New Boston ousts Whitesboro
MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas— Throwing the football is like a trip to the dentist for New Boston coach Jamey Thomas, but he has always claimed the Lions can pass if they have to.
They had to Friday at Sam Parker Field, and Jeff Gladney made them glad they did, sprinting 44 yards with a pass from Aaron Conkleton with 13.6 seconds left to give New Boston a hard-earned, 14-7 area-round playoff victory over Whitesboro.
New Boston (11-1) advances to play Malakoff in the Region II2A quarterfinals, the game tentatively set for 7:30 next Friday at Longview's Lobo Stadium.
The game appeared to be headed for overtime when Whitesboro (10-2) quarterback Kyle Lynn sneaked over right
guard to tie the game with 58 seconds remaining. But the Lions set up shop at their 30-yard line after an out-ofbounds kickoff and marched the distance in eight plays. Keith Baldwin had two big runs in the drive, which stalled at the Bearcat 44 after Conkleton was sacked on second down. With just over 20 seconds left, Conkleton fired in the left flat for Gladney, who made three defenders miss, sprinting ahead for the winning score.
The Lions could have had more breathing space, but had a touchdown pass to Dylan Martin negated by a penalty in the first half and lost another score when the ball was batted from Quinn Dedmon's hands at the lip of the goal line at the end of a 37-yard run, resulting in a fourth-quarter touchback.
"Was that a heck of a game or what," an elated Thomas said after the game. "I'm proud of my kids. They played hard until the end and never gave up. It was a good win for us against a solid football team. Whitesboro really played us well."
Turnovers were the difference in the game. The Bearcats fumbled the slippery football eight times, losing five. Lynn also threw an interception on a botched field goal attempt, Martin making the theft at the Lion 5.
Earlier Whitesboro had a golden opportunity to score when a high punt snap resulted in the Lions turning the ball over at their 4. But at bad snap on first down cost Whitesboro 14 yards and it never recovered, opting for the fateful field goal try.
A fumble recovery by Wesley Holmes gave the Lions a chance to score midway through the final period, but that drive ended up on the Dedmon fumble and touchback.
Dedmon finished with a game-high 151 yards on 23 carries despite losing 15 yards on a fumbled pitchout. That led to a punt that gave Whitesboro the ball at the Lions' 38, and 28-yard screen pass from Lynn to Collin Killcrease took the ball to the 2 from where Lynn scored to tie the game.
Kilcrease was held to 78 yards on 19 carries for the Bearcats, who last week won the first playoff game in school history.
Both defenses stood out in the first half, and Whitesboro had the first scoring chance when punter Dale Bailey flipped the field by booming a 61-yard punt that rolled dead at the Lion 3-yard line.
Whitesboro eventually gained field position at its 41yard line and drove to the New Boston 14 on 10 plays. But on the 11th, Phillip Pyle stripped the ball from fullback Brice Chaney in what would be the first of three fumble recoveries by the Lions in the half.
New Boston put together its best drive after Pyle's recovery, driving to the Lions' 47 before punting. Then came the break that returned field position to New Boston. The punt was fielded at the Whitesboro 9 and returned to the 21, but a block-in-the-back penalty moved it back to the Bearcats' 6.
Whitesboro managed one first down before punting the ball back to the 34, but on the second play from scrimmage Conkleton was stripped of the ball by Dustin Roberts giving the Bearcats possession at their 38.
Two plays later quarterback Kyle Lynn ran straight up the middle before Johnson knocked the ball loose, eventually recovering at the Lion 37 after almost catching the ball in the air.
From there the Lions went to the air, Conkleton firing a deep sideline to Johnson, who made a leaping catch for 24 yards, Next it was a rollout flip to Jeff Gladney for 17 yards to the Bearcat 25.
After two Quinn Dedmon runs netted seven yards, Conkleton found Johnson again around the 5-yard line, and the Northern Illinois recruit easily crossed the goal line to give New Boston a 7-0 lead with 27.2 seconds remaining.
The Lions actually had one more chance when Dale Roberts came up with a fumbled pitchout at the Whitesboro 37. But only 1.3 seconds remained, and a firstdown pass fell incomplete as
the half ended.
The Lions had 153 yards in the half, 94 of it on the ground. Whitesboro managed 123 yards, 85 rushing. New Boston 0 7 0 7 — 14 Whitesboro 0 0 0 7 — 7
Second quarter NB-Jawaun Johnson 18 pass from Aaron Conkleton (Cole Pace kick), 0:27.2
Fourth quarter WB-Kyle Lynn 2 run (Atticus Kilcrease kick), 0:59.5
NB-Jeff Gladney 44 pass from Aaron Conkleton (Pace kick), 0:13.6
NB W’boro First Downs 14 15 Rushes-Yards 43-165 47-154 Yards Passing 93 46 Passes: A-C-I: 11-4-1 12-7-1 Fumbles-lost 7-2 8-5 Penalties-yards 6-42 5-48 Punts-avg. 3-36.3 4-29
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—New Boston, Gladney 1-7, Quinn Dedmon 23-151, Conkleton 5-(-12), Phillip Pyle 2-7, Davontae Wade 2-4, Keith Baldwin 8-42, T. Q. Dedmon 1-(-3) Team 1-(-27). Whitesboro, Collin Kilcrease 19-78, Cody Ford 6-27, Clayton Stringer 3-18, Lynn 12-(-1), Jake Dyer 2-19, Brice Chaney 5-13.
PASSING—New Boston, Conkleton 4-11-193. Whitesboro, Lynn 7-12-1-46.
RECEIVING—New Boston, Gladney 2-61, Johnson 2-42. Whitesboro, C. Kilcrease 5-34, Stringer 2-12.