BULLDOGS BACK TO STATE!! | Kilgore blows doors off La Vernia; returns to state title game
NEW CANEY – Kilgore, your Bulldogs are headed back to the state championship game.
The Ragin’ Red got impressive performances in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams — in a 38-13 rout of La Vernia on Friday night here in New Caney, at Randall Reed Stadium. And now, Kilgore will play in the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A, Division I state football championship.
“It’s a great day to be a Bulldog,” said Kilgore coach Clint Fuller moments after the contest, just before he and the team were presented the semifinal championship trophy to close out a wet and windy night of football here on the floor of Randall Reed Stadium.
It certainly was as Kilgore stretched its win streak to nine in a row, improving to 13-2 overall as the Bulldogs advance to play Celina (15-0) next Friday at 3 p.m. for the 4A-DI State Championship trophy at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Celina defeated Canyon West Plains in the other 4A Division I semifinal, 43-36.
La Vernia ends its season with an 11-4 record.
Primarily a run-first team, La Vernia gained 231 yards of offense compared to Kilgore’s 289. The Bears did most of their damage on the ground, rushing for an even 200 yards on 66 carries. Ty Carter led the way with 77 yards, quarterback Keegan Hajek followed with 71 and two touchdowns, coming on runs of 1- and 6-yards.
La Vernia, though, was only 1-for-8 passing with one interception, that, thanks to Kilgore’s Ja’Kalen Shefffield.
The completion was a 31-yarder to Aden Hajek by the punter Luke Green about midway through the first quarter.
Kilgore quarterback Kayson Brooks was 20-of-28 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns, one of those to Lakeyleon Graves, and the other to Michigan signee Jayden Sanders. Sanders had another scoring reception late in the contest, but the Bulldogs were flagged for a chop block, which nullified the score.
Brooks also ran 29 yards for a touchdown.
Lakeyleon Graves led the receiving corps with 6 receptions for 68 yards and a score. Javon Townsadded 5 catches for 51 yards and Jacory Walton had 5 for 35. Sanders’ two receptions covered 60 yards, while Watters (1-6) and Williams (1-8) also had catches.
The Bulldogs rushed for just 51 yards on 18 carries.Brooks led the way with 33 on just four carries. Watters, who scored on two short runs, followed with 19 yards and Rayshaun Williams added 16 yards on four carries, finishing his night’s work three yards shy of 1,000.
La Vernia ran 74 plays compared to the Bulldogs 46.
Kilgore scored on its very first possession, but not a touchdown. The Dogs capitalized on field position, getting a first down at the La Vernia 8-yard line, after a snap over the punter Green’s head set the Bears back for a minus 13-yard loss.
La Vernia won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. Sean Garza, the Bears’ leading rusher, who came into the game with 2,142 yards and 27 touchdowns, was thrown for a 4-yard loss by Jamarian Duncan-Morgan to open the game. Lakeyleon Graves then stepped up to stop La Vernia quarterback KeeganHajek for only a short gain, leaving the Bears with a fourth-and-nine at the 21-yard line. The bad snap on fourth down certainly didn’t help, giving Kilgore the football inside the 10-yard line.
Three plays netted three yards and Eddie Jiminez came in to boot a 22-yard field goal, his fifth of the playoffs and twelfth of the season to give Kilgore a 3-0 leadwith 8:39 remaining in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs would get on the scoreboard with a touchdown, putting together a 50-yard scoring march that featured a couple of completions from Brooks to Towns and then Brooks to Graves to set up a 29-yardscoring run by the Kilgore quarterback. Jiminez’s first of five extra points extended the early lead to 10, 10-0.
The ‘Dogs defense, notably Jayden Sanders, Laperrion Graves and Duncan-Morgan on this La Vernia possession, rose to the occasion to force another short Bear punt, giving Kilgore a first down at its own 47.
It took the Bulldogs seven plays to navigate those 53 yards. The big plays were an 18-yard Brooks completion to Williams and a 30-yard Brooks strike to Lakeyleon Graves for the points. The scoring play came on a fourth-and-six call.
Fortunately for La Vernia, the Bears put together their best drive of the evening, marching 79-yards in 13 plays to cut the halftime deficit to 17-7. Garza carried six times for 28 yards, Ty Carter added 10 yards on three carrries and Hajek carried four times for 18 yards,including the one-yard scoring run with just 10 seconds left until halftime.
Kilgore didn’t score again until its third possession of the third period, but then neither did La Vernia.
The Dogs used four plays, two passes and two runs to get the task done. The passes covered 21 yards from Brooks-to-Towns, and 10 yards from Brooks-to-Walton, followed by runs of 5- and 4-yards by Watters. The two rushing touchdowns by Watters give the junior an even dozen on the ground thus far this season.
That was the first of two rushing touchdowns forWatters and it came with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter.
Kilgore would add on on the first play of the fourth quarter as Jayden Sanders beat La Vernia’s corner Hayden Dietrich and safety Cooper Null for a 59-yard touchdown. Sanders made the reception at about the 25-yard line. Jiminez’s fourth extra point of the evening gave the Ragin’ Red a 31-7 lead with 11:51 left in the ballgame.
Hajek would cap a 69-yard march with a 6-yard keeper for the Bears’ second touchdown and final score of the season, with 6:49 remaining in the fourth quarter. La Vernia went for two, but Hajek’s pass sailed over his receiver’s head.
The Bulldogs would score again on a 3-yard Watters run with 1:51 left in the contest, following an interception by Ja’Kalen Sheffield of Hajek, which he returned 45 yards to the Bears’ five-yard line. It was Kilgore’s 24th interception of the season and Sheffield’s team-leading seventh pick.
Next up is state and Celina.
This marks the third time for KHS to reach a UIL football state championship game, winning it all in 2004, and losing in the finals in 2013.
