Gordonsville's Watson, Cason devour Purple Tigers

By ANDY REED

Sports Editor

GORDONSVILLE — Solving crimes may have been "elementary, my dear Watson" for Sherlock Holmes.

But stopping Gordonsville's Payton Watson and Kaelin Cason is anything but elementary for opposing defenses.

The Tiger tandem helped devour Watertown's Purple Tigers 48-0 Friday night at Turney Ford Field.

Watson accounted for three long touchdowns [two running, one passing] while Cason added three scores himself as Gordonsville stayed safely in the Region 4-A lead at 6-0, 7-1 overall.

Add to that a Tiger defense which held the Purple Tigers to less than 100 net yards after some promising starts in the first half as Watertown slipped to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in region play.

"When you can do things they can do offensively as far as running the ball with Kaelin and Payton Watson, it's a tough offense to defend," Watertown coach Gavin Webster said. "We moved the ball a little bit early, and then we'd get a penalty to move us back. Anytime we got anything positive, we'd get something that set us back negative. It's hard to overcome that stuff."

It proved impossible for the Purple to overcome Watson and Cason, who capped Gordonsville's first series with a 6-yard touchdown run. He finished the night with 144 yards on 13 carries.

Watson was even better with 201 yards on eight rushes. But his first big play came on his first throw - an 82-yard deep fade to Jacob Looper for a 14-0 lead.

Gordonsville's only turnover came on a muffed punt when Austin Brown's boot hit a Tiger cover man who was lying on the ground. Cameron Jennings recovered for the Purple Tigers.

Ty Jobe, who hit his first pass to Dakota Self for 20 yards before running for 15 in an opening series which stalled with a dropped pass, a sack by Cody Payne and a pair of false-start penalties, established a rhythm with sophomore Brandon George with four straight completions to move the ball to the Gordonsville 30. A Jobe draw moved the ball to the 25 before a holding penalty and a pair of sacks forced a punt.

Brown's punt was downed at the 1-foot line.

But no length of field was too long for Gordonsville. After a 13-yard Cason sweep, Watson took a draw 86 yards down the home sideline for a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. A 41-yard draw on the next series made it 27-0.

Watson then went to the air again with a 50-yard fade to Kaleb Bush, depositing the ball on the Watertown 15, from where Cason followed his blockers around the left side and into the end zone for a 35-0 halftime lead.

Cason had 105 yards and Watson 181 by halftime. Watson was 2-of-3 passing for 132 yards, all in the first half.

With the clock running continuously in the second half, Watson bootlegged for 16 yards and Cason called it a night with a 34-yard scoring run for a 41-0 lead.

Despite their difficulties, the Purple Tigers didn't turn the ball over with the exception of a diving interception by Bradford Halliburton on Jobe's final throw of the night.

Both coaches then began playing their backups. Sophomore Billy Newton capped the scoring with an 11-yard run late in the third quarter.

Gordonsville compiled 516 total yards and didn't punt until the fourth quarter.

Watertown finished with 93 net yards, including 7 on the ground. Jobe hit 10 of 21 passes for 86 yards, hitting George five times for 42.

While Gordonsville travels to Clay County next week, Watertown will go to Trousdale County for what is shaping up to be a key region game for both teams.

"We're pretty banged up," Webster said. "Kids know how big a game it is. I'm sure we'll have everybody ready to go. We kept a few players out tonight and really didn't sustain any more injuries, none that are season-ending. We should be pretty healthy."

Sports Editor Andy Reed can be reached at 444-3952, ext. 17; or by email at andy.reed@lebanondemocrat.com