By all rights, the Canton Eagles should have, and did, defeat the Mineola Yellowjackets Friday in Canton. Canton ran 78 snaps from scrimmage, Mineola 41. This disparity translated into a 24-21 Canton victory. 

The fact that the game was close is a credit to the tremendous efforts of the Yellowjacket defense and excellent individual performances in all aspects of the game. 

The game was a full dose of East Texas football. It had everything: drama, defensive stands, amazing offensive feats and two teams which would never back down.

Each team had three meaningful possessions in the first half. The Jackets punted after picking up an initial first down, while Canton marched 62 yards in 14 plays deep into Jacket territory. There, on a third and short, defensive end Julian Ramos and defensive back Calem Redding teamed up to make a stop on the edge. On a fourth-and 2, it was Mineola’s Coy Anderson who stonewalled the run and forced Canton to turn the ball over on downs.  

The Jackets promptly drove out to the Canton 40-yard line. Dawson Pendergrass took the ball around the right end and outraced the defense to the end zone. Christian Martinez slotted the PAT, giving Mineola a 7-0 lead.

Canton – which totaled 383 yards of total offense – was on the move again. On a first-and-10 from the Mineola 19-yard line, Canton connected on a nice combination route, which should have been a score.

However, Mineola’s Jaxon Holland saw the play develop, came off his man in coverage and placed a crushing tackle on the receiver at the 2-yard line. The collision actually sent the receiver out of bounds at the 4-yard line. 

Great pursuit by Nate Griffin and the Jackets defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone on successive downs, and Canton had to settle for a field goal.

Mineola struck back quickly. Pendergrass took the ball straight up the middle on a 70-yard scoring dash. He executed two spin moves, one at the line of scrimmage and one in the secondary to shed tacklers en route. At the half the score stood 14-3, Mineola.  

The second half started with the teams exchanging four punts. A spectacular play by Anderson, who sliced through to make an open field tackle on a very well-run Canton screen play, killed one Canton drive.

On the Eagles’ third possession of the half, Yellowjacket Tanner Crenshaw blasted through to sack the quarterback for a big loss. On the next play, Canton threw across the middle where Pendergrass was waiting.

He undercut the pass, and sprinted untouched into the end zone with the Jackets’ first defensive score of the year. Mineola had a 21-3 lead.

Canton rallied and scored on a nicely-executed seam route to close the score to 21-10 late in the third quarter. With the momentum turned to the home team, Mineola needed to possess the ball and churn out yardage and time. 

Three successive turnovers – an interception and two fumbles – gave the Eagles short fields to work with. They cashed in with two more scores to take the win. 

The play on which the interception occurred should have sealed the win for the Jackets, as wide-out Brady Shrum was behind the secondary and opening, but Pendergrass was hit just as he threw the ball, and it fell short. 

As expected, the Yellowjackets fought on to the final whistle. Pendergrass took a screen pass and rambled 65 yards as time expired.

A couple of more first downs at any time in the second half would have likely brought the win back home. In the second half, however, Mineola could generate only 100 yards of offense. 

There were plenty of positives to come out of the game. Spectacular play by Pendergrass, Anderson, Holland and Griffin was most notable. The contributions of freshman Redding as a backfield mate with Pendergrass yielded solid results. 

There were plenty of takeaways as well. Defensively, the Jackets handled the high-powered Canton offense well, but in the second half, the team was one step late in filling the cutback alleys.

Offensively, Mineola became too predictable in the second half, allowing the Canton defense to rally to the backfield too quickly.   

With an eye toward district play, this game will yield tremendous results for the Yellowjackets. They face another trying test Friday when they play Wills Point at Meredith Memorial Stadium.