Airline crosses the Red River and comes away with 20-point win

By Channing Ewing

Photo of Airline's Tre Jackson courtesy of his Twitter page 

SHREVEPORT - Last week, Byrd raised eyebrows around the state with a resounding win against previously undefeated Parkway.

But this week, the Yellow Jackets were on the opposite end of a shocking result, which was administered by another Bossier City-based school.

It was Airline which did the honors, as the Vikings crossed the Red River and defeated Byrd, 48-28, at Lee Hedges Stadium on the Yellow Jackets' Senior Night.

Airline got the game started with a 2-yard run from its quarterback, Ben Taylor, to make it 7-0 with 7:40 to go in the opening quarter. Byrd would answer right back just more than three minutes later with a 1-yard run from its quarterback, Lake Lambert, to tie up the game at 7-all.

But the Vikings regained the lead on a 10-yard pass from Taylor to Daxton Chavez to make it 14-7 with 1:41 to go in the opening quarter.

Byrd, however, responded once more, tying things up at 14-all courtesy of a 14-yard run from Devon Strickland with 9:51 to go in the opening half.

Then just 1:15 later, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game when Brooks Brossette picked off a pass and ran it back 35 yards to make it 21-14.

But Airline overcame the turnover, and less than two minutes later, tied the score for the third time on the night. The Vikings made it 21-all on a big play, a 55-yard pass from Tre Jackson to Daxton Chavez with 6:56 to go in the second quarter.

Airline then regained the lead with 19 seconds to go in the half, as a 5-yard run from Cameron Jefferson made it 28-21, Vikings.

In the second half, the Vikings extended that lead.

Taylor connected on an 18-yard pass to Jackson to make it 35-21 with 7:01 left in the third quarter. A few minutes later, Jackson sprinted in from 9 yards out as the Vikings built the lead to 20, 41-21.

Byrd made one more surge, as Lambert ran it in from 9 yards out, cutting the Vikings' lead to 41-28 with less than three minutes to go in the third.

However, Airline wrapped up the game with a 23-yard run from Jefferson as time expired in the third quarter, followed by the PAT. It ended up being the final scoring for the game.

"We made the stops we needed to," said Airline coach Justin Scogin. "The team did a great job on both sides of the ball."

Taylor ended up with a big night passing, as he completed 21-of-28 attempts for 305 yards and two TDs.

"I am proud of the o-line and the defense stepped up big," Taylor said. "Everybody stepped up and played hard the whole game."

Chavez finished with 126 yards and a pair of TDs. Jefferson finished with 58 yards on the ground and two TDs.

Byrd will play Southwood next week while Airline will host crosstown rival Parkway.