win at the Tomato Bowl.

Both Corsicana (2-7 overall and 1-4 in District 16-4A) and Jacksonville entered the game having already been eliminated from the playoffs. Jacksonville’s last winless season was 1986, which it followed with a 1-9 season the next year. The Indians also went winless in 1957 and 1965.

Bell scored on runs of 36, 18, 86, 19 and 73 yards respectively, with all but the last coming in the first half. Bell scored twice in just over a minute after he broke a third-and-2 run for the 86-yard touchdown with 1:22 remaining, then the Tigers intercepted a Carter McCown pass at the Jacksonville 30 on the ensuing possession. Bell scored from 19 yards out two plays later, handing Corsicana a 34-17 lead at halftime.

Jacksonville turned the ball over four times, including losing three fumbles. Two of the fumbles came in the red zone. McCown, a junior, fumbled into the end zone and couldn’t recover it at the end of a 20-yard scramble late in the third quarter. On the ensuing drive, Corsicana’s Jonathan Brown fumbled, Jacksonville recovered and briefly ran with the ball, only to fumble it back to Corsicana, giving the Tigers a fresh set of downs.

Corsicana running back Donovan Fields, whose 16-carry, 151-yard, 2-touchdown night was overshadowed by Bell’s video-game numbers, scored from 22 yards out seven plays later.

Jacksonville junior Braylon Parish rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown, and returned a kickoff 92 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the return was negated by a holding penalty. Parish later fumbled inside the Tigers 10-yard line, ending another Indians scoring opportunity.

Indians senior Lekendrick Anderson hauled in a late 3-yard touchdown pass from McCown, and senior Stacy Cummings also scored a 3-yard touchdown.