With 25 seconds left in Saturday's Class 5A Division II state seminal, Denton's fate seemed sealed. A third straight semifinal appearance would soon become a third straight defeat to East Texas power Longview.
Guyer (Denton) trailed by six, had no timeouts and it didn't even have the ball yet. All Longview needed to do was get a punt off.
But it couldn't.
Guyer High's J.W. Walsh.
Photo by Robbie Rakestraw
Guyer defensive lineman
Dan Kottman broke through the line and blocked the punt, linebacker
Kamrhan Jones recovered the fumble at the 15-yard line, and Guyer suddenly had hope.
It had more than that, according to Guyer senior
J.W. Walsh, the star quarterback who is orally committed to Oklahoma State.
"I knew we were going to win," Walsh said, "because when we're inside the 20, we've got a money man – and that man is
Quentin Gardener."
MaxPreps' Texas football playoff bracketsOn the first play after the punt block, Walsh threw a fade route into the right corner of the end zone and Gardener pulled it in.
Josh King kicked the extra point to give Guyer a 28-27 win and a spot in Saturday's championship lineup at Cowboys Stadium.
Guyer (13-2) earned the chance to face
Steele (Cibolo) in the 5A Division II title game despite turning the ball over on each of its five possessions of the first half. Those early mistakes helped Longview (10-5) take a 17-0 halftime lead and hold that lead until Guyer's final touchdown.
The hairpin turn of emotion in the final 25 seconds left some of Guyer's players speechless as they celebrated on the field at SMU's Ford Stadium. Gardener, smiling broadly as fans patted him on the back, finally came up with fitting words.
"It was amazing," he said.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULEThe championship games that will be played Friday and Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield:
Cowboys Stadium4 p.m. Friday3A Division II
Carthage (13-2) vs.
Coldspring-Oakhurst (14-1)
8 p.m. Friday4A Division II
Aledo (15-0) vs.
La Marque (11-3)
Noon Saturday4A Division I
Ryan (Denton) (15-0) vs.
Lake Travis (Austin) (13-2)
4 p.m. Saturday5A Division II
Denton Guyer (13-2) vs. Cibolo Steele (13-2)
8 p.m. Saturday5A Division I
Trinity (Euless) (15-0) vs.
Pearland (15-0)
Vernon Newsom Stadium7:30 p.m. Friday1A Division II
Windthorst (14-1) vs.
Falls City (13-1)
Noon Saturday1A Division I
Mart (12-2) vs.
Goldthwaite (12-2)
4 p.m. Saturday2A Division II
Lexington (14-0) vs.
Idalou (11-3)
8 p.m. Saturday2A Division I
Daingerfield (13-1) vs.
Cameron Yoe (Cameron) (14-0)
Note:
Henderson defeated
Chapel Hill (Tyler), 28-21, in last week's 3A Division I championship.
More top stories of the last week from around the Dallas area.
TRINITY STAR LEADS TEAM BACK TO TITLE GAMESenior
Brandon Carter, the Oklahoma commit who plays quarterback, receiver and even occasionally at defensive back, rushed for 120 yards and scored two touchdowns as Trinity (15-0) defeated Round Rock Stony Point, 28-24, in a 5A Division I semifinal. It was the second straight year that Trinity ended Stony Point's season in the state semis. After the game, Stony Point coach Craig Chessher talked about Carter. "Vince Young was the best I've ever gone against, when I was at [Galena Park] North Shore,"
Chessher told The Dallas Morning News. "He's probably the second-best I've been against, and that's some good players there. He's special."
DENTON RYAN RETURNS TO FIRST STATE FINAL SINCE 2003Ryan, which won 4A titles in 2001 and '02, advanced to the 4A Division I final with a 25-20 victory over Wylie. Wylie (11-4) nearly stunned Ryan (15-0) by rallying from a 25-7 deficit in the fourth quarter. Wylie had a fourth-and-goal at the 1 with less than two minutes left, but fumbled on the play and Ryan was able to run out the clock.
ALEDO IS ONE WIN FROM SECOND STRAIGHT TITLEAledo cornerback
Connor Bradham broke up a pass on a 2-point conversion with 1:57 remaining and his team hung on for a 29-27 victory over Mesquite Poteet. Running back
Johnathan Gray, one of the nation's top recruits in the Class of 2012, ran for a 7-yard touchdown with 3:37 left and then ran in the 2-point conversion to give Aledo (15-0) a 29-21 lead. Poteet, which was a combined 1-19 the last two seasons, finished 12-3.
Video of Johnathan GrayPLANO CROSS COUNTRY STAR NEARLY COMPLETES HISTORIC DOUBLE
Rachel Johnson finished second at the Foot Locker national Cross Country Championships Saturday, finishing the 5-kilometer race in 17 minutes, 27 seconds. She was 34 seconds behind winner Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. A week earlier, Johnson won the other major national high school meet, the Nike Cross Country Nationals. No runner has ever won both in the same year.
TOP PERFORMERS* Beau Nowell, Mesquite Poteet football: The quarterback suffered a high-ankle sprain in the second quarter and was carried off the field, but returned in the second half and nearly led his team to a win in the 4A Division II semifinals. Nowell completed 19 of 31 passes for two touchdowns and ran for another in Poteet's 29-27 loss to defending champion Aledo.
* Phillip Miller, Carter (Dallas) basketball: The guard averaged 46.8 points in four games last week. Miller scored 54 in a 78-42 victory over Samuell and 64 in a 113-42 win over Thomas Jefferson.
NEWS AND VIEWSPlano West junior Preston Standley, one of the top golfers in the state, orally committed to North Texas over the weekend. In the Golf Week/Titleist amateur ratings for juniors, Standley is No. 3 in the state behind David Lee and Blake Stasiunas, who are both from the Houston area. … The University Interscholastic League placed Highland Park head basketball coach David Piehler and assistant Travis Snowden on probation for one year for violation of the Sunday prohibition rule. The Sunday prohibition rule from the UIL Constitution states that "a league participant school shall not participate in any athletic contest or conduct any practice or teach any plays, formations or skills on Sunday." … Midway through the second quarter of Saturday's Denton Guyer-Longview 5A Division II semifinal, a fight led to officials announcing that two players for Longview would be ejected and one player for Guyer. But then Longview and Guyer coaches huddled with the officials and convinced them to not eject the players. I've never seen that happen before, and I doubt I will see it again. But at least the personal foul penalties were limited after that.
Matt Wixon is the high school sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He can be reached at mwixon@dallasnews.com or on Twitter @mattwixon.
