CANTON- The Commerce Tigers were stunned by the Canton Eagles, falling 64-14 on their first road game of the season.
Humidity may have played a factor, but very little went Commerce’s way as they hit the road Friday to face the small-school 4A Canton Eagles. It looked to be a game of errors early, as there were three fumbles in the first five plays of the game, as Commerce fumbled twice and Canton once to get things started in the hot, humid conditions of early September in Texas. It was the Canton Eagles that course-corrected first, and best, though, as they turned a short field into six points after ecovering Commerce’s second fumble of the game. The extra point was blocked by Commerce’s Brandon Anderson to make it 6-0 just 2 ½ minutes into the game. Then the Eagles poured on the points, ending the first half with a 37-7 lead over the Tigers.
Canton’s senior receiver Ethan Lewis nabbed three touchdowns in the first half from junior quarterback Cort Ray, and junior running back Landon Hamilton added a 60 yard scoring run, safety Carson Hawkins intercepted Commerce’s Aiden Brown for an interception return touchdown, and the Eagles notched a short field goal to rack up the 37 first half points. Commerce managed a late first half score as Azabbien Askew picked up a Ky’Mani Graham fumble and ran it 59 yards for one of the Tigers’ two touchdowns in the game.
In the second half. Canton added another Hamilton touchdown on a 33 yard run along with scores by Casen French, Jake Robinson and Carter Jackson. For Commerce, Brown managed an impressive 38 yard touchdown run and the final score was 64-14 Canton.
The Tigers turned the ball over five times in the game.
Canton’s Cort Ray was 13 of 20 passing for 161 yards and four touchdowns while adding 76 rushing yards. Hamilton had 103 yards rushing on seven attempts with two scores. Ethan Lewis had five catches for 86 yards and three touchdowns.
For Commerce, Aiden Brown was just 5 of 21 passing for 59 yards and two interceptions and 44 yards and a score on 8 carries. Graham had just 26 yards on 12 carries.
An extremely uncharacteristic night for the Commerce Tigers who look to get back on track next week as they host the Edgewood Bulldogs for Homecoming.
