HS Football: DeSoto 47, Garland 14

Adrian Bushell and Cyrus Gray shine in season opener.

DESOTO — The Dallas South Sports game of the week started out close, but things got out of hand quickly. The DeSoto Eagles made their case as one of the state’s better squads with a 47-14 victory over Garland High Owls on Friday Night.

The first quarter had little action, with DeSoto (1-0) scoring first on a 37 yard Eric Littlejohn field goal (man that kid can kick). Quarterback Cyrus Gray thrilled the crowd with 52 yard run early, but the first quarter ended with DeSoto up 3-0.

Garland (0-2) couldn’t find any running room all night, as the Eagle defense beat them to every spot on the field. But there was a new football talent introduced to the Dallas sports scene: Desoto’s Adrian Bushell.

Bushell, a transfer from Miami, Fla., scored three touchdowns in the 2nd Quarter. It started with a pretty pedestrian 5-yard TD run with 8:24 left in the 1st half, but the 2nd TD run was a little more special.

With just over 2 minutes left in quarter two, Bushell took the handoff on a dive up the middle and after he was seemingly stopped at the line, a streak of green and gold burst into the Garland secondary. He dashed to a 25 yard score to give the Eagles a 16-0 lead after a failed conversion attempt.

Then with :26 left before half, DeSoto called a timeout to secure a chance to return a Garland punt. Gray and Bushell set up deep in a double punt return formation. That has to be a special teams coach’s worst nightmare. Bushell took in the punt around the 50, and 12 seconds later the DeSoto had a 23-0 lead. The game was pretty much over from there.

Chad Winbush opened the 2nd half scoring with a 32-yard run. But Garland never quit, and their effort was reward on a tough drive that ended with a Lavar Hart TD just before the end of the 3rd Quarter.

Gray finished the game with 143 yards rushing, but he has a long way to go in the passing game. He was 1 of 4 for -2 yards on the night. Though he ended up with just 42 yards on 6 caries, Bushell had a breakthrough performance in is first Texas high school game. That included an interception, as he played much of the game on defense at cornerback.

Next week DeSoto has a home contest against John Tyler, who is 2-0 after a 21-14 win over Carter. Garland will go for their first in of the season next Saturday against Plano East.