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Football: Hebron rallies past Lewisville to clinch playoff berth
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
LEWISVILLE -- If playing teams close was the name of the game, Lewisville (1-8, 0-4) would be district champions.
Instead, the Farmers' playoff hopes are officially over, and Hebron (6-3, 3-1) has clinched a postseason berth and is battling for a share of the District 5-5A title after getting past Lewisville Friday, 25-12.
The Hawks can finish in a tie with Coppell for the title with a win next week against Marcus and a Lewisville win over Coppell.
"Our goal every year is to make the playoffs," Brazil said. "And when you play in a district like this, it's hard."
Playing a Lewisville team that consistently stays in the ball game adds to the difficulty.
The Farmers led, 12-10, as late as midway through the fourth quarter before things started to go Hebron's way.
With Lewisville threatening to pad its lead, Hebron senior cornerback Cardell Lue intercepted a pass from junior quarterback Matt McDougal. The Hawks took the lead on the next play when senior running back Vandy Parkes broke through the middle on a 44-yard touchdown run, putting Hebron up, 18-12, with 6:42 left in the game.
About five minutes later, junior running back Jamal Adams added to the lead with an 8-yard touchdown run. It was his second touchdown of the game as he also scored a on a 3-yard run late in the third quarter to pull to within two, 12-10.
The interception was a rare miscue for McDougal, who had been solid all night for the Farmers. He had to be as the team's primary offensive weapon, senior running back Deandre Brown, is out for the season with an injury he suffered last week.
McDougal led Lewisville in its two scoring drives in the third quarter. Trailing, 3-2, Lewisville took a 5-3 lead with 7:05 left in the third quarter when Tluang Hmung drilled a 22-yard field goal. McDougal completed consecutive passes of 19, 13 and 29 yards during the drive, the last of which was an off-balanced catch by senior receiver Jocqui Davis.
For the night, McDougal completed 13 of 24 passes for 176 yards.
"Matt put together a great game," said Gregg Miller, Lewisville head coach. "He pressed a little at the end, but overall he did a good job. He managed the game the way we needed him to."
Lewisville made it 12-3 with 3:55 left in the third quarter when senior running back Ahkeel Guy plowed up the middle for a 43-yard touchdown run, his longest run of the night.
Guy, who started in place of Brown, struggled early on to establish a solid running game. In the first half, he had 30 yards on 14 carries but finished with 113 yards on 27 carries.
"Deandre has the ability to do a lot of things," Miller said of his starter's absence. "But Ahkeel played really well. And our offensive line played as well as it has all season."
Each team had its chances that it didn't capitalize on early.
In the second quarter with no points on the board, the Farmers threatened by reaching the Hebron 5-yard-line. But consecutive penalties and a 20-yard sack by linebacker Gavin Burford and defensive end Daniel Wise, both juniors, killed the Farmers' chances.
"Momentum is a fragile thing in football," Miller said. "One thing we need to work on is developing that momentum and keeping it."
Hebron also had a missed opportunity when it reached the Lewisville 1-yard line with seconds left in the first half but had to settle for a field goal from junior Joel Carlos.
Despite falling behind in the third quarter, the second half was really when Hebron's offense got rolling. Parkes rushed for 96 of his 116 yards in the second half, and Adams collected 48 of his 76 yards after halftime.
Senior quarterback Brian Dean was solid throughout the game, finishing with 15-for-20 with 112 yards and no interceptions. He filled in for junior quarterback Carson Proffitt, who was injured last week.
"This is a guy we kept in the program, who rotated at quarterback on the freshman 'B' team," Brazil said of Dean. "Then he rotated on the JV 'B' team, and then he played backup to Carson on JV. So he hasn't taken a lot of snaps. But he took 20 snaps tonight, and that just shows the confidence that we have in him."
Miller said despite losing Brown for the season, his team played tough.
"Our guys could have shut it down, but they didn't," Miller said. "I'm proud of these guys for sticking with it. They played with a lot of pride, and they set the foundation for next week and for next season."
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