Cedar Ridge rolls in playoffs opener
Bakare, Coss help Raiders open wide lead in rout of Akins.
By the end of the first half Thursday night, Cedar Ridge had pretty much wrapped up a first-round victory in the Class 6A, Division I football playoffs.
Simi Bakare rushed for three first-half touchdowns and Ezekiel Coss added two TD passes in the opening two quarters, helping the Raiders (10-1) open a 35-0 lead in an eventual 63-14 victory over Akins.
Cedar Ridge held Akins (3-8) scoreless until only 1 second remained in the half, and the Raiders sacked Nick Cagle three times before halftime, with senior defensive end Victor Winston accounting for two of those sacks.
“Our D-line is really quick, and we’ve got some depth there, too,” Raiders coach Sam Robinson said. “We play six or seven guys that we can run at them. They’re fresh, and their pass rush stays pretty hard all game long.”
After he scored on first-quarter carries of 10 and 4 yards, Bakare’s final carry of the opening half resulted in the half ’s longest play from scrimmage, a 60-yard TD burst.
“I’m more of a defensive coach,” Robinson said, “and in practices back in the spring, our defensive backs didn’t want any part of him. He gets to the second level so quick, and he is a load when he gets there.”
Coss fired a pass to the wideopen Jaylen Ellis, who scampered into the end zone for a 62-yard TD on the Raiders’ first drive after halftime at Reeves Athletic Complex.
Coss completed 9 of 11 passes for 159 yards, and Ellis totaled 97 yards on his two receptions, which included a 35-yarder for a TD. Bakare had 111 yards on nine carries.
After catching Cagle’s 1-yard touchdown pass just before halftime, Jeremiah Brown tossed an 18-yard scoring pass to Greg Boreson in the game’s final minute.
Cedar Ridge will face Klein Oak or Aldine Davis next week in an area-round matchup.
■ Magnolia West 42, Rouse 31: One year after losing to Connally by a point in a bidistrict playoff, Magnolia West topped a different District 19-5A opponent to advance to the area round of the Class 5A, Division I playoffs.
Junior John Matocha completed 17 of 24 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns for Magnolia West (9-1). Rouse, which closed with a 5-6 record, gained only 208 total yards — just 63 in the opening half when Magnolia West built a 28-17 lead.
Trailing 14-0, Rouse drew within four points as Taye Biel scored on a 73-yard kickoff return and Jacob Zepeda converted a 32-yard field goal.
Magnolia West answered with back-to-back touchdowns, the first an 11-yard pass from Matocha to Simon Gonzalez, who finished the game with seven catches for 177 yards. Zach Ogden added a 2-yard TD run for Magnolia West with 1:19 to go in the first half.
Rouse drove 54 yards in a little more than a minute to pull within 28-17 at halftime after Ethan Moore tossed a 7-yard TD pass to Michael Ombres.
The Raiders trailed only 28-24 in the third quarter when Tavian Tate raced 39 yards for a touchdown, but Matocha and Gonzalez hooked up for a 68-yard TD pass. Ogden added another 2-yard touchdown carry in the fourth quarter.
■ Edna 33, Lago Vista 21: A blocked punt and a long interception return helped Edna (7-4) defeat Lago Vista in a Class 3A, Division I bidistrict playoff at Memorial Stadium in Cedar Creek.
Edna’s Tristen Pruitt blocked Jared DeFelice’s punt in the second quarter deep in Lago Vista territory. Dayton McCoy then scored for the Cowboys on a 5-yard run.
Edna added a 46-yard burst for a touchdown by Deion Callis on his only carry of the game, and later in the second quarter, Sherman Thompson intercepted DeFelice’s pass and returned it 73 yards to the Vikings’ 3. Kenny Haynes scored from the 1 to make it 19-0.
Lago Vista (6-5) put up its first points with 11 seconds to play in the first half when DeFelice tossed a 25-yard TD pass to Connor Reighley.
Haynes, a 6-foot-2 junior who added second-half TD runs of 2 and 6 yards, entered the postseason contest with more than 1,600 yards rushing this season, but he was limited to 83 yards on 20 carries.
■ Hallettsville 47, Luling 0: D.J. Taylor threw four touchdown passes, ran for a TD and scored on a pick six to lead Hallettsville (9-1) to a bidistrict victory in the Class 3A, Division I playoffs.
Hallettsville led 14-0 at halftime, but the Brahmas pulled away by scoring TDs on their final six drives. Taylor’s 27-yard return for a TD made it 32-0 in the third quarter.
Luling (4-6) mustered only 91 yards of total offense. likely that Rouse was headed to its 34th straight victory. The Raiders have won all six of their playoff matches in straight sets, thanks to McCall and a talented supporting cast.
Senior Maddie Sheehan contributed 29 assists and nine digs Friday. Playing fiercely at the net, seniors Dani Cole and Ava Bell — a North Carolina signee — combined for 16 kills. Grayson Schirpik, Katy Northcut and Reilly Heinrich combined for 37 digs.
Raiders coach Jacob Thompson praised McCall for her second-set highlights but said she’s not a one-woman show.
“I expect all of them to play like that, and we preach that every day in practice,” he said. “Unless it’s a terrible ball, they’re all swinging.”
Aledo (37-14) also led in the third set 10-9 before Rouse closed out the match.
Sheehan, a senior who watched Rouse fail to reach state for three straight years, said the seeds for a successful 2017 season were planted after a five-set loss to Cedar Park last year in the Region III final in Houston.
“When we set goals this year, we knew we had the talent to make it to the state tournament,” Sheehan said. “Not just to make it to the state tournament, but win the state tournament.”
Prosper warmed up for the 5A final by sweeping Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway 25-22, 25-23, 25-15 in their semifinal. The Eagles have lost just one set in six playoff victories.