Horns down & out

The game was never in doubt in the fourth quarter.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some uneasiness.

Kingfisher moved into the quarterfinals for the third straight year with last Friday’s 51-41 victory over visiting Lone Grove.

The game was tied at halftime before the Jackets took a two-touchdown lead into the fourth and were up 44-21 with 5:29 to play.

However, KHS also gave up 27 points in the fourth quarter, including 20 points in the final 4:00.

“It’s always great to win; always great to advance in the playoffs,” head coach Jeff Myers said. “But there were some breakdowns late that we just can’t have movforward.”

Kingfisher seemingly was on easy street when Jarret Birdwell picked off a Jace Bradenburg pass and, just a few plays later, caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from Tate

Taylor was the third Jacket to throw a TD in the game and the second to do it on a “trick play” as Lone Grove’s defense bit on what it thought was a reverse only to see Taylor pull up and heave it to a wide open Birdwell.

That put the Jackets up by 23 points with 5:29 to go, but less than two minutes later the defense surrendered a 76-yard touchdown pass from Bradenburg to Malik Brown.

After a KHS punt, the Longhorns needed one play for Gavin Peery to catch a short pass, shrug off a tackle and race 80 yards for a TD. After Cooper Robinson’s two-point run, the Longhorns were within 44-35 with 2:11 left.

Judson Birdwell’s paws swallowed up the ensuing onside kick (Alan Munoz recovered the previous attempt by the Longhorns) and Kingfisher bought itself some breathing room.

Cade Stephenson shed tacklers 10 yards past the line of scrimmage and was eventually pushed out of bounds at the Lone Grove 2 after a 58-yard run.

Mason Mecklenburg scored two plays later for a 51-35 advantage with 1:12 left.

But Lone Grove still wasn’t done.

Brown got a solid kick return and a face mask penalty compounded the damage for KHS. Peerylater grabbed an 11-yard touchdown out of the air to get the Longhorns within 10 with 32.5 seconds left.

Their final, last gasp ended when Taylor came out of the bottom of the pile with the ball after Lone Grove’s latest onside attempt.

“We did a good job in not giving them extra possessions by recovering every onside kick they tried,” Myers said. “But, obviously, we shouldn’t have been in that situation.”

The teams combined for 50 fourth-quarter points after scoring a total of 42 through three quarters. It was the Jackets who struck first when they drove 60 yards in 3:40. The opening drive ended with Stephenson’s 19-yard touchdown run around the end.

Lone Grove eventually took away the momentum. The Longhorns got a 63-yard TD reception from Brown on their second possession and then KHS fumbled the kickoff.

Although the defense held strong on that possession, it gave up a 34-yard touchdown pass from Bradenburg to Blayde Wilkerson at 9:57 of the second quarter for a 14-7 Longhorn lead.

Stagnant since the first possession, the KHS offense awoke.

Jax Sternberger had first down passes to Birdwell, Tate Taylor and Will Taylor before Stephenson tied the game with a 3-yard run.

The score stayed that way before Kingfisher namely Stephenson - dominated the third quarter.

On Lone Grove’s initial possession of the half, Stephenson stepped in front of a Bradenburg pass to pick it off and race 36 yards for a TD.

With 6:33 left in the third, he struck again, this time with a 52-yard touchdown run.

Robinson gave the Longhorns life as his 20-yard scoring run on the first play of the fourth quarter made it a seven-point game.

The Jackets went into their bag of tricks on the next possession.

Sternberger handed off to Stephenson who then essentially ran parallel to the line of scrimmage, but did enough to pull all the Longhorn defenders his way.

That left Birdwell wide open as Stephenson hit him for a 55-yard touchdown.

Stephenson intercepted Bradenburg after that and it set up a 25-yard field goal by Aaron Delatorre.

Birdwell’s interception came next to set up the final, frantic 7:25 of the contest.

Lone Grove entered the night averaging about two football fields worth of rushing yards a game.

The Jacket defense limited the Longhorns to 86 yards on 32 tries.

However, Bradenburg’s 11 completions covered 377 yards.

The Jackets picked him off four times (Caleb Dick delivered on in the first hag), but he threw five TDs.

“There was a lot of good, but we just gave up too many big plays,” Myers said. “That’s what ends up standing out, but the fact is we’re still moving on.”

Harrison Evans led the defense with 10 tackles.

Munoz, Will Taylor and Slade Snodgrass were in on eight each while T.J. Parker had seven.

“I thought our front and linebackers did a great job against the run,” Myers said. “You can’t find too many plays where they were able to get much.”

And, as usual, a team had a problem stopping Stephenson.

He ran 23 times for 212 yards and three scores. He added just one catch, but also had his TD pass.

Birdwell caught four passes total for 141 yards.

Tate Taylor caught four passes and Caleb Dick three. They combined for 41 yards.

Sternberger was 11 of 17 for 83 yards while Mecklenburg ran for 18 yards on just five attempts.

The Jackets’ road gets considerably tougher this week.

After two home games, KHS goes to Holland Hall for a 7 p.m. Friday matchup.

The Dutch are 9-0 and ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in most every 3A poll.

Led by 3-star defensive line recruit Owen Ostroski, the Dutch have given up a total of 27 points this season. Five games have been shutouts and no team has scored more than seven points.

Holland Hall beat Berryhill 31-7, which is its closest game this season. No other team held the Dutch below 42 points.

“It goes without saying this is going to be a challenge,” Myers said. “This will be as complete a team as we’ve seen all season and we have to put together a great week of preparation and then show up ready to play.”

KHS enters the quarterfinals with an 8-3 record.