Knights nip Stingarees to reach playoffs
Score in final two minutes punches fourth straight ticket to postseason
MISSOURI CITY — Elkins could have lost to Texas City and still made the playoffs — but only if it lost badly enough.
Seems counterintuitive, right? Coach Dennis Brantley thought so, too.
“There we so many scenarios that I couldn’t understand it, so I said, ‘Forget it. If we lose, we don’t deserve to go,’ ” Brantley said.
After rallying past the Stingarees 30-27 on Saturday night, the Knights are plenty deserving.
Texas City took its first lead with 2:30 left, but El- kins answered less than a minute later when Leonard Harris III high-stepped into the end zone for a playoff-clinching victory at Hall Stadium.
With the win, Elkins (5-5, 5-2 in District 23-5A) knocked out Texas City (4-6, 3-4) and finalized Willowridge’s first playoff trip since 2009.
If the Knights had lost by less than three points, Texas City and Willowridge would have clinched.
If they’d lost by four points or more, they still would have gone to the playoffs, but Willowridge would have stayed home.
None of that matters now as the Knights are postseason-bound for the fourth straight year.
Elkins opens the Class 5A Division I Region III playoffs next with a bidistrict matchup against Madison (8-2).
“It feels great,” said receiver Vernon Harrell, who had touchdown grabs of 39 and 20 yards.
Texas City tied it 13-13 at halftime and 20-20 in the third quarter and went ahead at 27-23 with 2:30 left on a 4-yard run by quarterback Da’Quan Thompson, who bounced off two would-be tacklers.
But the Knights responded in only 52 seconds.
Harris, bottled up much of the night, scored on an 18-yard run with 1:38 left, putting the Knights up by three points.
Rodney McGraw II’s interception with 13.2 seconds left sealed it.
Harris finished with 126 yards and two TDs on 23 carries.
“They had a good game plan for him,” Brantley said. “But if you keep feeding him the ball, he’s going to make something happen.”
The Knights ruled the first quarter.
They carried a 13-point advantage into the second quarter after back-to-back touchdown drives capped by Harris’ 1-yard run and Luke LeBlanc’s 39-yard strike to Harrell, respectively.
But a missed extra point after the second TD left them with a 13-0 lead.
The Stingarees answered with a 13-play, 67yard drive, converting two fourth downs and scoring on Gavin Raines’ 16-yard reception, and then they forced consecutive threeand-outs by Elkins.
The Stingarees pulled even on Jared Hernandez’s 16-yard TD run with 3:39 left in the first half, and that’s where the score remained at the break after Ricardo Robledo misfired on an extra-point try.
Hernandez led Texas City with 105 yards and two TDs on 24 rushes.
“We had some trouble in the (second quarter), but we kept on fighting,” Harrell said.
Elkins finished with 398 total yards and 19 first downs. LeBlanc was 16of-32 passing for 259 yards and two scores.
Texas City produced 338 yards and 15 first downs, with Thompson throwing for 175 yards and two TDs (one rushing).
Elkins prevailed after trailing in the fourth quarter for the third consecutive week.
“Texas City is a tough team — well-coached, hard-nosed kids, (and) their coach does a great job,” Brantley said. “I told the kids it’s going to go down to the end again. We’re a fourth-quarter team, and we came back in the fourth quarter and took care of business.”