The Cooldown - Week 13
DFW - Week Thirteen
Last weekend was one of the most eventful weekends of football the metroplex has seen in quite a while. The area round brought plenty of upsets, shootouts and comebacks. Let’s recap all the action and preview regional semifinals!
Jesuit Upsets Longview
Jesuit was a big underdog against Longview but managed to slow down the game and ride E.J. Smith to a 27-25 win. Smith rushed for 164 yards and all four Jesuit touchdowns. Jumping out to a 14-0 lead helped tremendously. Longview had a chance to tie the game late but couldn’t convert a two-point conversion.
Haynes King’s Longview career is over earlier than most thought it would be as Jesuit advances to take on a good Klein Collins team in a wide open 6A DII playoff bracket. This game will be a toss-up with the winner playing the winner of Spring Westfield and Hewitt Midway.
Allen Eliminated Before State Semifinals for First Time Since 2012
Rockwall pulled off something that hasn’t been done since 2012. The Allen Eagles won’t be practicing on Thanksgiving this year after Rockwall defeated Allen in a shootout. I also feel the need to preface all this by saying that Jaxon Smith- Njigba is absolutely ridiculous. I wish he were staying in Texas for college, but alas.
Smith- Njigba caught 15 passes for 252 yards and five touchdowns, four of those coming in the first quarter. Quarterback Braedyn Locke finished with 411 yards passing and six touchdowns! Smith- Njigba deserves all the shine and Rockwall will miss his greatly next season, but Locke has been great all season and certainly deserves a lot of credit as well.
Speaking of quarterbacks that played well, Allen quarterback Raylen Sharpe played a great game as well. Sharpe passed for 459 yards and five touchdowns and was also Allen’s leading rusher with 112 yards and a score.
Rockwall looked like it would run away with this game early. Allen had no answer for Smith- Njigba. Allen was able to take a 59-52 lead late in the game. This is the kind of game that Allen always wins. That’s why the Eagles have been to the state semifinals every year since 2012. Locke and the Rockwall offense weren’t rattled though. The Yellow Jackets offense drove down the field, scored and converted the two-point conversion for the 60-59 win. This game is a candidate for game of the year!
Denton Guyer Defeats Cedar Hill
I have never seen a coach, or team grind their way to a win more than Denton Guyer as they rallied from 27 points down to a 50-41 win over Cedar Hill. Guyer had no answer for Cedar Hill Quarterback Kaidon Salter. The Wildcats trailed 41-14 late in the third quarter when Guyer coach John Walsh elected to start kicking onside kicks. Cedar Hill would only have two more drives the rest of the game.
The Longhorns started the fourth quarter up 41-28, having already lost one onside kick. Guyer would recover several more in the fourth quarter and the Kaidon Salter wouldn’t get the ball back until the last minutes of the game, trailing 50-41. Salter passed for 259 yards, rushed for 157 more and had five total touchdowns. Guyer literally had to play keep away to win this game. The odds of recovering multiple onside kicks in a row are astronomical but that's just what happened! In every team's run to a state championship, they can point to a play or series of plays that made it possible. Makes one wonder if Guyer is a team of destiny? We'll find out soon enough.
Guyer will take on Arlington this Saturday at 2:30 PM and will play the winner of Amarillo Tascosa and Flower Mound Marcus after that.
Games to Watch...
Duncanville vs Arlington Martin
This game will be at noon on Friday at AT&T Stadium. Martin has plowed through two teams so far in the playoffs but now has to face the best team in the state. Duncanville will get its first test of the playoffs, though the Panthers shouldn’t have much of a problem winning this game. The winner will take on the winner of Southlake Carroll and Midland Lee.
Highland Park vs Frisco Lone Star
This is the game of the week. It will follow the Duncanville- Martin game at AT&T Stadium on Friday at 3 PM. The winner of this game will eventually have to face Denton Ryan, but one of those three teams are expected to represent DFW at the state championships. Lone Star won the first matchup at Highland Park 30-19 earlier in the season. Beating a Randy Allen coached team seems like too much to ask but the Rangers will have to do just that in order to advance.