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.
