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Football: Flower Mound defense forces turnover to preserve win over SGP
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
FLOWER MOUND - They've only had two games under first-year head football coach Dane Johnson but already the Flower Mound defense is showing massive signs of improvement.
Friday in a non-district contest against South Grand Prairie, it made the critical play.
Clinging to a 28-21 lead late in the fourth quarter and with SGP on the move deep in Flower Mound territory, the Jaguar defense swarmed Warriors' running back Laquinton Bailey forcing a fumble to preserve the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season.
"That was all those kids tonight," Johnson said. "We did some good things and we had a little bad fortune when the wind changed direction on us. I was scared about that going in and I checked the Internet and it seemed like the weather was a long way off. So I thought we'll take the ball and then it switched, which made it tough. But that just shows the character of these kids. They believe they can win. They want to win. We made a lot of mistakes that could have given the game away. But they kept fighting and I'm really proud of them and what they did."
In addition to the forced fumble, Flower Mound's defense picked off SGP quarterback Elijah Wright twice and also blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown.
"The turnovers were huge," Johnson said. "Coach (Sam) Harrison and the defensive staff are doing a great job preparing these kids. But the kids are the ones making the plays. (Hunter) Tarman, (Sean) Flynn, (Jake) Ayars and Blake Eledge - who we got back today - all played well. And that was the first game back for (Nathan) Liebsch and he came in and had an interception and made a big hit. It's fun watching these kids play like that."
Offensively, Flower Mound again went with a dual-quarterback attack and again both signal-callers were effective. Connor Wanhanen got the start and finished with four completions to go with 85 rushings yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Matt Hirst chipped in 80 yards on the ground and led the aerial attack completing 13-of-19 passes for 134 yards and two scores.
"They were both impressive," Johnson said. "Wanhanen and Hirst are doing a great job and we're playing them both because they are both very talented and are starting to get a better feeling of how to run the offense and what we are looking for. Both of them have different strengths but I think we can go with either one of them at any time."
Delvin Holmes and Josh Bennett each hauled in touchdown grabs for Flower Mound, the latter a 19-yard reception that put Flower Mound in control at 28-14 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter. Cole McKeel had 28 yards rushing to go with three receptions.
"We didn't get to use [McKeel] as much today because they were going to take him away," Johnson said. "They were going to make us win with our quarterbacks and we did."
After the teams traded punts for the first three possessions of the opening half, Flower Mound's quarterbacks kick-started the Jaguar offense.
Wanhanen helmed the first scoring drive, capping it off with a 32-yard touchdown run on third-and-long when he delayed and darted up the middle untouched to give the Jaguars a 7-0 lead.
Hirst used his legs as well to open Flower Mound's second scoring drive, picking up 25 yards on three carries before later connecting with receiver Holmes over the middle for a 24-yard scoring strike. Hirst just released the ball and floated it to the end zone before being driven to the ground by the Warrior pass rush.
Perhaps the game's biggest play came in the waning moments of the second quarter when the Jaguars called timeout to stop the clock before regaining possession on a Warrior punt from deep in its own territory. But instead of getting the ball in scoring position, the Jaguars picked up a touchdown when the punt was blocked by Finn Foster and recovered in the end zone by Michael Smith to increase the lead to 21-7.
SGP's lone score of the first half came on its first drive of the second quarter. On third-and-8 from the 42-yard line, Wright completed his first pass of the evening for a first down and four plays later Bailey moved the ball inside the 10-yard line with a 16-yard run and punched it in from the 8-yard line on the following play.
SGP pulled to within seven in the third quarter on a 31-yard touchdown run by Bailey, who finished with 120 yards and two scores.
Flower Mound regained a two-score advantage when Bennett caught a slant and broke a pair of tackles to find the end zone and was able to hold of the Warriors' fourth-quarter charge.
"I'll take any win in this district and this area," Johnson said. "It's tough to win and this is great, but it's all a credit to the kids."
Flower Mound looks to improve to 3-0 at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Colleyville Heritage from Bedford's Pennington Field. The game was moved from Mustang-Panther Stadium because of an issue with the stadium's lighting.
The Panthers (2-0) boast one of the area's top passers in Cody Thomas.
"He's going to Oklahoma and is the fifth-ranked quarterback in the nation," Johnson said. "He's better than anybody out there. We're going to have to play great team football and make plays. It's going to take a great team effort and we'll have to create things because that kid is special."
It will also be Flower Mound's first road game of the season.
"It will be a big test for, but it's good going against a great team on the road because three of our district games are on the road," Johnson added. "And you're going to have to win three games to make the playoffs."
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