TEXARKANA After a wholesale assault on school passing records this season, No. 2 Pleasant Grove returned to form Friday night, pounding the ball for 398 yards as the Hawks pulled away from Canton, 48-7, in a Class 4A DII area matchup. Nick Bells led the way, racing for 166 yards and three scores, leaving the senior 14 yards shy of a 1, 000-yard season. He will have an opportunity to break that record when Pleasant Grove (11-1) takes on No. 1 Carthage (12-0) next Friday afternoon at McKinney ISD stadium. Earlier in the week, Pleasant Grove coach Josh Gibson said his team needed to get tougher and focus on running the ball to prepare for opponents like the defending champion Bulldogs, who ended PG’s last two seasons. “We told the kids we were going to run the ball, and we did that pretty well,” he said. “Canton was stuffing the box, and they didn’t give up many big plays between the tackles, but we decided to force the issue.” Bells put the Hawks ahead on the first play from scrimmage, hitting a hole in the middle of the line and then bouncing out into the open field to make it 7-0 with 14 ticks off the clock. Moments later, Seth Gundlach picked off his 8th pass of the season to give the Hawks the ball at the Eagles’ 39. Two plays later, Javion Butler took the snap in the Wildcat formation and bolted up the middle for a 28-yard score to make it 14-0 less than two minutes into the contest. Canton’s star sophomore quarterback, Cort Ray, and the Eagles answered with a nine-play, 70-yard drive highlighted by a 20-yard strike to Eli Boggs from a scrambling Ray. Pleasant Grove responded with a 72-yard scoring drive. A 23-yard throw from Colt Yancey to Spencer Browning helped set up a 1-yard plunge by Marcus Floyd to make it 21-7 late in the first quarter. Floyd would finish with 55 yards on the night. In the second quarter, Canton showed why it won its first 10 games. The Eagles grounded the high-flying Hawk offense. Canton twice stopped PG on downs and forced a three-and-out at the Pleasant Grove 1. Still, the Eagles (10-2) were unable to capitalize on favorable field position, as the PG defense forced two punts and intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep Canton off the board the rest of the game. Pleasant Grove asserted itself in the second half. After forcing a three-and-out to open the third quarter, PG launched a 7-play, 61-yard drive capped by Bells scoring from 19 yards out. A couple of minutes later, he pin-balled and spun his way through the defense and picked up a timely block by receiver Landon Fincher for a 56-yard, highlight-reel TD run. Gundlach tied a school record with his ninth interception, a pick-six at the end of the third quarter to close out the scoring.
https://tylerpaper.com/2025/11/22/canton-falls-to-pleasant-grove/
Canton falls to Pleasant Grove
