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Shead closing in on record

Cayuga's Shead closes in on third in career rushing yards
Cayuga's Traylon Shead has a chance to move into a spot with the rushing elite of Texas high school past Friday night.
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Shead has a chance to move into the top three of all-time career rushers in Texas high school football history when the Wildcats travel to Cross Roads Friday night.
After two straight games without 100 yards rushing, Shead picked up 194 yards against Overton last week to put himself sixth on the all-time rushing list with 8,383 career rushing yards. With 59 yards Friday night, the Cayuga senior will move into third place, passing Robert Strait (8,411 yards), Cedric Benson (8,423 yards) and Rodney Thomas (8,441 yards).
Shead also is only three touchdowns shy of moving into the top five for career touchdowns. After five touchdowns against Overton, Shead has 112 career scores.
As for the game Friday night, the Wildcats (2-0, 4-1) look to continue to stay undefeated in District 20-A play and win their fifth straight game.
"I just want to see us continue to play hard and improve," Cayuga head coach Tommy Allison said. "We need to continue to execute on offense and defense."
Cayuga got the running game going in a big way last week, rushing for 481 yards in a 61-21 win over Overton.
With Overton trying to take away Shead, quarterback Malcome Kennedy had another stellar game, rushing for 275 yards on 11 carries and scored three touchdowns. On the season, Kennedy has rushed for 748 yards and seven touchdowns and is averaging 15.9 yards a carry.
As a backfield duo, Shead and Kennedy have combined for 1,530 yards and an average of 10.7 yards a carry.
"Having both those guys in the backfield gives us such a threat," Allison said. "If a defense chooses to try and load up against one of them, the other will make the defense pay."
While the Cayuga offense has been averaging 447 yards a game, the Wildcats have hurt themselves with penalties. Cayuga has had six touchdowns called back due to flags being thrown in the last two games.
"We have had a lot of big plays called back by penalties," Allison said. "We have to improve in that area."
Cayuga faces a Cross Roads team that had a chance to win last week but the Bobcats (0-2, 1-4) let one slip away. Cross Roads led Cushing by 20 points at halftime, but lost 34-32.
The Cross Road offense is led by Craig Ramsey, who rushed for 116 yards in the Bobcats' lone win of the season - 34-16 over Fruitvale.
"Their offense has had success throwing the deep ball and their quarterback is a tremendous athlete," Allison said. "Those are two areas that we are going to have to stop."
Scott Tyler, Sports Editor, Palestine Herald
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