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Wildcats get first district win
BY Chris Roark, croark@acnpapers.com
LEWISVILLE -- At one time, a Lewisville-Plano Senior football game was a match-up of two state powerhouse teams.
But this season, the game was simply to determine which team could put the brakes on a skid that had gone on for weeks.
Friday, Plano stopped its slide while Lewisville's continued.
"This was a huge win for our program," said Jaydon McCullough, Plano head coach. "It was great to see the excitement in these kids' eyes again."
Plano's last win came against Mansfield Legacy. Since then, it had lost three games by seven points or less.
"I told the guys we have to do three things," McCullough said. "We have to believe in ourselves because if we don't, nobody else will. I told them we have to control our attitude. If not, then the other team will. And the third thing we have to do is be resilient."
Friday, Plano got on the board early. Following an interception by freshman Mitchell Hansen, the Wildcats took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by running back senior Kevin Merrill, who was back in action after missing time with an injury. He had runs of nine, 11 and 10 yards during the four-play drive.
"Getting him back was huge," McCullough said.
Merrill finished the game with 137 yards on 15 carries. He also caught two passes for 21 yards.
The Wildcats took a 20-0 lead into halftime on two touchdown runs by senior Rakeem Crawford late in the first quarter and again in the second quarter, both from three yards out. Plano alternated runs by Crawford and completions by Richard Lagow to set up the scores.
Lewisville, on the other hand, struggled to do anything offensively in the first half.
It had 62 yards of total offense at halftime, and the closest it got to Plano's end zone was the 23-yard line. The Farmers managed just two first downs in the first half.
Still, the game wasn't out of reach.
"Our defense played well," said Dick Olin, Lewisville head coach. "They gave a great effort in the first half. The defense kept them out of the end zone."
Olin credited several players for his team's defensive showing, such as defensive backs Cornell Black and Trevon Caudle.
"And [defensive lineman] Hendrick Ekpe played the best I've seen him play in a long time," Olin said.
With quarterback Cory Duran still out of action, the Farmers looked to Jacob Anderson on Friday. Olin said he played well in the second half, but at times struggled in the first. Anderson completed 4-of-8 passes in the first half for 22 yards and had one interception. In the second half, he was 8-for-13 for 93 yards.
But it was a smash mouth approach that really got things going for Lewisville in the third quarter. Lewisville alternated running plays up the middle 11 consecutive times with DeAndre Brown and Rodrick Williams to set up two passing plays by Anderson, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Jorgenson to make it 20-6 with 1:19 left in the third.
Plano responded early in the fourth with a short touchdown run by Lagow, which followed a 46-yard pass to senior Hunter Gore. Lewisville cut the lead to 27-14 with nine minutes left in the game on Brown's 5-yard touchdown run, but the Farmers couldn't score again.
Crawford had 77 yards rushing on 15 carries while Lagow completed 14-of-27 passes for 205 yards. Gore had five catches for 91 yards.
"[Lewisville] fought hard," McCullough said. "They fought hard. This district is tough. Put them in another district, and they might be a playoff team."
Plano faces Plano East at 7:30 p.m. Friday from Clark Stadium.
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