Late push helps Bucs outlast Crescent

Crescent’s chances for a road upset slipped away in the final minutes of its first district game.

Trailing by six points, the Tigers were driving on Tonkawa before fumbling at the Bucs’ 1 yard line with about eight minutes to play on Friday night.

Tonkawa took command from that point and ultimately pulled out a 25-6 victory in the District A-3 game.

“We could have gone up on them,” noted Crescent coach J.L. Fisher. “Then a couple of bad things happened and the air kind of went out of us.”

After the fumble, Tonkawa’s Roman Chandler broke off a 32-yard touchdown run. He added another from 51 yards out before the game ended.

Chandler had three touchdowns and 188 yards rushing overall, but it was Crescent that controlled a large part of the game.

The Tigers scored first on Tayon Johnson’s 1-yard run late in the first quarter.

Johnson led a bruising Crescent rushing attack with 78 yards on 20 carries.

The Tigers ran it 59 times for 252 yards and had 10-plus more minutes of possession than the Bucs. C.J. Wilson added 59

C.J. Wilson added 59 yards, Tanner Rice 57, Kade Varner 32 and Tylan Neugent 22 for the Tigers.

However, they never did again find the end zone.

The Tigers had three turnovers total.

Tonkawa tied the game early in the second quarter with Chandler’s 18-yard TD run.

The Bucs took the lead with 6:57 to play in the third when Jake Randall caught an 11-yard pass from Ryan Morgan.

Tonkawa had 90 yards passing and 280 total yards. The Tigers had two takeaways, including an interception by Isaiah Lovett, who also had seven tackles.

Luke Descher led the team with eight while Johnson added six.

The loss dropped Crescent to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the district.

Tonkawa is 4-1 and 1-0. The Tigers host Minco Friday in a non-district game that will serve as their homecoming.