The Quitman Bulldogs raced out to a 13-0 first quarter lead and had leads of 19-14 and 25-21 in the third quarter, but could not hold on as Frankston came from behind to take a 36-25 district win at Bud Moody Stadium Friday night.

Quitman’s Trey Berry did his part with a career night rushing for over 300 yards in the contest.

“You couldn’t ask Trey (Berry) for anymore than he did out there. Elisio (Turcios) also did a great job and the offensive line deserves credit for opening up those holes during the game,” Head Coach Bryan Oakes said. “’Unfortunately, we still made some mistakes and had some turnovers that hurt us in the fourth quarter. This is one we let get away from us.”

Berry ran for 336 yards on 23 carries and Turcio added just under 100 yards on the ground and one score. The Bulldogs amassed 515 yards offense to just over 240 for Frankston, but three turnovers kept them from adding more to the scoreboard.

The Bulldog’s Dylan Coe took the opening kick-off back to the Quitman 34 yard line. After an offside penalty on Frankston, Berry raced 47 yards to the eight-yard line. From there, Turcios rambled through the Indian defense for the score. Hugo Ramirez added the extra point kick to give Quitman the 7-0 lead at the 10:12 mark of the first quarter.

Frankston was held and a nice punt by the Indians was downed deep in Quitman territory at the Bulldogs own four-yard line. Berry worked his magic again, this time going 67 yards to the Frankston 28 yard line. Turcios broke loose for 29 yards to the one yard line, but a penalty a pair of stops for loss set up a fourth and goal at the six. Berry broke through to score on fourth down, but the point after was blocked and Quitman led 13-0 with 4:49 remaining in the first quarter.

Frankston came back to make it 13-7 on a 19 yard pass play and success point after kick. The Indians took a 14-13 lead on a 13-yard quarterback run up the middle with 6:21 to go in the half.

A determined Bulldog team then drove to the Frankston 23-yard line where Berry tossed a perfect off-balance pass to a streaking Rylie Flanagan for a score and a 19-14 Bulldog lead with 3:20 to go in the half. Frankston came right back to go 57 yards in seven plays to go up 21-19 with 54 seconds to go in the half.

In the third quarter, Quitman used a nine-play 62 yard drive scoring on a Berry 26 yard run at the 5:57 mark of the third quarter to go ahead 25-21. As the third quarter was winding down, Quitman drove to the Frankston seven-yard line, but the Indians intercepted a Bulldog pass in the end zone. On the Indians first play after the interception they would score on a 75-yard run to make it 28-25 with 36 seconds left in the quarter.

Frankston tacked on an insurance score on a 49-yard pass play with 5:44 left in the game. A two-point conversion was successful leaving the score 36-25.

It was Frankston’s first win of the year leaving them with a 1-7 season record and 1-4 district record. The Bulldogs fall to 1-6 on the year and 0-5 in district action. Quitman faces a tough road game this week against county rival Alba-Golden.

The Panthers are coming off a tough loss to Troup, but have played tough most of the year. They lost by two points to Winona and one point to Grand Saline. Although the Panthers are 1-4 in district, they still have an outside shot at the playoffs. The Panthers have to beat Quitman and Frankston in their final two games while Arp has to lose one and Winona must lose two games for any chance of advancement.