Final Flurry
Last-play touchdown catch by senior Boring gives Tigers win
After dropping a touchdown pass earlier in the fourth quarter, Jackson Boring was in the right spot to make perhaps the biggest play in Arlington football history.
Boring, a senior, caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tate Kolwyck with no time on the clock to give the Tigers a heart-stopping
34-32 victory over visiting Houston in the second round of the 6A playoffs Friday.
The Tigers (10-2) advance to the quarterfinals for the first time. They’ll travel next week to face Whitehaven, which scored with 15 seconds to go to defeat Clarksville Rossview, 14-7.
“I’m in shock,” said Boring. “The ball tipped twice and I just sort of gator-armed it and brought it in. It feels great. I knew I had to do something to make up for that dropped touchdown.”
Trailing 32-28, the Tigers got the ball back after stopping Houston on a fourth-and-two on their own 22 with 58 seconds left to go. Kolwyck, a freshman who finished with four touchdown passes, drove the Tigers into striking range.
It looked like Houston had held, but the Mustangs (10-2) were called for pass interference, giving Arlington one more shot with the clock showing all zeros. Kolwyck lofted it up in the end zone and the ball tipped off two players’ hands before settling softly in Boring’s arms.
“This is just surreal,” said Tigers coach Chris Wiley. “We actually practice that (situation) ... but wow.”
In addition to his final scoring pass, Kolwyck had touchdown passes of 63 and 14 yards to Bryan Lewis and 32 yards to Tavarious Foster. He also scrambled 47 yards in the first quarter to set up Keelon Webber’s nine-yard run that opened the scoring.
“He’s grown up so much,” said Boring, himself a former quarterback.
“It was a great performance; this game is about him, not me.”
In addition to Boring’s dropped TD, the Tigers survived a fumble that set up Jared Schmidt’s 29yard pass to Chase Moss-Pioreck that put Houston ahead 32-28 and an interception in the end zone by Kennedy Sanders that could have given them the lead earlier in the fourth on the next possession.
Schmidt also threw a pair of scoring passes to Chanse Pullen. Colby Cartwright had two touchdown runs for the Mustangs, who were the leading offensive team in Shelby County during the regular season.
“They are an unbelievable team,” said Wiley. “I think we did get down on ourselves a little bit but we fought through it.”