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Roaring streak: McKinney beats Frisco Heritage for second straight win
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
McKinney started a new streak Thursday with a 45-21 victory against Frisco Heritage.
One year separated from a winless season, the Lions won their second straight game. Big plays on both sides of the ball helped them hand the Coyotes their second loss.
Frisco Heritage finished with more yards (416 to McKinney's 382) but more turnovers. McKinney returned two interceptions for touchdowns, and junior wideout TV Williams continued his hot start with 48-yard and 62-yard touchdown catches to put the game out of reach three minutes into the fourth quarter.
Junior kicker Matt Roberts, making his varsity debut, kicked a 39-yard field goal for McKinney for the game's first points with nine minutes left in the first quarter. Coyotes junior running back Connor Price fumbled two plays into his Frisco Heritage's ensuing possession, and McKinney appeared to capitalize.
Junior running back Tommy Candela scored on a double-pass gadget play when senior quarterback Robert Somborn threw a lateral to junior wideout Dalon Willis, who threw back across the field to Candela. But the Lions were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct before Candela reached the end zone, negating the touchdown.
Frisco sophomore K.C. Brown intercepted Somborn's next pass for his second interception in as many games. But two of their five first-quarter penalties stalled the Coyotes.
Candela broke down the left sideline for a 46-yard run on the Lions' next possession, which senior Red Shannon finished by hurdling over a goal-line defender for a three-yard touchdown, his second of the season.
Frisco Heritage and McKinney were each forced to punt on consecutive possessions before the Coyotes looked poise to cut into the 10-point deficit. Frisco sophomore quarterback Twayne Blackwell, who ran for 171 yards last week in his team's 53-14 loss to Lovejoy High School, under threw a wide-open James Corrine, the junior wideout sitting alone 10 yards from the end zone.
But penalties also plagued the Lions. A block in the back wiped out what would have been a 62-yard touchdown run for Shannon, and Somborn threw a second straight pick, this time to junior linebacker Walter Miller.
"It was a rocky start, but it wasn't that they were better than us, it was just a few mistakes and a few miscommunications," Somborn said. "The defense they were running was kind of tricking us."
Frisco junior Sean Jones scored on the Coyotes' ensuing drive, pushing a pile into the end zone for three of his 161 yards on the ground, and bringing his team to within three.
McKinney responded with its first big play of the night, a 56-yard touchdown pass from Somborn, who used play action and hit Shannon in stride behind the Coyote defense. Shannon tipped the pass to himself and went untouched for the score, making it 17-7.
Then it was the Lion defense's playmaking turn. Junior safety Jontrell Rocquemore, a ball hawk the entire night, jumped an out route and returned Blackwell's pass 70 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Lions' lead to 17 points.
Blackwell drove the Coyotes 75 yards with a mix of runs and passes, and pulled them within 10 with a roll-out, three-yard touchdown pass to senior Tyler Stuhan with three seconds left in the half.
"Blackwell is a tremendous player, and he's just a sophomore; that's what's scary," Smith said. "We were worried about him on his feet more than we were about him throwing the ball, so our game plan was to obviously just try to contain him. But he's got a good arm, and he showed that tonight."
Blackwell dropped off significantly from his week-one rushing frenzy, gaining 36 yards on 14 carries. He completed 22 of 33 passes, but another of his incompletions went the other way for six early in the second half.
Facing third-and-seven from his own 13 yard line, and one play after Rocquemore dropped what was nearly his second interception of the game, Blackwell tried to hit a curl route over the middle and was picked off by senior Dalton Harris, who easily returned it 20 yards for a score.
Candela, who had run for 87 yards on six carries, injured his collarbone midway through the second quarter and didn't see the field the second half. Fortunately for the Lions, Williams came alive, breaking free on a corner route to catch Somborn's play-action pass for a 48-yard touchdown.
Senior wideout Connor Fuentes, holding for the extra point, took the snap and darted to the front left corner of the end zone for a two-point conversion, giving his team a 39-14 lead as the third quarter came to a close.
McKinney stiffened on defense and bottled up Blackwell and senior running back Collin Charles at the start of the fourth quarter. Rocquemore tackled Blackwell for a loss and almost intercepted him again.
On yet another Somborn play-action pass, one of his four completions, Williams burned up the left sideline and caught it over his shoulder for a 62-yard touchdown, scoring for the second time in three Lions plays to make it 45-14.
"We got them on the play action a lot and took advantage of the one-on-one on the outside with TV," Somborn said. "He can burn by anybody, but my whole receiving crew is just awesome. I'm the luckiest guy out here, because I have so many weapons."
Charles, who ran for 42 yards on eight carries in the second half, scored from two yards out with four minutes left in the game, and McKinney ran out the clock.
Somborn finished 4-of-8 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and the two interceptions. Blackwell threw for 162 yards and a touchdown, but brought his interception total this season to four.
Sophomore Alex Nah led the Coyotes with 41 yards receiving on four catches. Jones and senior Evan Chavez also had four catches for Frisco Heritage.
The Coyotes play Greenville on Friday at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco. The Lions have a road game against Irving Nimitz.
They'll look to continue their young winning streak.
"We can't be satisfied with 2 and 0," Smith said. "We've got a lot of work left to do, there are a lot of things these guys still want to do. They're hungry for that, hungry to go attack each week."
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