Waco Midway (7-1, 7-0) took down No. 8 Temple (8-1, 6-1) to clinch a share of the District 12-6A title on Friday night. The Panthers nailed a 27-yard field goal with 4:33 remaining in the game and were able to get a crucial stop in the last seconds to clinch the win. 

Midway running back James Fullbright led the Panther offense with 212 rushing yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.

“James is James, I don’t even know what to say — he just keeps churning it out week after week,” Midway head coach Jeff Hulme said.

The Panthers were able to gain momentum during key points in the game because of aggressive play-calling from Hulme. Midway elected to go for it on 4th down six times in the game — including from their own nine-yard line. The aggressive play-calling paid off as Midway was able to extend their drives.

“Our guys know that I’m going to give them the green light to go for it on fourth down,” Hulme said. “We didn’t get it every time but we got more than we didn’t get.”

With the win, the Panthers clinched their share of the District 12-6A championship and can lock up sole possession when they host Belton (7-2, 6-1) next week.

“We can’t get too high about this one because Belton is a great team and they are fighting for a district championship as well,” Hulme said. “I think we’re going to have a great week of practice and we’ll be ready to go.”

Temple suffered their first loss of the season to the Panthers and it likely pits them against Longview in the bi-district round of the playoffs two weeks from now.

“They are a good football team, it’s weird how with a good football team, the ball bounces their way,” Temple head coach Scott Stewart said.

With the score tied at 28-28 and 8:02 remaining in the game, the Wildcats fumbled the ball at their own 42-yard line. The Panthers were then able to milk the clock and ultimately hit a 27-yard game-winning field goal. The Wildcats finished the night with five turnovers.

“We can’t give them the ball. We need to work on not giving up turnovers. If you turn the ball over that many times to that caliber of a team, we were lucky it wasn’t 51-28,” Stewart said.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats were able to get their running game going led by feature back Anthony Jackson, and 6-foot-6 quarterback Jared Wiley.

“I thought our offense played really well, you shouldn’t lose when you score 28 points,” Stewart said. “We ran the ball really well tonight, Jared is crucial in the running game too, he’s 230 pounds and so tough to bring down.”

The Wildcats travel to Copperas Cove (6-3, 4-3) next week where they will face the Bulldawgs in their regular season finale. Stewart says that his biggest message to his team will be not to take the loss too hard and to emphasize they still have a lot to play for.

“We just have to go back to the grind. We’re going to go look at the film and be really critical of ourselves,” Stewart said. “This game doesn’t define us — we just have to relax, take a breath and keep going.”