Geovari McCollister + John Tyler Rout Monterrey’s Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, 51-14

TYLER -- When John Tyler and Monterrey, Mexico's Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon met one year ago, a torrential downpour helped keep JT's explosive offense in check.

But it was clear skies and smooth sailing for the Lions on Thursday night.

Junior quarterback Geovari McCollister accounted for 393 yards of offense and threw three touchdown passes in John Tyler's 51-14 rout of the Tigres at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

John Tyler (3-2) rolled up a season-high 529 yards of offense -- 295 on the ground -- in the Lions' final tuneup before beginning District 16-4A play in two weeks against Corsicana.

McCollister completed 17 of 24 attempts for 232 yards, connecting with three different receivers -- Reggie Gipson, Duntavion Gross and Quaylan Brown -- for touchdowns. The physical 6-2, 200-pound quarterback added a career-high 161 yards on 16 rushing attempts.

"That's just what happened tonight," said John Tyler coach Ricklan Holmes. "He's supposed to be throwing the ball and not running it. Those plays were called as throws. He has to understand that we've gotta play within the scheme of our offense. Everything that he did with his feet tonight, hey, that's a good deal, but that's not helping us get better."

The Lions got solid play from its defense, which held Nuevo Leon (0-4) to 155 total yards and nine first downs. Sophomore defensive tackle Braylon Jones had a big night, recording a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass deflection.

"Braylon Jones is becoming the player we're gonna need him to be for a long time," Holmes said. "The guy is improving every week. We had to put a new guy next to him this week, Josh Williams, and he held his own next to Braylon."

Senior safety Terry Ausborne returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter to give John Tyler a 30-14 lead.

"They're finally starting to understand it's all a bout angles and attacking," Holmes said of his secondary. "When they're back there with all that free space, it's not about taking the wrong step and the wrong angle. You gotta make sure you drive to the ball and that's what they were doing tonight."

John Tyler junior Nick Cain had five catches for 65 yards and ran five times for 61 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown while at quarterback in the fourth quarter. Gipson scored on runs 3 of 12 yards and hauled in a 19-yard scoring pass from McCollister. Gross finished with three catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.

The Lions had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Jose Perez on their opening drive of the game, and after recovering a Tigres fumble, McColliser led JT on a 57-yard scoring drive. A 24-yard scramble set up his 19-yard scoring toss to Gipson, which gave the Lions a 10-0 first-quarter lead. Two possessions later, a McCollister 46-yard run preceded Gipson's 3-yard scoring run that pushed JT's lead to 17-0.

Nuevo Leon then went on an impressive eight-play, 81-yard drive that was capped by Jorge Chavez's 10-yard touchdown pass to Abiel Westrup, which cut the Lions' lead to 17-7 midway through the second quarter.

It took John Tyler two plays to answer -- a 46-yard pass play from McColliser to Gross, followed by a 31-yard scoring strike to Gross once more. A blocked extra point left JT in front, 23-7.

The Lions were forced into a three-and-out on their next possession, and Edgar Ayala's 48-yard punt return set up Chavez' 17-yard touchdown pass to Gerardo Garcia -- off a deflection by John Tyler cornerback Jordan Caldwell -- that cut the Tigres' deficit to 23-14 with 39 seconds remaining in the half.

McCollister was intercepted inside the Nuevo Leon 5-yard line on JT's opening possession of the second half, but Ausborne's pick-six began the Lions' string of 28 unanswered points. Gipson added a 12-yard touchdown later in the quarter, before Quaylan Brown's 20-yard scoring reception and Cain's 37-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

The John Tyler quarterback came up limping after the Brown touchdown reception.

"He just tweaked his ankle," Holmes said of McCollister. "He'll be fine."

---

John Tyler 51, Autonoma de Nuevo Leon 14

TMF Rose Stadium, Tyler

UANL                 0   14    0    0    --   14
John Tyler         10   13   14  14    --   51
First Quarter
JT--FG Jose Perez 28, 8:13.
JT--Reggie Gipson 19 pass from Geovari McCollister (Perez kick), 4:15.
Second Quarter
JT--Gipson 3 run (Perez kick), 9:30.
UANL--Abiel Westrup 10 pass from Jorge Chavez (Ricardo Saenz kick), 5:39.
JT--Duntavion Gross 31 pass from McCollister (kick failed), 4:57.
UANL--Gerardo Garcia 17 pass from Chavez (Saenz kick), :39.
Third Quarter
JT--Terry Ausborne 32 interception return (Perez kick), 9:11.
JT--Gipson 12 run (Perez kick), 5:07.
Fourth Quarter
JT--Quaylan Brown 20 pass from McCollister (Perez kick), 8:19.
JT--Nick Cain 37 run (Perez kick), :37.

                                     UANL               JT
First Downs                            9               25
Total Yards                          155             529
Rushes-Yards                   23-46        41-295
Passing Yards                      109             234
Comp.-Att.-Int.               12-29-1       18-25-1
Punts-Avg.                      10-32.2        4-26.5
Fumbles-Lost                         3-1            3-0
Penalties-Yards                    3-25           7-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Nuevo Leon, Imanol Flores 2-21, Edgar Ayala 6-15, Jose Ramirez 3-11, Carlos Sanchez 1-4, Oscar Vazquez 3-4, Jorge Chavez 3-2, Francisco Chapa 2-(-4), Fernando Gomez 3-(-7). John Tyler, Geovari McCollister 16-161, Nick Cain 5-61, Quaylan Brown 3-38, Reggie Gipson 12-26, Dyran McDuff 3-13, Andre Crawford 1-(-2), Duntavion Gross 1-(-2).
PASSING--Nuevo Leon, Chavez 10-19-0--97, Gomez 2-5-1--12, Flores 0-4-0--0, Ramirez 0-1-0--0. John Tyler, McCollister 17-24-1--232, Cain 1-1-0--2.
RECEIVING--Nuevo Leon, Javier Zuniga 5-63, Abiel Westrup 2-9, Andres Herrera 2-8, Gerardo Garcia 1-17, Chapa 1-11, Victor Vazquez 1-1. John Tyler, Cain 5-65, Gipson 4-35, Gross 3-84, Brown 3-28, Rodney Bendy 3-22.