San Augustine Rolls Past Carlisle to the Regional Final, 58-27

CARTHAGE--Marty Murr soaked in the moment.

Murr, the coach at San Augustine, hugged his son, Gavin, tight after the Wolves' 58-27 victory against Carlisle on Saturday night. Gavin Murr played the game with an injured achilles tendon. It made practicing during the week difficult. He didn't attempt to run a single time Saturday.

He did, however, turn in a 258-yard, two touchdown performance. He played a pivotal role in San Augustine clinching a regional final berth.

Marty Murr was an understandably proud coach, but more than that, a proud father.

"It's awesome," he said. "Coaches' kids have a little bit of an advantage because they're around the game their whole life."

Murr's first touchdown of the game came in the second quarter on a 22-yard pass to Kris Wade. That was a big moment, giving San Augustine moment heading into halftime with a 20-point lead.

His second, however, possibly sealed the game.

After San Augustine came up with a stop on 4th down at its own two yard line the offense took over. It didn't take long for it to flip the field. Gavin Murr found a wide open QuenTyvian Borders along the left sideline. Borders caught the ball and then used his speed to race 98 yards for the touchdown. That put the Wolves up 45-20 with 9:44 left in the game and shut the door on any chance Carlisle had at a comeback.

Gavin Murr said this week was an improvement from the last, in which he couldn't step into his throws. Even though he was in pain, he never once thought about sitting out.

"It's playoffs, go win or go home, baby," he said. "You've got to play."

Gavin Murr's performance was admirable, but it was complemented by an even more impressive performance from his teammate, KJ Davis.

Davis finished the game with 323 yards, which broke a school record for most rushing yards in a game, which he also set in 2016. He had five total touchdowns -- five rushing and one receiving. He was, for lack of a better word, an unstoppable force on Saturday.

It didn't started off that way, though.

"I started off slipping," he said. "I had to change cleats. Once I did that, I broke for two of them. I was like, 'The O-line is rolling now. It's on.'"

Once he got the cleats on, there was no stopping him.

Davis was responsible for 62.1 percent of the Wolves' points on the evening. Marty Murr said that especially with a quarterback rendered immobile by injury, Davis was a big force for San Augustine.

"The last two weeks KJ has been huge," Murr said. "We're able to run our whole offense when he's in there. KJ has really stepped up."

Davis busted off four runs of 50-plus yards in his historic game. That's not even counting a 43-yard touchdown reception he hauled in in the first half. He was undoubtedly the best player on the field on Saturday.

Despite the cleats, however, he gives all the credit to his offensive line.

"They give it to me every week," he said. "I'm gonna take them out to eat this week. I got to."

The Wolves wanted revenge in this game after Carlisle knocked them out of the playoffs last season. All week San Augustine talked about defeating Carlisle. Gavin Murr said to see it finally pay off after a year of waiting was priceless.

"They had this coming," he said. "Last two years we beat them in the regular season and last year they beat us in the playoffs. We had to come out and couldn't let them have a repeat of last year."

San Augustine will face Centerville at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night in Palestine. That is the regional final game for Class 2A Division I Region III.

Marty Murr said his team is looking forward to the matchup and obviously hopes to move on. Whether or not they do, he couldn't be prouder of his squad and his son.

"It;s a special year," he said. "These kids have won 13 in a row. My son is on the team. Our seniors are a special group. They show up every week and I'm very proud of them."

San Augustine 58, Carlisle 27

Class 2A Division I
Region III Semifinal

At Bulldog Stadium, Carthage

San Augustine                 6    21     12     19    --    58
Carlisle            0      7      13    7    --    27

First quarter
SA—KJ Davis 59 run (XP no good), 1:04.
Second quarter
SA—Davis 1 run (2-point conversion failed), 11:20.
CAR—Tristan Craig 3 run (Chris Mendez kick), 9:54.
SA—Davis 43 catch from Gavin Murr (2-point good, Murr to Ced Thomas), 8:04.
SA—Kris Wade 22 catch from Murr (Quay Johnson kick), 3:34.
Third Quarter
SA--Davis 58 run (PAT failed), 10:03.
CAR--Luis Adame 2 run (2-point failed), 5:51.
CAR--Jay Price 80 catch from Craig (Mendez kick)
SA--Davis 50 run (2-point failed), 2:14.
Fourth Quarter
SA--QuenTyvian Borders 98 catch from Murr (PAT no good), 9:44.
SA--David 2 run (PAT no good), 6:16.
CAR--Craig 2 run (Mendez kick), 2:30.
SA--Tijay Thomas 39 run (Alberto Bahena kick), 2:02.

                                            SA                      CAR
First Downs                              13                      16
Total Yards                              684                    386
Rushes-Yards                      33-426               37-90
Passing Yards                         258                    296
Comp.-Att.-Int.                 10-15-0              22-35-1
Punts-Avg.                          6-38.3                5-32.4
Fumbles-Lost                           3-31.3           5-39.8
Penalties-Yards                     12-124               4-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--San Augstine, KJ Davis 27-323, Tijay Thomas 5-84, DeMarquise Barnes 1-19. Carlisle, Tristan Craig 15-29, Gerald Turner 9-29, Luis Adame 6-20, Mason Pendleton 6-7, Jay Price 1-5.
PASSING--San Augustine, Gavin Murr 10-15-0--258. Carlisle, Craig 19-30-1--238, Turner 3-4-0--58, Price 0-1-0--0.
RECEIVING--San Augustine, Kris Wade 6-47, QuenTyvian Borders 2-132, Davis 1-43, Quay Johnson 1-36. Carlisle, Price 12-214, Turner 4-19, Max Jackson 3-32, Adame 2-35, Pendleton 1-(-4).