Texas Football

By Travis Stewart/Texas Football

From the team that's beginning to define the term "almost" (Cisco), to the pair that never seems to say die (Comfort and McGregor) Class 2A has arguably more storylines to it than any other class in the state.

Brady 43, Amarillo River Road 34
River Road became the feel good story of the 2A playoffs with its back-to-back upsets of Muleshoe and Littlefield, but Brady became the one hump that it just couldn't clear this weekend in the regional finals. River Road had found success over the past two weeks on the ground, but Brady's Wing T offense churned out almost 400 rushing yards through the efforts of a number of ball carriers, most notably Seth Bozeman, who ate up 131 on only seven carries. But opportunistic River Road wasn't ready to quit, turning third-quarter and fourth-quarter Brady fumbles into touchdowns to keep within striking distance. Brady was just too versatile, however, getting touchdowns out of four different players to keep the River Road defense guessing. Now it faces Pilot Point in the state semifinals -- one round further than it got last season.

Crane 31, Cisco 28 (OT)
Cisco continues to be the team that just can't quite take that one last step, and its loss to Crane this weekend just has to hurt for the seniors that have been so close, so many times throughout their careers. It looked like destiny was smiling on Cisco's side as it slowly started clawing its way back from a 21-7 halftime deficit, continually forcing turnovers and converting them into scores to knot the game up at 21. Even when Crane's Jordan Cavazos exploded for a 62-yard touchdown run, Cisco fired right back with a 54-yard drive that evened up the score yet again. Crane's defense stuffed a critical fourth down play late in the game to force overtime, then recovered a fumble on Cisco's opening drive of the extra frame. Fabian Moreno kicked the game-winning field goal minutes later to seal the victory.

Refugio 21, Altair Rice 14
Like Gilmer up in Class 3A, we knew Refugio had to play a close game at some point, and like the Gobblers, title favorites in 3A DI, Refugio passed with flying colors. Trailing 14-7, Refugio scored the final 14 points of the game, the last of which came at the end of a 98-yard drive that ultimately settled the final margin. With things tied at 14, Rice was threatening to take a 21-14 lead with time starting to become a factor. But Cory Brown intercepted a Myles Dumont pass at the goal line, setting up Refugio for the lengthy drive that Draigon Silvas finished off with a 19-yard touchdown run. The pick came in the defense of Mario Hull, one of Texas' top receivers, and sets up a fourth-round matchup between Refugio and Blanco -- a rematch of an '08 regional final that Blanco won, 27-7.

Pilot Point 24, Godley 23
Well, this one certainly took the air out of my state champion pick -- Godley, which had passed any number of tests through the course of this season, came up a point short this weekend when Pilot Point's Ruben Martinez converted a 26-yard field goal with zeroes on the clock, trumping Godley's apparent game-winner from 22 yards just two minutes earlier. It wasn't the first time Godley looked to have built a lead that it wouldn't relinquish -- it led 20-6 in the third quarter, but Pilot Point fought back with a field goal, forced punt, touchdown, forced four-and-out and then another touchdown to set up the dramatic finale. Once again, Pilot Point RB Jarman Johnson was fantastic, rushing for 140 yards and a touchdown on just 24 carries. Godley managed to run the ball well -- 358 yards on 43 carries -- but the passing game managed just 17 yards. That's a side effect of the offensive system, but against a balanced team like Pilot Point, it's not always a winning formula.

Comfort 38, George West 24
This clash wasn't a one-possession game (something we tried to target in this week's reviews) but it certainly was a stunner, and now Comfort joins teams like Lorena and Klein amongst the ranks of those that we never thought would still be alive at this point. For those who missed it, Comfort somewhat unexpectedly lost its head coach over the offseason -- he resigned after just one year on the job. It then stumbled to a 5-5 regular season finish, which didn't exactly inspire our confidence. Well, Comfort's new coach, Chip Mayfield, has apparently found a winning formula. QB Joseph Carlos rushed for almost 100 yards, threw for 158 more and accounted for three scores in Comfort's surprising win over George West. George West was missing a few of its starters (or at least part of them, since Cayleb Holt had an apendectomy just days before the game), but Comfort deserves all the credit -- it scored the final 14 points of the game to seal the win.

McGregor 31, Aubrey 21
The same week that Highland Park's Randy Allen bowed out of the postseason, Aubrey's G.A. Moore, Jr., one of just three coaches with 270+ wins that were still active this postseason, followed his lead. Only Newton's Curtis Barbay (314 and counting) is still going now. But you have to give McGregor credit -- this group is challenging Comfort for the early lead in the 2A Team of the Year award race, and its win over favored Aubrey now makes it 13-0 in a year that it was predicted to miss the playoffs in. Aubrey's Billy Feathers scored three times to keep his team in the game, but McGregor turned a first-quarter fumble into a touchdown and returned a pick for another just 9 minutes it to the game. That 14-0 lead was enough cushion for McGregor to earn the victory.

Newton 41, Linden Kildare 29
How surprising was it to see Newton trailing 13-7 at halftime? Considering Linden-Kildare is a pretty talented group, it shouldn't be a total shocker. But Newton showed just how good it can be when it scored 22 points in the third quarter, detonating, L-K's early advantage once again advancing to a regional final. Kelvin Bennett, who got banged up in the regular season finale against Kibyville, made his return to the offense and rushed for 191 yards and two scores, the second of which was a 51-yard strike in the fourth that buried any chance of a L-K comeback.