GORE – It didn’t take long for the Gore Pirates to open the scoring Friday night. With less than 2 minutes expired in the opening period, Devon Mannon broke through the Mounds Defense for a 56-yard touchdown run.
Late in the period the Golden Eagles turned the ball over to Gore on downs at the Pirate 9 yard line. Collins took the ball on the first play out to the Gore 35. As the clock expired, Mannon scampered for 53 yards and his second score of the night. He also added 2 points on the extra try for a 14-0 Pirate lead after one period.
In the second period, Cruz Ward got a big chunk of yardage on a 57-yard run to the Mounds 4 yard line, but the play was called back for a holding penalty and placed at the Golden Eagles 20.
The next play was Mannon again taking it to the house for a 39-yard touchdown, his third of the night, and a 22 point lead after the two point conversion with 9:02 remaining in the half.
Trenton Cunningham was next to hit the scoring stats with a 42-yard run for a score at the 5:52 mark of the half. 50 added the 2-point conversion for his second such tally of the night and a 30-0 Pirate lead at the half.
In the third period, after a personal foul penalty moved the ball back to the Gore 29 yard line, it was Mannon again for his fourth of the night on a 71-yard scoring run. After another missed kick the score was 36-0 Pirates with 5:10 left in the third and a running clock for the remainder of the game.
With time now irrelevant with the running clock, on Mounds second play, the Pirates stripped the ball form the Golden Eagles running back, and Eli Munson recovered for a scoop-and-score and a 43-0 Pirate lead.
Ward took it in one more time with 5:15 remaining on the running clock, to cap off a 7 touchdown night for Gore and end the scoring at 49-0 for a Pirate shutout win.
Gore extended its winning streak to four with the dominant 49-0 victory over the Mounds Golden Eagles. The Pirates had won their previous three games by an average of 28.3 points and have now posted five wins by at least 25 points this season. They have allowed only 46 points during the four-game streak.
Gore has won four of its last five home games, averaging 41.2 points across that stretch to help reach a 6-4 record this season. Mounds, meanwhile, has lost 18 of its last 20 games dating back to last year and stands at 2-8 this season.
With the win the Pirates remained in the running for a playoff spot along with Central Sallisaw and Liberty, but unfortunately the midnight coin flip between the three schools did not go Gores way, and they were eliminated from obtaining a playoff spot.
We congratulate the Pirates for a season that was dominating at times, particularly late in the season, closing with a 4-game winning streak, and outscoring their opponents 180 to 46 over that period.