CHAPEL HILL HOLDS OFF KILGORE | Bulldogs come up just short in Longview, 21-19

LONGVIEW – Kilgore and Chapel Hill played in the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A, Division I playoffs for a third straight year, and for a third straight year, things didn’t go Kilgore’s way.

But the Bulldogs – the Ragin’ Red version – put up a heck of a fight in the end.

Kilgore wound up on the wrong side of a 21-19 score here at Longview’s Lobo Stadium, falling in the final seconds of this quarterfinal playoff after scoring to get within those two points on a 63-yard pass play from Derrick Williams to Jayden Sanders with 2:49 left in the game.

Sanders had to outrun his man to make the catch, and did so, but then had to make a few spin moves, hang onto the football, and drag the Chapel Hill player with him, outmuscling him into the end zone for the six points.

Kilgore trailed before that play, 21-13, and Sanders’ super grab got the Bulldogs within two, 21-19. The Bulldogs lined up for the two-point conversion that would tie the game. Chapel Hill coach Jeff Riordan called a time out.

KHS came back out from the time out, and called a pass play, but the pass looked to be tipped, and it fell incomplete.

With two time outs of their own with which to work, Kilgore chose to try an onside kick. The first try, Kilgore actually recovered the onside kick at midfield, but was ruled to have been offsides, a penalty, and had to re-kick. On the re-kick, another penalty, and finally, Chapel Hill claimed possession of the ball at just over midfield.

Kilgore forced Chapel Hill into a third-down-and-3 with 2:32 left, and then stopped Chapel Hill running back Jabo Cook on that play, holding him to just a yard, and forcing the “other” Bulldogs (the Chapel Hill version, both teams have Bulldogs as a mascot) into fourth-and-2.

On the fourth-down play, Chapel Hill quarterback Demetrius Brisbon broke to the outside, though, breaking to the Kilgore sideline and picked up 6 yards, and even though Kilgore had a time out left – which Kilgore called with exactly a minute and a half left – that first down effectively ended the game.

“The results weren’t what we wanted,” coach Clint Fuller told longtime Kilgore radio broadcaster Don Hedrick after the game, “but we’re proud of our team, of our seniors, for what we accomplished this year, just hard to see it all right now. We will see it when we look back on it, we know. Go ‘Dogs.”

Chapel Hill got the ball on the game’s first possession and scored, a 38-yard run on fourth-and-1 by Cook when it appeared he had been stopped on a short-yardage try. That, combined with Aiden Campos’s point after, gave Chapel Hill the 7-0 lead with 9:40 left in the first quarter.

A sack by Cameron Kelley put Kilgore in fourth-and-long and forced a punt on the Ragin’ Red’s first possession of the game, giving Chapel Hill the ball right back. They took advantage of it – and of a facemask penalty – and scored in five plays, a 12-yard run by Rickey Stewart, to go up 14-0, with 6:32 left in the opening quarter. The big play was a 51-yard run by Brisbon that officials tacked a facemask foul on, to boot, that put Chapel Hill inside Kilgore’s 10-yard-line.

Kilgore’s Bulldogs found themselves down two touchdowns before the second quarter even started.

But Williams tried to settle his troops, and they did. The offensive line of Nelson, Moye, Young, Allums and Brown gave Williams good protection, and the offense got into a rhythm. Williams found Sanders for a 9-yard gain and a first down, then a few plays later, he found P.J. Wiley for 13 yards. Matthew Hardy and the offensive line – and a facemask call on Chapel Hill – helped move the chains on couple of running plays.

Then, from the Chapel Hill 7, Williams spotted Wiley free, and he hit him in stride for the score. Leo Yzaguirre booted the point after and Kilgore cut Chapel Hill’s lead in half, 14-7 with 1:56 left in the quarter.

The bad news: Chapel Hill would answer right back. They got a big return to Kilgore’s 37-yard-line and scored in three plays, Brisbon putting them back in front by two touchdowns (21-7) on a 1-yard run.

Just when it appeared Kilgore was in real trouble, defensive lineman Jackson Tucker Phillips recovered a second-quarter fumble by Darrius Dean, and Kilgore Drove 65 yards for a very important score. In that drive there was a late hit on Williams out of bounds, and Isaiah Watters did the scoring honors for Kilgore, getting into the end zone on a 6-yard run, with 9:24 left in the half. That got the Ragin’ Red within eight, 21-13, but the extra point was not true, and that score remained.

Neither team was able to score again before the half – in fact, Kilgore’s defense didn’t give up another score the entire game. Williams and Sanders had their heroics near the game’s end, but the three first-quarter touchdowns would be enough for Chapel Hill to escape with the 21-19 win.

Chapel Hill only threw for 7 yards the entire game.

The yellow-and-blue Bulldogs ran for 456 yards. Stewart had 237 yards and a score on 30 carries. Brisbon had 111 carries and a score on 14 carries, and Cook had the other score, and finished with 103 yards on 11 carries.

Defensively, Kelley had the first-half sack on Kilgore’s Williams, and late in the game, Joshua Castaneda had an interception for Chapel Hill that was big.

Kilgore finished with 133 rushing yards and 276 total yards.

Williams led with 75 yards rushing on 10 carries. Watters had 29 yards on six carries; Hardy had 15 on seven carries, and Rayshaun Williams had 14 yards on three carries.

Williams finished 9-of-18 for 143 yards and the two touchdowns (to Wiley and Sanders). Stoker had a catch for 16 yards, La’Keylon Graves had a catch for 13 yards, and Javon Towns had a catch for 7 yards.

Chapel Hill (12-2) advances for a third straight year to the state semifinals, where they’ll play San Antonio Davenport. Davenport defeated Port Lavaca Calhoun on Friday night, 55-20. We’ll see if Chapel Hill can actually win a state semifinal, since they’ve lost the last two years.

Kilgore finished its season with a 12-2 record, having won 12 games in a row after opening the season with a 30-27 loss at home to Carthage (who also lost Friday night at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium to Gilmer).

Kilgore won the District 9-4A, Division I championship with a perfect record, including a 39-16 win over Chapel Hill at Chapel Hill’s stadium, and defeated district rivals Lindale and Henderson, as well. The Bulldogs won three playoff games (over Livingston at Carthage, over Bay City at Sheldon ISD in Houston, and over Needville at New Caney) before falling to Chapel Hill in front of a packed house at Longview.

Kilgore seniors this year are P.J. Wiley, Zaylon Stoker, Taylor Oliver, Derrick Williams, Leo Yzaguirre, Zander Short, Matthew Hardy, Sage Orange, Jordan Pierce, Malachi Pierce, Aubrey Saylor, Braquan Moye, Parker Allums, Jacob Davis, Rashaud Brown, Braydon Nelson, Emmauel Young, Josh Parrish, Taylor Gibson, and Aiden Reyes.

(Statistics compiled by JOE HALE)

Kilgore running back Isaiah Watters (5) fights for yards near the KHS sidelines in a playoff battle with Chapel Hill Friday night at Longview’s Lobo Stadium. (Photo by DENNIS JACOBS – ETBLITZ.COM)

Kilgore’s coaching staff looks on as the battle of the Bulldogs plays out. (Photo by DENNIS JACOBS – ETBLITZ.COM)

Kilgore’s Malachi Pierce (31), P.J. Wiley (2, left) and Jackson Tucker Phillips (90), are among those trying to stop Chapel Hill ball-carrier Rickey Stewart (4) on this play. (Photo by DENNIS JACOBS – ETBLITZ.COM)