Poteau rushing attack doesn't skip a beat in dominant District 4A-4 win

Kix Fenton scores three first-quarter rushing TDs as Pirates down Hilldale, 30-7

By Buck Ringgold

Photo of Poteau's Kix Fenton by Ramona Smith

POTEAU - Poteau’s trademark ground game was on full display Friday night in a District 4A-4 showdown. 

Even if the Pirates were without the services of their leading rusher.

However, running backs Jackson Sommers and Kix Fenton were more than capable of carrying the load. Sommers topped the century mark in yardage, and Fenton scored three touchdowns - all in the first quarter - as the Pirates rolled past Hilldale, 30-7, at Costner Stadium to stay atop the district.

Poteau (5-1, 3-0) played Friday’s game without junior and top rusher Dax Collins, who was out with a sprained shoulder. But the Pirates were hardly affected by his absence.

The Pirates finished the game with 321 yards rushing on 63 attempts.

“It happens in football sometimes,” Poteau coach Greg Werner said. “Your dude goes down and kids rally, and our kids really rallied together and kind of took it personal because you hear the talk that we don’t have Dax and we’re not going to win, but our kids rallied up and said, ‘We can do this,’ and man, they just played lights out, both sides of the football.”

Fenton, a senior tailback, had an opening quarter to remember. He crossed the goal line on all three Pirate possessions in that span.

Entering Friday’s game, Fenton had only one TD all season.

“With Dax being out, all the backs have to really step up, so they told me I was going to run the ball more this week, and I really prepared for that (Friday),” Fenton said. “I wasn’t really planning on (scoring three TDs), but hey, it just worked out like that.”

The first TD scored by Fenton was on a 10-yard pitch around the right side, capping an eight-play, 56-yard opening march. Ethan McBee’s PAT gave Poteau a 7-0 lead just 4:15 in.

Poteau’s defense forced the Hornets to punt on their opening series, and the Pirates got great field position at the Hornet 48. Five plays later, it was 14-0 as Fenton went in from 12 yards out.

After Hilldale (4-2, 2-1) had to punt it away once again, the Pirates got another five-play TD drive. Fenton got the hat trick from a yard out, taking the snap behind center in the Wildcat formation.

With 16.5 seconds still left to play in the first quarter, Poteau held a commanding 21-0 advantage.

“We put that (Wildcat package) in this week with me running it,” Fenton said. “That was my first time being under center, but it worked out good.

“And you’ve always got to give credit to the offensive line; they’re the ones doing the dirty work that don’t always get recognized.”

But the Hornets didn’t go away quietly. They responded on the ensuing series.

Facing a fourth-and-7 from the Poteau 33, the Hornets elected to go for it. The gamble paid off, as quarterback Mason Pickering found receiver Logan Harper, who got a step ahead of his defender to haul in the pass, coming down in the end zone with it.

The PAT from Cash Schiller made it 21-7, Poteau, with 10:17 left in the opening half.

Poteau then went on a drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock, going inside the Hilldale 5. Fenton was on the verge of scoring his fourth TD on the night, but on a fourth-and-goal run, he was stopped a yard shy of the end zone.

However, the Pirates were able to take advantage of having pinned Hilldale deep. One play after heavy pressure from linebacker Jagger Dodson forced a quick incomplete pass, Dodson was at the forefront of a group of Pirates who brought Pickering down in the end zone for a safety.

That gave Poteau a 23-7 lead with 1:57 left in the first half.

“It was a big play that we had. … I’m just glad our defense came through,” said Dodson, a sophomore.

The Pirates’ defense continued to frustrate the Hornets after halftime. Hilldale reached Poteau territory three times in the second half, but came away empty-handed.

On the Hornets’ final possession, a fourth-down pass was picked off by Poteau’s Wyatt Gamble with 4:35 remaining, and the Pirates were able to run out the rest of the clock.

“The defense came out strong on the first drive; we knew what we were ready for and we just came out and prepared like we were trained to do,” Dodson said.

Poteau got its only second-half TD with 7:19 left in the game, and it was from another Fenton - sophomore Kord Fenton, Kix’s younger brother.

Kord Fenton caught an 8-yard pass from freshman quarterback Sam Tecla, who completed only one other pass the whole night, which went for 3 yards.

Sommers had 143 yards on 23 carries, while Fenton added 66 yards on 12 rushes.

Hilldale was held to 205 total yards, 122 of those on the ground. Pickering rushed for 73 yards on eight carries while completing 8-of-16 passes for 83 yards. The Hornets’ leading rusher, senior tailback Eric Virgil, was held to 57 yards on 12 carries.

Poteau’s only loss came last month to a high-powered Metro Christian team, which is undefeated on the season.

“We’ve been progressing every week; we’ve been watching a bunch of film on every team we play and just progressing every week,” Dodson said.

With the Pirates’ win, it continues to put them closer to maintaining their recent monopoly as the standard-bearers in 4A-4. Poteau has won each of the last four district championships.

“That’s our motto right now, drive for five,” Kix Fenton said.