LITTLE CYPRESS – A new season started for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears Friday night – the District 10-4A Division I season – and they certainly made the Silsbee Tigers pay for it.
The Bears piled up 375 yards in the first half to snare a commanding 44-18 lead, including 36 points in the second quarter alone, as they went on to topple Silsbee 58-38.

The Bears (2-2, 1-0) finished with a whopping 580 yards of total offense, including 460 on the ground.

Senior tailback Chris Winters rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries. Quarterback Ethan McCollum rushed for for 121 yards and passed for 120 more and two TDs while fullback J’Lon Douglas had 104 yards and three TDs.

The Tigers (1-4, 0-1), finished with 358 yards.

Quarterback Jacob Collins passed for 166 yards and two TDs and rushed for 56. Tailback Dralyn Taylor had 83 yards on 10 totes and receiver Kalon Barnes had six catches for 85 yards.
Winters had a huge first half, rushing for 165 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries plus had a big interception that set up another score.
Quarterback McCollum completed 3-of-5 passes for 89 yards in the half and a score. Douglas had 62 first-half yards and two scores on five carries while receiver Dameon Morris had two catches for 70 yards and a score.
The Bears got it going early on the very first series of the game by zipping 60 yards in nine plays to hit paydirt.
Winters ripped off a 41-yard run up the middle on a first-and-21 play from the Bear 29 that set the Bears up at the Tiger 30.
After a bad snap, the Bears faced a third-and-19 from the 39. McCollom dropped back to throw, had his passed tipped inside the Tiger 5 but receiver Dameon Morris was able to snag it for a 35-yard gain to the 4.
Four plays later, J’Lon Douglas went off left tack for a one-yard touchdown. Winters ran in the two-point conversion as the Bears led 8-0 with 7:47 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers countered with a long drive of their own, navigating 71 yards in 13 plays on the next series.
Tailback Adonis Thomas ran four times for 30 yards. Collins had a nice drive, rushing for 20 yards on five carries and completed three passes for 21 yards, including a four-yard touchdown to receiver Tre’darius Lowe in the right corner of the end zone. Collins also found Lowe for a two-point conversion pass to make it 8-8 with 1:41 in the first quarter.
After both teams excanged turnovers via the fumbles, the Bears were able to cash in on the Tiger miscue.
Behind the legs of Winters, the Bears were able to gobble up 53 yards in just four plays. Winters ripped off a 17-yard gain and two plays later he finished it by cruising around left tackle and into the end zone from 31 yards out. Kooper Abernathy booted the extra-point, giving the Bears a 15-8 edge with 7:32 in the half.
After pinning Silsbee deep and holding them to a three-and-out, the Bears took over at the Tiger 35 and scored four plays later. McCollum connected with Brandon Dunbar on a 19-yard pass for a big first down.
McCollum had a 14-yard keeper and Winters capped it with a four-yard touchdown blast, pushing the Bears up 22-8 with 4:14 in the half.
Setting up at the Bear 35 after a personal foul on LC-M on the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers drove to the Bear 6 but LC-M’s defense rose up and the Tigers settled for a 23-yard field goal by Eric Martin to trim it to 22-11 with 2:05 in the half.
However, the Bears were not through as Winters was able to find the end zone again to complete a five-play, 69-yard jaunt.
McCollum got loose for a 26-yard keeper to the Silsbee 27. Two plays later Winters bruised his way through a hole up the middle and scooted 32yards for the score, making it 29-11 with 1:04 in the half.
The Tigers answered quickly before the half as Collins found Barnes, the Class 4A 100 and 200-meter state champion last May, for a 60-yard touchdown to pull Silsbee to within 29-18 with 0:44 in the half.
LC-M kept pouring it on when Douglas broke several tackles and went 55 yards down the left sideline to push the Bears to a 37-18 as McCollum ran in a two-point conversion with 0:33 on the clock.
Winter continued his great half when he picked off a Collins pass at the Bear 38 and returned it to the Tiger 35 with 0:15 left. McCollum then had a great scramble and then found Morris over the middle and the speedster took it to the house for a 44-18 Bear lead with 0:04 in the half.
The Tigers had 193 yards in the half. Collins completed 8-of-11 passes for 112 yards and ran for 39 more on 10 carries while Barnes had four catches for 83 yards.
The Bears marched 55 yards in six plays to hit paydirt again on their first drive of the second half. The big play was a 23-yard pass from McCollum to Adam Pope. McCollum capped the drive when he found receiver Katon Brown over the middle for a eight-yard score to make it 51-18 with 8:55 in the third.
The Tigers got on the board again with 7:27 in the third when back Dralyn Taylor zipped 32 yards up the middle.
Silsbee drew a little closer when Tiger Aaron Sells picked off a McCollum pass and returned it 60 yards for a score to trim it to 51-31 with 4:15 in the third.

Douglas scored his third TD on a eight-yard bolt with 2:05 remaining.

Collins put the Tigers on the board with a minute left with a 19-yard scamper.
The Bears will travel to Bridge City next week to face the Cardinals while the Tigers venture to Navasota to take on the Rattlers.

LC-M 58,

Silsbee 38

LC-M            8       36      7       7— 58
Sils            8       10      13      7 —38

Scoring summary
LC-M: J’Lon Douglas 1 run. Chris Winters run.
Silsbee: Tre’darius Lowe 4 pass from Jacob Collins. Lowe pass from Collins.
LC-M: Winters 31 run. Kooper Abernathy kick.
LC-M: Winters 4 run. Abernathy kick.
Silsbee: Eric Martin 23 field goal.
LC-M: Winters 32 run. Abernathy kick.
SIlsbee: Kalon Barnes 60 pass from Collins. Martin kick.
LC-M: Douglas 55 run. McCollum run.
LC-M: Dameon Morris 35 pass from McCollum. Abernathy kick.
LC-M: Katon Brown 8 pass from McCollum. Abernathy kick.
Silsbee: Dralyn Taylor 32 run. Pass failed.
Silsbee: Aaron Sells 60 interception return. Martin kick.

LC-M: Douglas 8 run. Abernathy kick.

Silsbee: Collins 19 run. Martin kick.

———
LC-M            Sils
First downs             28              17
Rushes-yards    53-460 31-192
Passing         120             166
Total yards             580             358
Comp-Att-Int    5-12-14-24-1

Fumbles-Lost    2-2             3-2
Penalties-yards         10-90 6-29
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing:  LC-M, Chris Winters 27-226, J’Lon Douglas  12-104, Ethan
McCollom 13-121, Katon Brown 1-9; Silsbee, Adonis Thomas 4-30, Jacob
Collins 13-56, Dralyn Taylor 10-83, Tre’darius Lowe 3-23, Kalon Barnes
1-0.
Passing, LC-M, Ethan McCollum 5-11-1 120, Chris Winters 0-1-0 0;
Silsbee, Jacob Collins 14-23-1 166, Kalon Barnes 0-1-0 0.
Receiving: LC-M, Dameon Morris 2-70, Adam Pope 1-23, Brandon Dunbar
1-19, Katon Brown 1-8; Silsbee, Kalon Barnes 6-85, Tre’darius Lowe
5-42, James Wilson 1-5, Sterling Herrington 1-19, Dralyn Taylor 1-15.