| Get BrazosSports by Email | Contact Us | Archive
The Rockdale Tigers rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Lorena 19-18 on Thursday to get into the Division II championship bracket with District 24-3A mates Navasota and Cameron at the FOX Sports Southwest 7-on-7 State Championship.
Playing in 102-degree temperatures, Rockdale prevailed in its final pool play game when Lorena was unable to complete a conversion pass. That play finished off a strong defensive effort by the Tigers, who knew they needed a victory to qualify for the championship bracket in the Class A-3A division.
"We got to the championship bracket, which is what we wanted to do," Rockdale senior quarterback Joe Sanders said. "That conversion stop was crucial."
It was a comeback day for Rockdale. The Tigers lost to Snyder 42-28 but rebounded to beat Lago Vista 34-13, giving themselves a chance at avoiding the consolation bracket. The victory over Lorena also provided some small measure of revenge for Rockdale. Lorena had used a last-second field goal in the 2007 Class 3A playoffs to oust the Tigers.
Lorena quarterbacks Sky Dolezel and Fisher Simpson each had scoring passes on the Leopards' first two possessions, but Rockdale stymied Lorena until late in the game as Enrique Torres, Derrick Mynar and Tyler Wright each had an interception for the Tigers.
Sanders threw two scoring passes to Brandon Gibbs to start the comeback, then Justin Elliot pulled in a pass just across the goal, leaning across the sideline to make the grab.
Lorena still had a chance to tie when Dolezel threw to Simpson, who was wide open in the end zone. But the pass was rulled incomplete because Dolezel hadn't released it before the 4-second whistle sounded.
District 24-3A has three of the 16 teams still in contention for the championship.
Navasota was one of seven teams to sweep its pool, posting a 3-0 record.
Navasota opened with a 46-27 victory over Palestine Westwood but trailed early at 14-7. The Rattlers got their first defensive stop when Justin Whitfield knocked away a pass from Westwood junior quarterback Tevin Watson, then Navasota's Aaron Collins followed with an interception. The Rattler defense held Westwood for a third straight scoreless possession to help Navasota build a 39-14 lead, scoring on the last possession of the first half and the first possession of the second.
Kye Hildreth threw four scoring passes to Tevin Creeks, including a nifty connection in the right corner of the end zone as Hildreth aimed high and Creeks went up to get it.
"[Creeks] was playing out of his mind," Hildreth said.
Navasota then beat Hardin-Jefferson 39-21 and finished off its day with a 20-15 victory over Abilene Wylie.
While Navasota swept, the Cameron Yoemen had to sweat out their games to reach the championship bracket.
Cameron had just 3 minutes rest between a 27-20 double-overtime victory over Edna and its game against the Graham Steers. Graham, led by quarterback Case McCoy who is the brother of Texas' Colt McCoy, won 33-31.
Case McCoy's second scoring pass to fellow senior Garrett Spears gave the Steers a 33-19 lead, but the Yoemen rallied. Cameron's Steven Townsend rolled left into his own end zone and threw a bomb to Brandon Freeman on the opposite side of the field for their third touchdown connection of the second half.
"I just had to keep running my route and not give up and hopefully he could get the ball to me," Freeman said. "We've been playing together since we were 3 years old, pee wee league on up."
A Cameron two-point conversion attempt as the game ended fell incomplete.
The Yoemen beat Melissa 21-18 and finished in a three-way tie in their pool with Melissa and Graham at 2-1. Cameron and Graham advanced to the championship bracket by a tiebreaker.
Two-time champion Celina scored 137 points to join Navasota among the unbeaten teams. Snyder, Glen Rose, Gatesville, Brownwood and Burnet also posted 3-0 records.
The Division II championship game is tentatively scheduled for 12:45 p.m. Friday at Kyle Field.
First-round play in Division I (5A-4A) begins at 1 p.m. at Texas A&M's Penberthy Intramural Fields.
