The Sulphur Tors threw the statistics out the window Friday night, refusing to be intimidated by an explosive Sam Houston offense en route to a 21-7 victory at their temporary home John J. Mims Stadium.

The Broncos had not trailed for a single minute all season leading up to the District 3-5A clash and had gained more than 400 yards in each of their previous four victories, but the Tors stymied Dustin Duhon and company, holding them to 218 yards and one score.

“All week we talked about how good (Sam Houston is),” Sulphur head coach Jeff Wainwright said. “They throw the ball well, they pass the ball well and do a tremendous job on defense. Credit to coach (Matt) Dufresne for getting our kids ready to stop a great team.

“I think tonight we came out the gate with aggression. Hats off to our entire defense.”

The Tors also forced four turnovers — two fumbles and two interceptions. The Broncos entered the game with one turnover.

The final turnover came with just over 2 minutes in the game on a Toby Duhon interception. Duhon returned the interception to the end zone, but it was called back due to a penalty.

Sophomore Darrien Guillory added an interception and a fumble recovery.

“Obviously those turnovers were big,” Sam Houston head coach Vaughn Eggleston said. “It’s kind of hard to do anything with the ball when you keep losing it. Every time we got momentum we would turn it over.”

The win marked three straight for the Tors (3-2, 2-0), who moved atop the district standings.

“This is the best win of the year for us,” Wainwright said. “One big challenge down. Now we have another big challenge next week with Carencro. We are definitely going to enjoy this win tonight, but we will start working on Carencro tomorrow morning.”

The Tors struggled early offensively, but found light with 5 seconds remaining in the first half when sophomore quarterback Byron Walker hit senior tight end Austin Nelson from 6 yards out to take a 7-0 lead at the half.

That proved to be all the momentum the Tors needed as they came to life in the second half.

“We were being a little impatient in the first half on offense,” Wainwright said. “It was a good job of our backfield and coaches of getting that corrected in the second half.”

Walker completed 14 of 18 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, the second coming in the third quarter to John Bourgeois from 25 yards out.

Senior running back Derrick Guillory, the state’s leading rusher heading into Week 5, picked up 39 yards in the first half but found room late to finish with 210 yards and a 52-yard touchdown.

For the Broncos (4-1, 1-1), the loss marked their 13th straight in the series with Sulphur, but didn’t knock them out of the district race.

“Our kids played hard all four quarters against a quality program,” Eggleston said. “Hats off to Sulphur, they have a good team.”

Duhon led the way for Sam Houston with 74 yards through the air and 78 on the ground while junior Trevantai Thompson added 38 yards and a 5-yard touchdown.(Rick Hickman/American Press)