White Oak Heath Hood releases a pass.
White Oak quarterback Heath Hood played a hand in all eight of the Roughnecks' touchdowns. He threw for 412 yards and four scores.
loading...

BIG SANDY -- Heath Hood is making the most of his time as White Oak's quarterback.

The junior generated 514 yards and scored every way imaginable on offense Friday in the Roughnecks' 55-34 win Friday at a packed Eagle Stadium against Harmony. He threw four touchdown passes, ran in three scores and even caught the score that allowed the Roughnecks to begin pulling away in a meeting featuring the Associated Press' No. 7 and No. 8 Class 3A teams state wide.

"I would hate to defend him," White Oak coach Kris Iske said. "He does real well. A lot of it has to do with his offensive line and receivers. He has great receivers that not only catch the ball well but run great routes and run great routes also. It's a total team effort."

White Oak Elijah Trest, looks to pick up extra yards after catch.
White Oak's Elijah Trest finishes a 15-yard catch-and-run from Heath Hood. Trest, an Arkansas baseball commitment as a junior, also logged two sacks in the contest.
loading...

Harmony (4-1), which was ranked eighth, had no answer for Hood as he worked out to 402 yards through the air, a team-best 92 on the ground and 16 as a receiver on one catch.

Most fans predicted a high scoring game. The Roughnecks (5-0) from Class 3A Division I had scored 43 or more points in each of their previous three contests and the Eagles from Class 3A Division II had been held to no less than 60 points in the same span.

Both teams were reluctant to give the ball away on punts, especially in no man's land past the 50-yard line.

White Oak converted three fourth downs in Harmony territory for touchdowns in its 21-point victory.

The Eagles preferred to go for two-point conversions after their scores. That gave them edges of 8-7 and 16-14 as the lead changed hands three times in the game's first eight minutes.

Down 8-7, Hood helped the Roughnecks stay in the contest by converting fourth-and-6 from Harmony's 29-yard line with a touchdown throw to Antonio Castiglione before Harmony went 58 yards in seven plays for a second lead.

White Oak gained a permanent lead -- 21-16 after Conner Weeks' extra point kick -- when Kason Kienzle connected with Hood on a reverse pass from 16 yards out on fourth-and-15 with 44 seconds left in the first quarter.

"It was real huge to convert on fourth down," Iske said. "We left some out there that we didn't convert also. That's something we'll have to clean up and shoot for 100 percent. But it was the kids never giving up and believing in themselves. Coming back from down two touchdowns last week against Daingerfield, there's no quit in our kids. That's what I'm proud of."

Both sides' defenses rose to the occasion in the second quarter.

Harmony Micheal Edmonson makes a quick cut, for a big game.
White Oak held Harmony running back Mike Edmonson (7) to 68 yards on 10 carries.
loading...

Harmony forced two punts and then held White Oak out of the end zone as the half expired after giving up a first down at their own 18-yard line two plays beforehand. The Roughnecks, meanwhile, held the opposition to a net of three yards with the aid of one delay of game penalty.

Hood and Harmony running back Barrett Hill, whose first two touches went for scores of 47 and 31 yards toward seven second-half carries for 169 yards, traded touchdowns through 3:32 of game time midway through the third quarter toward a 35-28 White Oak lead.

From there, Hood guided his team to 20 straight points and a commanding 55-28 advantage with 5:01 to play.

Hill scored from 61 yards out in the final minute to make the score more respectable.

"The O-line is dominating every single game," Hood said. "They're opening up a lot of holes. I give all the credit to them. I read my guys and saw what there was."

Kienzle led White Oak in receiving with 10 catches for 133 yards and a score in addition to his touchdown throw to Hood. Max Kutch, Elijah Trest and Jacob Young each caught for more than 50 yards. Six other receivers caught passes from Hood for no less than 10 yards.

Both the Roughnecks and Harmony will enjoy an open date next Friday ahead of jumping into District 8-3A Division I and District 8-3A Division II competition, respectively, Oct. 7.

"We tried to schedule the best teams we could in non-district," Iske said. "We had some dogfights. I think we came out injury free. We may have one or two banged up tonight, but hopefully we'll be completely healthy when district starts."

White Oak 55, Harmony 34

Non-District
Eagle Stadium, Harmony

White Oak         21     0    21    13    --    55
Harmony           16     0    12      6    --    34

First Quarter
WO--Heath Hood 1 run (Conner Weeks kick), 10:18
HAR--Spencer Seahorn 1 run (Nick Hoelscher run), 8:04
WO--Antonio Castiglione 29 pass from Hood (Weeks kick), 6:03
HAR--Seahorn 2 run (Hoelscher run), 3:37
WO--Hood 16 pass from Kason Kienzle (Weeks kick), :44
Third Quarter
WO--Hood 8 run (Weeks kick), 6:40
HAR--Barrett Hill 47 run (kick blocked), 6:22
WO--Kienzle 24 pass from Hood (Weeks kick), 3:55
HAR--Hill 31 run (run failed), 3:08
WO--Jacob Young 22 pass from Hood (Weeks kick), 1:16
Fourth Quarter
WO--Max Kutch 15 pass from Hood (Weeks kick), 11:25
WO--Hood 2 run (kick failed), 5:01
HAR--Hill 61 run (kick failed), :06

                                           WO                   HAR
First Downs                         31                     13
Total Yards                        614                    353
Rushes-Yards                 40-192                41-316
Passing Yards                    422                   37
Comp.-Att.-Int.                35-51-0            3-8-0
Punts-Avg.                        2-38.0             5-38.6
Fumbles-Lost                     1-0                  2-1
Penalties-Yards                 5-55                4-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--White Oak, Heath Hood 22-92, Dallas Reeves 6-47, Connor Hearron 10-35, Jaylon Jeffrey 2-18. Harmony, Barrett Hill 7-109, Mike Edmonson 10-68, Justin Wingfiled 6-50, Nick Hoelscher 5-17, Spencer Seahorn 12-15, D.J. Click 1(-3).
PASSING--White Oak, Heath Hood 33-50-0--406, Karson Kienzle 1-2-0--16. Harmony, Seahorn 3-8-0--37.
RECEIVING--White Oak, Kienzle 10-133, Max Kutch 6-65, Elijah Trest 5-60, Jacob Young 5-51, Antonio Castiglione 2-37, Jaylon Jeffrey 2-19, Brandon Cook 2-17, Hood 1-16, Connor Weeks 1-10, Hearron 1-10, Caleb Hampton 1-4. Harmony, Caleb Hart 2-31, Konrad Eichelman 1-6.

More From East Texas Sports Network