SPRINGTOWN, Texas — Only seven total passes were attempted between Holliday and Gunter, but the Tigers employed the use of their deep running back corps to extend their overall win streak to 29 with a 48-7 dispatching of the Eagles at Porcupine Stadium Friday night.
The tightest action of probably the entire contest occurred in the opening quarter of play, with the Eagles’ offense seeing the most play time to start. One of the wildest moments of the game occurred in the first as well — a field goal attempt by Grayson Germany was blocked and recovered by Gunter, but was fumbled a second time and recovered by Holliday.
Not even this dynamic moment was able to be capitalized upon, with both teams scoreless by quarter’s end.
Photo: Blake Wood/TexasHSFootball.com
“Give Holliday some credit, they came out really fast and executed on fourth down,” Gunter coach Jake Fieszel said. “But give our kids credit too, they bowed their necks and really got into it.”
“We just had to go see what they were doing,” noted Gunter running back Dylan Jantz of the first quarter. “There was nothing that went wrong for us, we just missed a couple tackles.”
Once the Tigers got started however, there was no stopping them, as Gunter dished out a dynamic performance from the second quarter until the final whistle.
Braiden Clopton opened the scoring with an 18 yard run with 10:30 left in the second, but a failed two point conversion attempt appeared to give Holliday confidence for the next drive.
Photo: Blake Wood/TexasHSFootball.com
Jantz however would score the first of his four rushing touchdowns on the night about three and a half minutes after the first score, then tacking on his second with less than two minutes remaining in the first half to give the Tigers a 20-0 lead heading into halftime.
The third quarter featured a pair of long runs, with Jantz launching a 78 yard rushing score on the first play from scrimmage, followed by the Eagles only touchdown on the night, a 69 yard run by Justin Jones. Bryson Rigsby and Clayton Reed closed out the scoring with a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“After the second quarter, we like to shove it down their throats,” proclaimed Jantz. “We like to show teams their weakest spots and hit them hard.”
Jantz led all rushers on the night with 162 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 12 carries; more rushing yards than Holliday’s 119 as a team. Clopton tallied 56 yards to go along with his touchdown, and Reed’s only carry was a 38 yard touchdown in the fourth. Though Gunter attempted only two passes, both were complete to Jantz for a total of 15 yards, each pass by a different quarterback.
“I can play and do whatever I want, but without people blocking in front of me, I can’t do what I can do,” Jantz stated.
Jones carried the ball 17 times in the loss, adding 99 yards with his touchdown. Tristin Boyd tallied 12 rushes for 34 yards.
Gunter is through to the next round, and will square off against one of the top Cinderella teams in the state with New Diana. The contest is set to take place in Royse City, with a time not yet determined as of publishing time.
Holliday’s season ends in the third round of the postseason, their first time playing this deep in the playoffs since 2011. The Eagles record concludes at 11-2.
Brought To You By
