Friday Night reminded us all why we love Texas High School Football
The final night of the regular season took the excitement, angst, and plenty of “Can you believe that just happened?” to the limit as teams from all over 6A Region IV had their eyeballs aligned on a single late night game taking place at Dragon Stadium in Round Rock, TX. Who knew going into the night that the final regular season game between the McNeil Mavericks (2-8,0-7) and the Cedar Ridge Raiders (5-5,4-3) would cause such ripple effects on how the UIL Postseason would shake out.
Mother Nature reminded all of us that she is still undefeated, stirring up a line of thunderstorms right before the normal 7 P.M. kickoff times, causing multiple games across the Central Texas region to end up with staggered starts as the storms moved through and out the area. This let some teams know before others if their seasons would continue and allowing even more to be able to take in the wild finish of a game that would have multiple teams changing their playoff itineraries before it finally came to an end.
Cedar Ridge Down Late
Cedar Ridge trailed McNeil throughout the entire game, falling behind 21-6 at Halftime, and not being able to get closer than 8 points during the Third and most of the Fourth Quarter. With 3:19 left in the Fourth Quarter, it looked like the Mavericks would prevail when JR DT Darren Powell broke through the line and blocked a Raider punt into the End Zone, recovering it for a touchdown that put McNeil up with what looked like an insurmountable lead at 28-13.
With a Cedar Ridge loss they would fail to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in ten seasons. In their place the Manor Mustangs and Vista Ridge Rangers would both qualify in District 25-6A D2, pushing the Vandegrift Vipers up into the D1 bracket with the Round Rock Dragons for the Bi-District round against teams from District 26-6A. This would result in Bi-District matchups of Dripping Springs/Vista Ridge, Austin Bowie/Manor, Round Rock/Westlake and Lake Travis/Vandegrift. Little did these teams know the roller coaster of emotions they were all about to experience.
Fourth Quarter Comeback
With the ensuing kickoff, Raider SR WR Zane Wofford showed that Cedar Ridge wasn’t ready to put the pads away just yet. Wofford took the kickoff at his own twenty-five-yard line and jetted up the sideline all the way to the McNeil forty-nine. On First Down, JR QB Jacari Killingsworth launched a pass downfield, finding JR Jordan Ramsey to move the Raiders to the McNeil twenty-two. Three plays later, faced with a Fourth and One, SR Miles Brophy took the Wildcat snap and bulled his way forward, getting enough to setup first and goal from the Maverick ten. Brophy took the pitch from JR Baran Robinson on the next play, pushing the Raiders to the five-yard line, followed by the Raiders taking a timeout with 1:47 left. A Second Down pass from Killingsworth to SO WR Reese Brooks went high, and then on Third Down, Killingsworth was able to find Ramsey open in the End Zone, pulling Cedar Ridge to within 28-20 after the SR K Cole Thompson Extra Point.
With everyone in the stadium knowing an on-side kick was coming, Thompson nudged the ball across the ground and got a great bounce, putting the ball high in the air where Brooks went up and came down with it at the McNeil forty-yard line to keep their hopes alive. After a First Down pass to Wofford picked up five yards, Killingsworth rolled left and hit Ramsey on the Maverick sideline to pick up the First Down at their thirty-yard line. Killingsworth was flushed from the pocket on First Down and scrambled towards the Raiders sideline, getting out of bounds at the McNeil eighteen to stop the clock with 1:16 showing. McNeil forced Killingsworth to throw the ball away with a blitz on First Down, then on Second Down Killingsworth again used his legs, pulled the ball down and took off towards the Mavericks sideline, getting all the way to the McNeil six-yard line for First and Goal with 1:03 on the clock. A Killingsworth screen pass to Brooks moved the ball to the four-yard line. Then on Second Down with the clock moving, Killingsworth again found Ramsey in the corner of the End Zone with a perfect fade pass to pull Cedar Ridge within two points with just 33 seconds left.
The Raiders sent out the Brophy Wildcat Package for the two-point try, where McNeil called a timeout to setup their Defense. After the timeout, Killingsworth went back in at QB with SO RB Reggie Hurley and Brophy lined up on either side of him in the backfield. On the snap Killingsworth, who is a right-handed QB, pulled the ball back after attempting a handoff to Hurley, rolled out to his right, and with three Maverick defenders bearing down on him, launched the ball up in the air with his left hand towards the End Zone where Wofford was waiting to haul in the catch and tie the game up at 28 all. Wow.
After a deep kickoff from Thompson, McNeil handed off to SO Joshua Williams for a short run on First Down, then let the remaining clock run out to send the game into Overtime.
Overtime Chaos
Cedar Ridge won the toss and chose to go out on Defense first in OT. McNeil SR QB Brad Whittenburg missed on a short shovel pass on First Down, then thew the ball high on Second Down to setup Third and Ten. Whittenburg went around the right end with a Keeper, getting eight yards to setup Fourth and Two. The Mavericks elected to go for it, rather than attempting a thirty-four-yard Field Goal, picking up the First Down on a Whittenburg option pitch to Williams wide right at the Raiders twelve yard-line. McNeil was able to pick up two more yards on a Second Down run by SR Kaleb Cooper, moving the ball down to the Raider ten-yard line, but would get no closer as a Fourth Down Whittenburg pass fell incomplete. Mavericks Coach Scott Hermes then sent out SR K Hussen Jalil to attempt a twenty-seven-yard Field Goal with the season on the line. On the snap, Raiders SR DT Miles Wallace broke through the line and blocked the kick to keep the Mavericks off the board, as well as letting the Raiders know that any score by the Offense would extend their season.
The Raiders went with runs by SR RB Sincere Best on First and Second Down to move the ball to the Mavericks nine, setting up First and Goal. A Best run for no gain on First Down was followed by a False Start penalty on Cedar Ridge to move them back to the fourteen. Killingsworth went with the QB keeper to move the ball over to the left hash mark, getting the lost five yards back to make it Third and Goal from the nine. Another Best run on Third Down pushed the ball to the Maverick four-yard line, setting up a Thompson twenty-one-yard Field Goal attempt to win the game. A high snap went through the hands of the holder Wofford, who scrambled to pick up the ball, rolled out to his right before heaving a desperation pass into the End Zone where Brooks snagged it out of the air for a Raiders touchdown and the improbable 34-28 come from behind victory.
Final Playoff Picture
With the win, Cedar Ridge kept their playoff streak intact, as well as reset the playoff brackets that 30 minutes earlier looked to have been set in stone. Cedar Ridge will now join Round Rock in D1, heading to a faceoff against the three-time defending State Champion Westlake Chapparals in the Bi-District round, with Lake Travis now traveling to Dragon Stadium to take on Round Rock. In D2, Vandegrift will now host Austin Bowie, and Manor will travel to Dripping Springs to take on the Tigers.
CLICK HERE to listen to the Texas HS Football Podcast, with Taylor Arenz
