By Heath Walley
Galloping up and down the field like a Preakness thoroughbred, Anthony Thomas was at it again Friday night in Stringer. His stable of offensive counterparts didn’t look too shabby either.
Thomas chewed up 165 yards on the ground, with three rushing touchdowns, and hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Stringer quarterback Cayleb Dyess before the first half even ended. He finished with a 202-yard rushing night, and the Red Devils easily handled Loyd Star 56-34.
“I thought Anthony did pretty well tonight. Loyd Star, at times, didn’t seem to be that physical on the edges, and I thought we could take advantage of that. We got Anthony to the second level, and he just made a difference there,” said Stringer head coach John Brown.
On Stringer’s first play from scrimmage, Thomas unloaded on a 74-yard touchdown run to give the Red Devils a 6-0 lead. The following Stringer series, Dyess hooked up with Reece Barber on a long pass, then hit Barber again for a 23-yard touchdown strike to extend the Red Devils lead to 14-0. Later in the second, Thomas scored his second touchdown of the night on a 26-yard jolt to give Stringer a 21-7 cushion. Thomas earned his third touchdown of the game with 6:12 left in the second quarter on the 44-yard strike from Dyess to give the Red Devils a 28-14 lead. He then rolled into the endzone for his fourth touchdown of the game on a 31-yard scamper to cushion Stringer’s lead 35-14 at the half.
Early in the third quarter, Dyess found Keyshaun Dease on a 34-yard pass to set the Devils up at the Loyd Star 5-yard line. Two plays later, Dyess found his way into the endzone to give Stringer a 42-14 lead.
Stringer added to its lead later in the third when Dyess intercepted a pass on the ensuing Loyd Star drive. Seven plays later, Cooper Rogers bowled his way into the endzone to give the Red Devils a 49-21 advantage with 4:27 remaining in the third. Stringer’s last trip across the goal line came on a Haden Boyd 3-yard run with 11:56 left in the game. Boyd also booted six successful extra points.
Loyd Star tacked on two late touchdowns, but the Hornets never were a threat to the Red Devils in the game.
Defensively, the Red Devils were extremely dominate for most the game with tackle Taylor McCormick in the trenches causing havoc, and Devin May, R.J. Holifield, Conner Smith, Mikquan Payton, and Caulin Brown cleaning everything else up. Thomas aided in the secondary, and Barber also picked off a pass. But, the defense did give up some big plays, in which Brown was not pleased.
“I think some of our kids probably just didn’t give Loyd Star enough credit.” Brown said. “I thought last week against Mize, our defense played lights out just about every snap. This week, they were very inconsistent. We would stone them for two downs, and then give up a big play. I’ve told them you cannot be a great team being that inconsistent. We’ve got to clean that up. I’m pleased with the win. I just don’t think we got better from last week, and that’s what we need to be doing – getting better each week. We need to improve, improve, improve.”
Stringer (4-1) will face West Lincoln on the road next Friday night. The Bears (2-3) took a 70-34 loss to Pisgah Friday.
