GENTRY — Gentry may have sputtered at times early in Thursday night’s football scrimmage against Decatur, but the Pioneers definitely finished strong.

Quarterback Jarod Cousins ran for two touchdowns to help Gentry notch a 14-7 win in the two-quarter varsity portion of the scrimmage in Pioneer Stadium.

Cousins engineered a 17-play scoring drive in the second quarter to snap a 7-7 tie. The junior had several big plays in the drive.

He kept the ball for 14 yards on third-and-10, drew Decatur offsides with a hard count on fourth-and-3, then found Colby Bryant for a 12-yard gain on fourth-and-7 from the Bulldogs 15.

Cousins, who started at receiver as a sophomore, picked his way into the end zone from 3 yards out on the next play, then added the extra point with four minutes, 4 seconds left in the second quarter.

The 6-foot, 177-pound junior threw for 73 yards and ran for 53 more and led the Pioneers into the end zone five times.

Decatur coach Shane Holland said the Class 2A Bulldogs did some good things, but struggled to wrap up the ball carrier at times. Cousins was a key culprit.

“In space, we didn’t tackle very well,” Holland said. “But their kid number 22 (Cousins), I was around him all spring in track. He’s a great kid and a very good athlete. I’d like to have him.

“We ran out of gas at the end there. The conditioning kinda caught us there at the end. We’ve come a long way from a year ago, but we’re not there yet.”

Decatur scored its only touchdown in the opening quarter as senior Evan Owens led a five-play, 80-yard drive. Owens hooked up with Mario Urquidi on a 25-yard gain, then later finished the drive with a 26-yard keeper for the score.

The Class 4A Pioneers definitely shined in the red zone portion of the event and gave Gentry coach Brian Little reason to smile.

“Confidence goes a long way with these kids,” Little said. “We’re a young team and being a little bit younger, confidence is really important. We can build on that certainly.”

The Gentry defense stiffened on third-and-goal from the 5 as Austin Cochran recovered a fumble to keep Decatur out of the end zone.

Offensively, the Pioneers scored three touchdowns in their 10 plays from the 20 to finish the event with a flourish.

Cousins closed out a five-play drive with a quarterback sneak, then threw a pair of 20-yard touchdown passes to Bryant.