El
Campo and Beeville Jones faced off in Port Lavaca on Friday at the Calhoun
Sandcrabs’ stadium. This was an Class 4A, Division I area-round matchup between
two teams looking to advance on to the regional round next week.
We
had just had a cold front move in to the area, which made it a great atmosphere
for Texas high school football in November.
Beeville
came into this game 11-0, coming off an undefeated regular season and an unblemished
district championship. El Campo was 9-2, finishing third in district behind
Needville and Columbia.
At
the very end of the first quarter, Beeville senior quarterback Seth Gomez
scored and made it a 7-7 ball game. Going into the second quarter, it seemed
like we were in store for a great Friday night playoff game, because once the
Ricebirds got the ball in the second, they quickly started to run away with the
game.
The
Trojans couldn’t stop the Ricebirds’ rushing attack. Sophomore running back Johntre
Davis rushed for 163 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries, while junior
running back Charles Shorter, who came into the game with a lingering shoulder
injury, rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
The
dominating rushing attack gave El Campo a lopsided time of possession, eating 36
minutes, 29 seconds on the clock versus Beeville’s 11:31.
Beeville couldn’t effectively run the football
and tried to pass, which resulted in two interceptions and a fumble.
With
the Ricebirds’ running attack and the Trojans’ turnovers, Beeville just
couldn’t seem to get back into this game. They still had an historic season,
finishing 10-0 in the regular season for the first time in program history, and
a district title.
Their
leader, Gomez, will graduate, but they do return some productive players next
season.
El Campo will face off against Liberty Hill (7-5)
on Friday. Liberty Hill is coming off a 66-7 victory over La Feria.
The
winner will advance to the quarterfinals to play the winner between Needville
and No. 6 Lampasas.
