Klein Forest beats heat, Dallas Carter 51-28

SAN BENITO — There's something about the Rio Grande Valley that Kenny Hammock's really starting to like.

The Klein Forest head coach hasn't made too many visits to deep South Texas.

But the few have been memorable.

Hammock played in the Palm Bowl in 1981 and 1982 as his Southwest Texas State Bobcats won the Division II National Championship.

In his latest visit, Hammock's Klein Forest Golden Eagles drubbed the Class 4A eighth-ranked Dallas Carter Cowboys 51-28 on Saturday at Bobby Morrow Stadium in the South Texas Football Classic.

"The Valley's been very good to Kenny Hammock," he said. "I told our guys to be ready to play five quarters of football. We knew they'd be bigger than us. So we had to get after them quick."

Klein Forest (1-0) jumped on Carter early and the Cowboys played catch-up from the start.

Eagles‘ QB Matt Davis scored on the first play from scrimmage on a 39-yard dash for the game‘s first score. Davis ran in the two-point conversion for an early 8-0 lead.

Davis was the hero finishing with 147 yards passing and three touchdowns while completing five-of-10 pass attempts. Davis also rushed for 117 yards and one TD on 12 hauls.

Damian Payne provided a little something for the highlight reel scoring on a 92-yard punt return with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

On the return, Payne fielded the punt at about the 20 and ran backwards a few yards before breaking several tackles and zig-zagging upfield for six

Payne added another score with 9:56 left in the second quarter giving Klein a surprising 21-0 lead at that point.
Klein‘s defense was superb forcing four fumbles in the game.

After killing Carter with his feet, Davis took to the air tossing a 59-yard scoring strike to Payne (two catches, 88 yards) with 7:28 left in the half. He then threw a 20-yarder to Isaiah Cobb with 3:40 left for the 35-7 halftime lead.

"I told the kids this would be a good chance to help build up our program," Hammock said. "Everyone already knows who Dallas Carter is and they have an established tradition. I told them we needed to step up to the challenge and I think we did."