The Gunter Tigers and their powerful running attack ruined Brandon Hopkins’ debut Friday as the Boyd Yellowjacket head football coach.
The Tigers chewed up 235 yards on the ground to beat the Yellowjackets 34-27 at Tiger Stadium.
Hopkins, a longtime Boyd assistant and offensive coordinator, took over for the retired J.G. Cartwright, who coached the Yellowjackets since 1977 and led them to a pair of state titles.
The Yellowjackets looked to get Hopkins in a position to get the win early in the second quarter taking a 14-7 lead on a 60-yard pass from Blake McDonald to Cole Meador.
In his first start, McDonald threw for 114 yards, going 10-for-18 with one interception.
Gunter responded quickly with a 5-yard run from Cade Cruce to cut the Yellowjackets lead to 14-13 at halftime. Cruce led the Tigers with 120 yards on 21 carries.
Gunter’s Dakota Hunter scored on a pair of 5-yard runs less than two minutes a part to put the Tigers up 28-14 with 3:41 remaining in the third quarter.
Boyd clawed back with two scoring runs from McDonald. His 3-yard run to pay dirt with 11:23 remaining made it 28-27. The Yellowjackets couldn’t convert the point-after touchdown to tie the game.
Gunter added a final tally with quarterback J. Bailey scoring on a 2-yard run. Bailey finished with two touchdown runs and threw for 144 yards, completing 8 of his 12 attempts with one interception.
Boyd was never able to respond.
The Yellowjackets tallied 365 yards of offense, including 251 rushing. Junior running back Fino Cardona ran for 171 yards on 14 carries, including a 45-yard touchdown.
GUNTER 34, BOYD 27
Boyd … 0 … 14 … 7 … 6 – 27
Gunter … 7 … 6 … 15 … 6 – 34
FIRST QUARTER
Gunter – 5:44; J. Bailey 1 run; Justin Shipp kick
SECOND QUARTER
Boyd – 11:51; Fino Cardona 45 run; kick failed
Boyd – 9:17; Cole Meador 60 pass from Blake McDonald; Michael Partin run
Gunter – 6:59; Cade Cruce 5 run; kick failed
THIRD QUARTER
Gunter – 5:22; Dakota Hunter 5 run; Rhett Taylor pass from Bailey
Gunter – 3:41; Hunter 5 run; Shipp kick
Boyd – 2:24; McDonald 1 run; Nathan Thomas kick
FOURTH QUARTER
Boyd – 11:23; McDonald 3 run; kick failed
Gunter – 7:33; Bailey 2 run; kick failed
BOYD … GUNTER
First downs … 8 … 11
Rushes-yards … 20-251 … 50-235
Passing yards … 114 … 144
Total yards … 365 … 379
Comp-Att-Int … 10-18-1 … 8-12-1
Punts-Average … 3-32 … 3-37
Fumbles-lost … 1-1 … 1-1
Penalties-yards … 4-20 … 6-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Boyd, Fino Cardona 14-171. Gunter, Cade Cruce 21-120.
Passing: Boyd, Blake McDonald 10-18-1-114. Gunter, J. Bailey 8-12-1-144.
Receiving: Boyd, Cole Meador 3-70. Gunter, Rhett Taylor 4-94.
