December 2, 2006, 8:23am
Last of District Hopefuls
Eliminated
Abilene Falls to DeSoto and Southlake Rolls Over Mojo.
By TERRY ALAN
Copyright 2006 KylGrafX
DESOTO 38, ABILENE
HIGH 35...
DeSoto running back Cyrus Gray was
left with enough time to rip off one more big run, a 70-yard
touchdown on fourth-and-5 with 2:40 left, lifting DeSoto to a 38-35
victory over Abilene at Gordon Wood Stadium.
DeSoto began the winning drive at its
12 after a penalty for blocking in the back. But that didn’t slow
the big-play team in the least. Quarterback Terrance Wilkerson made
up the penalty on the following play with a 12-yard run. But when
AHS limited DeSoto to five yards on its next three downs, the
3-5A champions appeared one defensive stop away from
securing the win. On fourth-and-5, Gray ran to his
right, but met interference. The shifty junior kept shuffling and
juking toward the sideline and, once he got there, he broke into a
dead sprint. One AHS defender missed on an attempt to push Gray out
of bounds, and another defender was left behind after taking a poor
pursuit angle.
Up 14-13 at the half, AHS converted a
Wilkerson fumble into a 21-13 lead. Lackey’s 30-yard option run set up
Chris Williams’ 3-yard scoring run, giving AHS its eight-point lead
only 2:41 into the third quarter. DeSoto immediately responded with two
touchdown runs by Gray in only 1:54. The first, a 2-yarder, finished
a 68-yard drive. Then, Walker muffed the ensuing kickoff after
calling for a fair catch, setting up DeSoto at the AHS 29. Abner’s
21-yard run set up Gray’s 3-yard touchdown, and DeSoto had rallied
for a 26-21 lead with 3:30 left in the third quarter. AHS immediately rallied, using a pass
interference penalty in the end zone against DeSoto to set up
Lackey’s 5-yard touchdown run for a 27-26 lead before the third
quarter ended.
The AHS Eagles used only 1:21, taking a 35-32 lead on
a Spens Lackey’s 2-yard run and his
two-point conversion run with 5:21 to play. The go-ahead drive began with Lackey
passing 19 yards to Kortney McDow. Then, Keithy Flye found the
sideline for a 26-yard run to the DeSoto 2, setting up Lackey’s
touchdown run. The drive lasted only four plays.
STATISTICS
SOUTHLAKE CARROLL
42, PERMIAN 6...
The Permian Panthers’
best season in eight years came to a halt with a 42-6 loss
to the Southlake Carroll Dragons in the Regional
Final playoff game at Jones Stadium. The Dragons took the
opening drive down the field and into the end zone to take an early
7-0 lead. The Panther defense stiffened and continued to put
pressure on Dragon quarterback Riley Dodge, knocking him out of
action on three different occasions. Ammad Quigley would be
first to bring the wood and the defense prevented the Dragons from
putting any other points on the scoreboard in the first half.
The Mojo offense was unable to get on track and had to settle with
trailing 7-0 at the half.
The Permian defense
played a superb game in the first half, but being on the field
extended periods of time in the second half took its toll.
Carroll scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to break open
the
game open.
Quarterback Riley Dodge passed for 249 yards and three touchdowns
and Tre’ Newton rushed for 198 yards and two scores for Carroll. Melvis Pride had six catches
for 108 yards, and he put the Panthers on the board with their only
points on a 59-yard
reception in the fourth quarter.
Mojo linebacker Alex Lujan intercepted two passes
and finished with 12 solo tackles to lead the team, while strong
safety Bront Bird had five.
Caroll has won 76 of 77 games since moving to Class 5A in 2002. The
lone loss was 16-15 to Katy in the 2003 Class 5A Division II state
championship game.
Carroll has never failed to reach the state finals as a 5A program
and has advanced at least to the fourth round of the playoffs in all
seven seasons under head coach Todd Dodge.
STATS
| GAME PHOTOS
| HIGHLIGHTS |
