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The A&M Consolidated football team finally got out of the hole Friday night, but the Tigers didn't get out of character.
Consolidated evened its season record by beating struggling Harker Heights 24-7 at Tigerland Stadium in a win that was solid, but not particularly pretty, like most of the Tigers' victories.
The Tigers continued their recovery from an 0-4 start, lifting their overall mark to 5-5 to reach .500 for the first time this season. Consol improved to 5-1 in District 13-5A and finished second in the league.
Consol will be the district's top seed in the Class 5A Division I playoff bracket. The Tigers will play their bi-district game against the Round Rock Dragons at the Round Rock ISD Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Round Rock, which upset Consol 42-16 in the first round last year, earned a playoff berth by beating Pflugerville 31-10 on Friday.
The Tiger offense struggled through a rare off night against Harker Heights, producing its second-lowest total of the season with 211 yards. However, Consol had a huge edge in the turnover and special teams areas.
"The offense sputtered a little bit," Consol coach Jim Slaughter said. "We've got some work that we need to do. That's the name of our game.
"It just seems to be our nature that we're not going to go out there and look real good. I'm hoping that any scouts that came to watch this game think we're going to be easy."
Slaughter would love to see the Tigers reverse their postseason fortunes from last season, when Consol roared into the playoffs ranked eighth in the state and was eliminated by a Round Rock team that struggled in the regular season.
"It's nice to finish the regular season up with a win," Slaughter said. "We've won three in a row, and five or six, so I'm really pleased with the kids and how they've been playing."
Slaughter was worried about the regular-season finale because the Tigers were expected to win and Heights was able to play loose with no playoff possibilities. Unlike the parachuter who landed on the street outside the stadium during pregame ceremonies, Slaughter was on target.
The Knights took their opening possession 69 yards, gaining a first down at the Consol 11-yard line. However, sophomore cornerback Andrew Fletcher intercepted Ryan Ballentine's fade pass intended for Devin Burns in the end zone and Heights had nothing to show for the impressive drive.
"They didn't quite know what was hitting them early and we were feeling good," Heights coach Todd McVey said. "It was unfortunate that we didn't score. It took a little bit of wind out of our sails."
Although Consol completed only four passes in the game, two went for touchdowns to Taylor Dudley. Early in the second quarter, the junior tight end slipped behind the Knights after a run fake and quarterback Dominic Preston lofted a 21-yard touchdown pass into the end zone.
The extra point went wide right, and the kicking game seemed certain to deal the Tigers more misery a few minutes later when Ballentine's 65-yard punt was downed at the Consol 2.
However, the officials were guilty of an inadvertent whistle on the play. After making the Tigers set up at the 2, the officials eventually agreed with Slaughter's contention that the down be replayed because of the whistle.
Consol took over at the 34 after the subsequent punt, and the field position paid off two possessions later. Ballentine shanked a 9-yard punt, setting up the Tigers at the Heights 33 with 1 minute and 31 seconds left in the half.
Preston dashed for 24 yards on a third-and-10 bootleg, then threw a 9-yard touchdown to Dudley. Preston's two-point conversion run pushed the lead to 14-0.
"That [inadvertent whistle] hurt us, because I thought that was a big momentum thing and this game was about momentum for our guys," McVey said.
Josh Matthews kicked a 33-yard field goal midway through the third quarter to push the lead to 17-0, but the Knights fought back. Heights went on an 80-yard drive, capped by a 33-yard touchdown pass from Ballentine to Jordan Menking.
Trailing 17-7 with 10:40 left in the game, the Knights attempted an onside kick that was recovered by Consol center Taylor Reynolds.
The Tigers got some breathing room on an 11-yard touchdown run by Jarvon Searcy. A junior who switched from starting safety to running back at midseason, Searcy had his career high for the second consecutive game with a team-leading 78 yards on 12 carries.
• Larry Bowen's e-mail address is larry.bowen@theeagle.com.
