Gerald Turner Fuels Carlisle to 49-22 Victory Against Groveton

RUSK--Rocky Baker has seen few performances like it.

Everything Gerald Turner wanted, he got. Interceptions, rushing yards, receiving yards and touchdowns all came easily to him on Saturday.

Baker, the coach at Carlisle, watched in awe along with the rest of the crowd. Turner's performance led Carlisle to a 49-22 victory against Groveton in the  2A Division I Region III Bi-District game on Saturday.

"I've been doing this for 20 years and that might be one of the better performances I've seen from a high school kid," Baker said. "If he don't get some honors this week, I'd love to see the guy on film that had a better game than that."

It came at a time when Carlisle desperately needed it.

Baker said several players were held out of the game because of injury. Carlisle even played players who normally only start on junior varsity. The team challenged Turner in practice this week. He played multiple positions Saturday and finished with numbers all over. He had four interceptions, 114 rushing yards, 23 receiving yards and three total touchdowns.

His final interception put a bow on the victory. He returned it for a touchdown to give Carlisle a 42-14 advantage with a little more than nine minutes left.

"Once I caught it, I saw the lineman coming," Turner said. "I wasn't thinking I was going to score, but somehow it happened."

Turner also had the task of defending Saul Chavez, East Texas' receiving leader this season. Turner said he didn't have any expectations of slowing Chavez or quarterback Haden Terry down. Chavez still had 158 yards. But the four interceptions for Turner arguably won Carlisle the game.

"I'm not even gonna lie, I wasn't looking forward to having that," Turner said. "But I executed. I had to do it for my team."

The game started slow. The first touchdown didn't come until seven minutes in, when Mason Pendleton powered his way in from the goal line. But Graviton blocked the PAT, giving Carlisle only a 6-0 lead.

The next touchdown came courtesy of Turner, who came around the edge to score from six yards out. This time though, Carlisle failed to complete a 2-point conversion.

After Terry scored on a quarterback keeper late in the second quarter to give Graviton its first touchdown, it looked like the game could still be competitive.

Carlisle quickly put that notion to rest with two quick touchdowns, including a 19-yard run from Turner just two minutes after the Terry score.

Carlisle went into halftime with a 28-7 lead and scored just than two minutes into the second half to put the game away for good.

Baker was full of pride after the game, especially in the players who were called up from JV.

"You talk about getting thrown in the water real quick," he said. "They did a great job. We do a good job in practice with the JV kids. They know the system. They know how it works. Our starters that we had also stepped us and gave us a great effort tonight. It was incredible."

Carlisle will move on to the area round, where it faces Kerens at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Bullard.

Carlisle 49, Groveton 22

Carlisle              12    16   7   14    --    49
Groveton      0    7    0    15    --    22

First quarter
CAR—Mason Pendleton 1 run (PAT blocked), 5:01.
CAR—Gerald Turner 6 run (2-point no good), 2:39.
Second quarter
GRO—Haden Terry 3 run (Saul Chavez kick), 4:31.
CAR—Turner 19 run (Pendleton 2-point conversion), 2:17.
CAR—Jay Price 5 catch from Tristan Craig (Craig 2-point conversion), 0:09.
Third Quarter
CAR--Craig 36 run (Louie Garza kick), 9:43.
Fourth quarter
GRO--Chavez 16 catch from Terry (Chavez kick), 11:47.
CAR--Turner returns INT for touchdown (Garza kick), 9:46.
GRO--JJ Cole 11 run (Terry to Chavez 2-point), 4:25.
CAR--Craig 5 run (Garza kick), 2:52.

                                           CAR                    GRO
First Downs                             15                       14
Total Yards                            402                    360
Rushes-Yards                   49-274                 19-12
Passing Yards                        128                      348
Comp.-Att.-Int.                13-16-0                    22-54-4
Punts-Avg.                         5-26.0               1-19.0
Fumbles-Lost                          2-0                    1-1
Penalties-Yards                     6-65                  3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Carlisle, Mason Pendleton 24-126, Gerald Turner 12-114, Tristan Craig 8-39, Luis Adame 1-7, Eric Mendoza 1-6, Jamion Turner 1-1, Team 2-(-19). Groveton, JJ Cole 8-23, Haden Terry 11-(-11). 
PASSING--Carlisle, Craig 13-16-0--128. Groveton, Terry 22-54-4--348.
RECEIVING--Carlisle, Jay Price 6-78, Max Jackson 4-27, Turner 3-23. Groveton, Saul Chavez 13-158, Eli Stewart 3-85, Davuarrio Horace 4-44, Cole 2-61.