6. Forney 32, Crandall 30, 3OT

October 7, 2021

Week 7 District 8-5A Division II Play

Forney, TX

Crandall and Forney are old rivals on FM741; in the 80’s and 90’s this rivalry was one of the most intense in all of the state. Growth hit Forney first and as the community grew the rivalry died out for about 10 years. However, with Crandall’s steady growth these two were back in the same district and played the kind of game in Week 7 that can reignite this rivalry as Forney took home a Thursday night triple overtime thriller that would be key in securing third place in the competitive 8-5A Division II. 

It was a back and forth affair from the start with Forney jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead on a 20-yard field goal from Braden Merchant. Crandall would answer with a 12-play, 71-yard drive capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run from Chris Abron. 

Both defenses would settle in for the rest of the first quarter and much of the second as the next score came with 5:20 left in the second quarter as Forney would tie the game up at 6-6 on a 31-yard field goal from Merchant. It wouldn’t take long for Crandall to grab the lead back as Abron would cap off a six play, 72-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 13-6 lead that they would hold going to the locker room. 

After forcing a Crandall punt on the opening drive of the second half, Forney would tie the game up as on 4th and 6 from the Crandall nine-yard line. the Jackrabbits would tie the game up at 13-13 as Jake White found Zachary Fuller for a touchdown and the subsequent PAT would tie things up. The touchdown pass capped off an impressive fourteen play drive from FHS. 

Forney’s defense would force Crandall punts on the next three drives and with 5:20 left in the game, Forney would grab the lead back at 20-13 as Josh Stephens would score from three-yards out to cap off a thirteen play 77-yard drive. This would start a wild flurry in the game’s final five minutes as on 4th and 9 from their own 49 with just over four minutes left Crandall would tie the game up at 20-20 as on a trick play WR Samuel Omosigho hooked up with Luke Moffitt for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 4:09 remaining. 

Forney would grab the lead at 23-20 with under a minute left as Merchant nailed a 41-yard field goal with 0:54 left, capping off a tremendous twelve play 81-yard drive. Crandall would scramble with an incredible one-minute drill in which they rattled off eleven plays and moved 54 yards to set up on the final play of regulation a 37-yard Brandon Perez field goal to tie things up at 23-23 to send the game to overtime. 

Forney would open overtime with a one-yard touchdown run from Jon’Richard Washington to put the Jackrabbits up 30-23. Crandall would answer on their series as QB Jamonte Gordon-West scored on a twelve-yard run and Perez’s PAT would tie the game up at 30-30. Crandall in the second overtime would get the ball first after the two team’s switched ends, but the Pirates came up empty as Perez missed a 35-yard field goal, giving Forney a shot to win the game. 

Forney was unable to take advantage of the missed field goal as the Jackrabbits would fumble on their series and Crandall recovered the fumble to send the game to a third overtime and set up each coaches first foray into the new overtime rules where each team would alternate two point conversion attempts. 

Forney would go first and on a trick play Josh Stephens found Jake White for their two-point try to give Forney a 32-20 lead. Crandall, on their two-point try, would go with a swinging gate play and the Forney defense would stand tall forcing the incomplete pass and sending the big Forney crowd into a frenzy as Forney took home the 32-30 win, which would prove to be vital in Forney’s third place run.