FOOTBALL: Hornets Rout Salado 42-32 in Final Tune-up

Gatesville closed the non-district portion of its schedule here Friday night, downing winless Salado 42-32 in the final tune-up for upcoming league play. Jeff Speer (19-of-23) threw for 262 yards as the Hornets led 35-6 at halftime and were holding a 30-point advantage after three quarters. GHS flooded the field with a used a lot of reserves during the final half of play. "I was proud of our whole team tonight," said GHS coach Kyle Cooper. "This was our best week of practice this season and I felt we saw the results of all that hard work tonight. All of our kids work very hard, so I thought it was important to get other players some playing time in the second half." Salado took a quick 6-0 lead on its first possession, but it would be the Eagles' only lead of the night. Gatesville scored twice before the opening period expired and found its way to the end zone three times in the next 12 minutes to forge ahead 35-6 at intermission. Both teams scored during the third stanza and GHS held a comfortable 42-12 lead entering the fourth quarter. Speer had scoring runs of one and two yards and passed to Brady Elliott for another 3-yard TD. Kael Byrom had scoring runs covering four and three yards, while Dakota Vernon added a 2-yard TD run. Andrew Wallace snared six passes for 77 yards.