Daingerfield Holds Off Darrin Pennington + Furious Farmersville Rally, 41-35
PARIS -- Darrin Pennington and Farmersville did their best to rally from two 28-point deficits to Daingerfield, but the Tigers held on in the end to stay alive in the postseason.
Cordarius Anderson helped Daingerfield jump out to a big early lead that would prove big enough in the end in a 41-35 win over Farmersville on Friday in the area round of the Class 2A Division I playoffs.
Daingerfield (9-3) will return to Paris next Friday night to face Pottsboro (11-1) in the regional semifinals.
Pennington scored four of his five touchdowns in the second half to ignite an incredible rally by the Farmers, who trailed 28-0 late in the first quarter.
The Farmersville running back ran for 331 yards on 25 carries for the game. He scored on touchdown runs of 60, 4, 35 and 16 yards in the second half -- his final one coming with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Daingerfield forced the Farmers to turn the ball over on downs twice in the fourth quarter to hold on to the win.
Daingerfield did not score in the second half after leading 41-21 at the break. The Tigers jumped out to a 28-0 lead early, with all four touchdowns coming after Farmersville lost fumbles on its first four possessions.
Farmersville lost three of those fumbles at its own 15 or closer to its own end zone and another at its own 38.
The Tigers did not start a drive in its own territory until after Pennington scored on a 91-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left in the first quarter after a kickoff had Daingerfield start from its own 35.
Anderson scored three of his four rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, with the final one coming 11 seconds into the second quarter from 52 yards out to put Daingerfield up 35-7. He scored on runs of 11, 47 and 9 yards in the first quarter and finished the game with 246 yards on 29 carries.
The two teams combined to rush for 777 yards on 94 carries, and neither team completed a pass on eight total attempts.
Keynon Whetstone added a 59-yard touchdown run and Calvin Bryan scored from 5 yards out for Daingerfield in the win.