Richland 37, Mansfield Timberview 27

October 27, 2023

Birdville Fine Arts/Athletics Complex

North Richland Hills, TX

In a battle of unbeaten teams who were realtively untested, the Richaland Royals notched one of their biggest wins in several years as they took down heavily favored and state ranked Mansfield Timberview to seize control of the 5-5A Division I race on a rainy late October night in Northeast Tarrant County.

Early on it appeared speedy Timberview would run away and hide from the Royals as on the game’s second offensive play QB Zuric Humes connected with Cameron Bates for a 62-yard touchdown to give the Wolves an early 6-0 edge (PAT failed on a bad snap). After a Richland three and out, Timberview would strike quickly once again as Humes would hit WR AJ Moore for a long pass inside the RHS five-yard line and two plays later Jaylon Woods would punch it in from two yards out for the score to make it 13-0 with 9:40 left in the first quarter after the PAT was good.

Richland would settle in after that as the Royals leaned heavily on their ground game with junior RB Michael Turner leading the way, but the Royals first score came on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Drew Kates to Deon Jones to cut the Timberview lead to 13-7. Richland, who had moved inside THS territory elected to go for it on 4th and 2 and hit the jackpot with the score.

Timberview would punt on their next two drives, while Richland would move the ball well on their third series but the Royals would come away empty handed as they missed a field goal. Richland would grab their first lead of the night late in the first quarter as Kates and Jones would again link up, this time from 47-yards out to put the home-standing Royals up 14-13.

After forcing another Timberview punt, Richland would go almost exclusively to the run game and Turner rewarded his coaches faith as he found the end zone on a one-yard run capping a 14-play 90-yard drive to put RHS up 21-13 with just under five minutes left in the first half. Timberview would answer with their best drive of the game by far as the Wolves marched 17 plays and 70-yards to tie the game up right before halftime as Woods would score on a short run and then catch the two-point PAT pass from Humes to tie the game at 21-21 going into the halftime break.

Richland would open the third quarter up with a statement drive of their own as Turner would cap a six-play drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to give the Royals the lead back at 28-21. The big play on the drive was a 42-yard run by Turner. After a Timberview punt and Richland turnover on downs, the Wolves would answer back to cut the Richland lead as Timberview capitalized on the short field with Woods again scoring, this time from 17-yards out to make it 28-27. However, the PAT was blocked and returned the other way for two points by Richland’s Zaid Walker to give the Royals a 30-27 edge.

Richland would take that momentum and extend the lead to two scores right before the end of the third quarter as Turner would score from a yard out to extend it to 37-27, the key play on this drive was a 64-yard pass from Kates to Xavier Johnson.

After a Timberview punt early in the fourth quarter Richland would hold the ball for over five minutes on their next series going on a 17-play drive that stalled out in the Timberview red zone, the Royals although they didn’t score effectively put Timberview in desperation mode from there on out. THS would turn it over on downs on their next series after getting one first down and then Richland would effectively drain the rest of the clock with two late first downs to close out the upset victory and clinch a district title.

Junior RB Michael Turner was the star for Richland with a breakout performance rushing for 163 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries for Richland. Richland would end the year with a 12-1 record advancing to the regional semifinals, while Timberview finished 9-2 losing in the first round of the playoffs to Frisco Wakeland.