San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Southwest Legacy 42, Brackenridge 22
Quick take: For the second straight season, Southwest Legacy is in the second round of the playoffs.
The Titans pulled away in the second half and cruised to a win over Brackenridge 43-22 in a
Class 5A Division I bidistrict game Friday night at Legacy’s Titan Stadium.
The fourth-year program moves to 10-1 under first-year coach Robert Bruce.
“Coach (John) Tarvin did a great job of laying the foundation,” Bruce said of the coach who started the program.
“We just want to continue that tradition.”
The tradition continues with the Titans matching up with District 15-5A-I runner-up Gregory-Portland on Thursday at the Alamodome. The Wildcats beat McAllen 54-13 to set up the arearound matchup.
Brackenridge (6-5) kept things close, tying the game near the start of the second half, but a series of miscues led to an onslaught by the Titans, who took advantage of the mistakes to pull away.
Highlights: The scoring started quickly as the Titans recovered a fumble on the game’s opening kickoff.
Brackenridge’s Miguel Sanchez took the boot and quickly was swarmed by the Titans’ coverage team. After the play was over, Legacy came out of the pile with the ball at the Eagles’ 33.
Zezar Tovar capped off the 9-play drive with a 1-yard plunge on a read option play up the middle of the Brackenridge defense.
The Titans needed a reverse play on their first third-down situation to extend the drive. Javier Murillo took the pitch from Fernando Flores on a third-and-5.
Brackenridge quickly answered on its next possession. Taking the ball at their own 28, the Eagles stayed mainly on the ground with long runs from Aiden Garcia and Richard Lopez to steadily move the ball on the Titans’ defense. Brackenridge was faced with fourth-and-1 near midfield, but Lopez was able to connect with Garcia for 6 yards to keep the drive alive.
Lopez then sealed the drive with a 3-yard scoring run.
On the previous play, Lopez weaved his way through the Legacy defense for a 17-yard run. He accounted for 33 yards on five carries to lead the offense on the drive.
With the wind at its back, Southwest Legacy took to the air
on its third drive. Tovar connected with Jeremiah Sifuentes first for a 20-yard pass play. Tovar then found Murillo for 28 yards. After moving the ball inside the 10-yard line, a personal foul pushed back the Titans to the 24-yard line. That’s when Tovar found Murillo all alone on the right side of the end zone to push the score to 14-7.
On Brackenridge’s next drive, the Eagles made their way down the field behind the arm of Lopez, who completed five of his first six throws on the drive. But with the ball at their Titans’ 11-yard line, Lopez was picked off in the end zone by Southwest Legacy’s Ramon Renteria when a ball intended for Marcquise Anthony
came up short as the wind appeared to hold the ball in the air. Renteria returned the interception 15 yards to keep the Titans ahead in the first half.
Brackenridge tied the game with 6:37 left in the third quarter. The Eagles’ defense came up with a turnover when it forced the ball out of Flores’ hands. Christian Salazar recovered the loose ball at the Brackenridge 37. The Eagles needed a fourth-down conversion from Lopez, who snuck through the middle of the line on fourthand-1 to keep the drive alive at midfield. A few plays later, Lopez found Anthony over the middle in an open spot in the Titans’ defense. The senior then outran the
Southwest Legacy defense into the end zone for the tying score.
Southwest Legacy’s offense recovered from its turnover and went to work, using only four plays to move the ball 54 yards. Once again, Tovar hooked up with Murillo in the same spot on the right side of the end zone to push the Titans back on top 21-14 with 4:56 left in the third quarter.
On Brackenridge’s next drive, the Eagles were unable to get anything going, failing on three straight pass attempts. The ball then sailed over the punter’s head on the punt attempt. Brackenridge’s punter recovered the ball in the end zone, and the Titans’ Abraham Padilla was right there to bring down Camden Bookwalter for a safety.
The Titans started pulling away late in the third quarter. Taking over near midfield after the safety, Southwest Legacy went 46 yards on seven plays including a 26-yard rush by Tovar on thirdand-11 to set up the Titans at the 16. Three plays later, Tovar found Ryan Mendoza-Castruita on a screen pass to the left side. The Titans took advantage of an aggressive Eagles defense that overcommitted to the left side, and Mendoza-Castruita waltzed in for his first touchdown of the season.
Things just kept getting worse for Brackenridge on its next drive. Isaiah Ulibarri forced the ball loose from Marcus Nuñez, and J.T Connor scooped up the loose ball at the Eagles’ 38.
Southwest Legacy added to its lead near the start of the fourth quarter with Tovar taking the ball in for a score to cap off an eightplay drive. The score put the Titans ahead 36-14 with 10:17 left in the game.
Rene Robles-Martinez then recovered the ensuing kickoff as the Brackenridge return team was unable to field the kickoff cleanly, adding to the Eagles’ misery.
A Tovar 24-yard pass to Murillo extended the lead. Murillo hauled in the pass over two Brackenridge defenders who had managed to deflect the ball. Murillo kept his concentration on the ball and fell to the ground with the reception to give Southwest Legacy a commanding 43-14 lead.
Quotable: “Since we’ve been here we’ve practiced situations,” Bruce said of capitalizing on the opponents mistakes.
“Coach (Kyle) Black does a great job with special teams to make plays. They were able to get us the ball back so we could get some points.”
Game balls: The Titans’ quarterback was the catalyst for Southwest Legacy’s offense. Tovar finished the game with 172 yards on 12-of-18 passing and four touchdowns. The senior also added two rushing touchdowns.
Tovar’s main target was Murillo, who ended the game with 121 yards and three scores.
Brackenridge was led by Lopez. The senior signal-caller passed for 164 yards on 16-of-26 passing and a touchdown.
Up next: Southwest Legacy faces Gregory-Portland at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Alamodome.