Ford Falls At Van Alstyne

The Ford Panthers fell to 0-2 on the season after a 42-27 loss at Van Alstyne last Friday night.

Coach Derek Alford’s squad will make its first home appearance of the season tonight (Friday) at 7:30 against Caddo Mills at Lytal Field.

Kyle Stone had a productive evening at quarterback, rushing for 127 yards with one touchdown and passing for 138 yards and another TD.

Stone completed 17 of 30 pass attempts and suffered one interception.

His rushing touchdown, a 3-yarder, and Manuel Castilleja’s extra point gave Ford its only lead of the game at 7-6 with 3:44 to play in the first quarter. Van Alstyne had posted the game’s first score when Tanner Neill caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Chris Burge about five minutes earlier.

Van Alstyne would prove to have the more potent passing game in the first half. Burge connected on TD throws to Solomon Biscarro (10 yards) and again to Neill (6 yards). Burge ran a two-point conversion play after Biscarro’s touchdown catch and Van Alstyne held a 20-7 advantage at halftime.

That was it as far as scoring until an action-packed fourth quarter, which started with a 6-yard touchdown run by Van Alstyne’s Orion Thomas and a two-point pass from Burge to Biscarro.

Down 28-7, the Ford Panthers tried to climb back into the game and did so quickly when Colten Baxter broke loose for a 43-yard TD run at the 11:15 mark. Castilleja’s extra point got Ford back to within 14 at 28-14.

However, Van Alstyne answered with a 2-yard touchdown run by Burge and his PAT kick.

Ford’s Zach Witherspoon caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Justin Bigham with 2:57 to play. Both teams would register touchdown plays in the game’s final minute, Ford’s coming on a 7-yard touchdown catch by Colten Scott from Stone.

Garrett Crosby had five catches for 54 yards to lead Ford in the receiving category.

Defensively, Ford was not without its bright spots, most notably defensive end Kevin Stone. He finished the night with eight tackles, two assists, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 quarterback sacks.

Castilleja added six tackles, one assist and one sack.