LINDALE -- Montana Meador weaved his way to a 16-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds left to lift Lindale to a heart-stopping, 42-39, opening night victory over Kaufman on Friday night at Eagle Stadium.

The senior quarterback had a hand in five of the six Lindale touchdowns, running for three and passing for two more in a back-and-forth affair. Meador completed 18 of 26 passes for 281 yards and had one intercepted. He carried the ball 16 times for 124 yards.

Kaufman, after falling behind 7-0 in the first period, began to match Lindale score for score the rest of the night.

The Eagles’ first score was a 10-yard pass from Meador to wide receiver Joe Noble on third-and-goal. But Kaufman evened the score on a 46-yard toss from quarterback Jefferson Fritz to Trey Collier.

With 11:55 left in the half, Lindale went back in front on a 7-yard run from Meador.

The Lions managed to go into halftime with a 14-14 tie on a 3-yard run from bruising running back Devyn Morris.

The Eagles took advantage of a crucial error by the Kaufman punting team in the third period when the snap sailed over the kicker’s head and was recovered in the end zone by Lindale’s Bryan Edwards for a 21-14 lead.

But once again, the Lions trimmed the lead to 21-20 on a 63-yard scoring run from Fritz.
After the Lions went ahead 26-21, Meador hooked up with Noble again, this time from 42 yards, to push the Eagles back in front 27-26 with 8:53 left.

Four plays later, the Lions had a 32-27 lead courtesy of a five yard run from Fritz, but the Eagles took the ensuing kickoff and moved to the Kaufman 10, where Meador scored once more. The two-point conversion was good and with 4:50 left, Lindale had a 35-32 lead.

Kaufman looked done for on its next series, down to fourth-and-28 from its own 37. But Casey Smith hauled in a 63-yard scoring pass for a 39-35 lead with just over two minutes left.

Meador then went to work, guiding his club from his own 32 to the end zone.

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