Ellis County Sports Your source for Ellis County Sports News
By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports
The seventh-ranked Red Oak Hawks continued their rampage through District 6-5A Division II with yet another near-perfect performance Thursday.
The Hawk defense limited Dallas Spruce to 136 total yards and eight first downs during the 63-6 win, while the Red Oak offense picked up 11 first downs and 372 yards on just 20 plays.
Junior quarterback Joshua Ervin led the Hawk offense with 177 passing yards and two touchdowns on 7-of-9 passing. Coby Cavil (3-96) and LaKelsey Johnson (2-57) each caught an Ervin touchdown pass.
Keyshawn Merritt (2-93) paced the Red Oak ground game with touchdown runs 26 and 67 yards in the second and third quarters, respectively.
Senior running back CJ Palmer kicked the scoring off with a 6-yard touchdown run with 10:08 to play in the first quarter and finished with three carries for 32 yards. Zach Sanders added four rushes for 70 yards and one touchdown, as well.
Elijah Shaw picked off two Demathis Davis (9-23, 146yds) and returned them both for touchdowns. His first pick-six was a 19-yard return with 9:50 to play in the first quarter. Shaw then returned an interception 55 yards to put the Hawks up 49-0 with 3:40 remaining in the first half.
Ameer Muhammad returned a Spruce fumble 60 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
Red Oak improved to 8-1 on the season and 6-0 in district play with the victory, which means the Hawks will — at worst — share the district title.
The Hawks face second-place (7-2, 5-1) Seagoville in the regular-season finale at 7 p.m. Thursday at Billy Goodloe Stadium in Red Oak.
Red Oak has not won an outright district title since 1982, though the program did share a title in 2012.
STANDINGS
*Courtesy MaxPreps
| School Name | *W-L | *Pct. | *PF | *PA | W-L | Pct. | PF | PA | Strk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Oak | 6-0 | 1.000 | 370 | 40 | 8-1 | 0.889 | 542 | 159 | 8 W |
| South Oak Cliff | 5-1 | 0.833 | 242 | 58 | 7-2 | 0.778 | 328 | 138 | 5 W |
| Seagoville | 5-1 | 0.833 | 205 | 103 | 7-2 | 0.778 | 287 | 179 | 1 W |
| Kimball | 3-3 | 0.500 | 225 | 132 | 6-3 | 0.667 | 333 | 173 | 1 L |
| Spruce | 2-4 | 0.333 | 137 | 217 | 3-6 | 0.333 | 191 | 309 | 1 L |
| Adamson | 2-4 | 0.333 | 124 | 221 | 4-5 | 0.444 | 221 | 266 | 1 W |
| Conrad | 1-5 | 0.167 | 48 | 303 | 1-8 | 0.111 | 73 | 454 | 2 L |
| Jefferson | 0-6 | 0.000 | 32 | 309 | 0-9 | 0.000 | 65 | 467 | 9 L |
