Logan Fuller Sets Athens Rushing Record + Hornets Rout Mineola, 55-20

MINEOLA – The Athens Hornets continued their romp through District 15-3A, clinching no worse than a share of the league championship with a 55-20 win over the Mineola Yellowjackets on Friday night at Meredith Memorial Stadium.

The Hornets (9-0, 4-0) can wrap up an outright championship next Friday at home against the Brownsboro Bears. Athens last won a district championship in 1992.

Mineola fell to 1-3 in district and 4-5 overall.

Athens sophomore fullback Logan Fuller ran for 189 yards and four touchdowns to pass Kenneth Sessions on the single-season rushing list. Sessions’ record, set in 1976, fell on Fuller’s 14-yard run in the fourth quarter.

On the next play, Fuller scored his fourth touchdown of the night, leaving him three shy of trying Kendall Sanders’ 2010 school record for touchdowns in a season at 24.

Athens nearly had three players eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark. Junior Ladarius Jordan ran the ball just six times for 114 yards, and fellow junior Devin Hall – who scored twice – finished with 96 yards on 14 carries.

The Yellowjackets made it a ballgame early when Rhett Self’s seven-yard run cut the Hornets’ lead to 7-6 nine minutes into the game. Athens opened the scoring on Hall’s 15-yard scoring run at the 5:28 mark, and it pushed the lead to 21-6 on Nikell Roberts’ 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Fuller’s 53-yard scoring run.

Mineola used the first of two connections between quarterback Jeremiah Crawford to Casey Gilbreath to trim the lead to 28-13 at the half.

The Hornets put the game far out of reach over the first 16 minutes of the second half, beginning a 34-point run with Anthony Sanders’ 25-yard pass to SMU commit Chris Jefferson. Fuller scored the next three touchdowns and Hall capped the Athens scoring with a one-yard run.

By the time Crawford hit Gilbreath on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 2:39 left, the game was far out of hand.

Self led Mineola with 73 yards rushing on 12 carries. Crawford added 66 yards on 16 carries. He was also 9 of 16 for 124 yards passing with two interceptions – both by Athens sophomore Travon Fuller.