Thursday, November 15, 2007

It's no secret that Boyd coach J.G. Cartwright likes for his football team to run these days. That's exactly what Holliday spent all week preparing for in Thursday night's Class 2A bi-district playoff game in Graham.

The Eagles forced the Yellowjackets to throw the ball, so they obliged. Cartwright's crew threw for a season-high 254 yards and scored on six straight possessions to throttle the district champions 34-14.

The Eagles, who won nine of their 10 games this year and advanced to the regional quarterfinals in 2006, never had a chance against Boyd. The group stacked the line of scrimmage and forced the Yellowjackets to put the ball in the air, and they had no problem doing it. The locals had five plays that went for 45 yards or longer and over the top of every defender.

Boyd quarterback Chris Demases connected on three long touchdown passes and ran for another score in his best night of the year. He ran for 112 yards and threw for a career-high 205 yards to lead his team to victory.

"We didn't necessarily go into this game planning on throwing as much as we did," Cartwright said. "We saw they were determined to stop our running, and they did a good job of it."

The Yellowjackets move to 7-4 for the year and will take on Palmer for the area title next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Burleson. Palmer won its first playoff game in 92 years Thursday when it beat Itasca 36-28.

At least the Eagles, who have made trips to the state quarterfinals seem routine the past few years, ended the game on a high note as Brayden Little caught a 62-yard touchdown pass in the closing minute.

It was a handful of defensive plays that kept Holliday out of the end zone. Tim Fleming stopped two drives with a pair of interceptions.

The defense held the Eagles to their lowest output of the season. The foes managed 254 yards of total offense and did not score their final touchdown until the final seconds of the game.

Boyd, meanwhile, scored on six straight possessions after punting on its first drive. Demases hooked up with Hilton Maynor on a 46-yard TD pass to put his team ahead 7-0. Curtis Hamilton was good on every kick for the night, including field goals of 18 and 30 yards.

The Yellowjackets scored twice within three minutes in the second period. Demases capped a six-minute drive when he found the end zone on a 5-yard run.

The Boyd defense kept Holliday at bay when it smothered a fourth-and-one play at the 35-yard line. Adam Lambert, Brandon Ware and Kyle Huffman dropped Trey Lawson to get the ball back.

Two plays later Demases hit Jeremy Sessums in stride down the middle of the field for a 65-yard touchdown pass with 3:27 left in the half to go in front 21-0.

Holliday went to the air on its last drive of the half. Five plays later Lawson and Landrey Lemons hooked up for their 12th TD pass of the year from 14 yards out to make it 21-7 with 45 seconds left.

Boyd was not done. A late-hit call gave the locals the ball at midfield and Demases moved the ball down field to set up a field goal as time expired to make it 24-7 at the break.

"Their forte for most of the year was running the ball and having long drives, and we were really geared up to stop that," said HHS coach Terry Wolf. "We had some breakdowns and they had some good catches. That's what it comes down to."

The Yellowjackets added a field goal on their first possession of the third quarter. Fleming then got his first of two picks to set up the next score when Demases hit on a 61-yard strike that silenced the Holliday side of the field.

Boyd kept the ball on the ground the rest of the way to run time off the clock. The group's last four drives ended with two punts and two fumbles.

The defense never let up on the Eagles. Colton Sims, Seth Tate and Jake Clement were three of several tacklers that thwarted the Holliday offense.

The Eagles got their last score thanks to a Boyd special teams mistake. Holliday punted the ball with 47 seconds left in the game, but the Yellowjackets decided to field the ball and fumbled it away. Holliday scored two plays later on a 57-yard pass from Lawson to Lemons.