By DAVID CAMPBELL
They were gambles. Bryan just made them look like sure things.
After a successful onside kick and a fourth-down conversion for a touchdown, the Vikings sprinted off Merrill Green Stadium with a 27-17 win over College Station.
The win gave the defending district champion Vikings (6-3, 5-1) a three-way share of the District 18-5A lead with the Cougars and with A&M Consolidated. College Station was hit with its first district loss, dropping to 7-2 and 5-1.
“This senior class means a lot to all of us, the first freshman class to walk in when I got here,” Bryan coach Ross Rogers said. “They got the championship last year when they were juniors and all we preached all year long was we are going to get back-to-back. We may not have gotten it yet, with one more game to go, but we had to have this step after losing to Consolidated.”
In a second half bulging at the seams with big plays, Bryan ran off 20 consecutive offensive plays thanks to Angel Quiroga’s field goal, followed by an even better onside kick. The ball hopped over one of the Cougars’ front men into the hands of Jaquita Thompson.
Despite a holding penalty, the Vikings scored on the drive. Again, they took a chance. Facing a fourth-and-2 at the College Station seven, Lister shot up the middle, picking up the first down in an instant, but continued into the end zone, despite being flipped into the air at the goal line.
“Our line did a great job blocking, so I just slid right through them and took it,” said Lister, who had 13 carries for 142 yards, often hitting the hole fast on dive plays. “I think it was Timarcus [Davis], who came and I just [went] right over him.”
He tumbled along the way, but gave Bryan a 10-point lead with 4:27 left in the game.
College Station still had a chance to pull within a touchdown, but Ryan Bowersox pulled a field goal attempt left, wrapping up Bryan’s win. After an injury delay, Reece Easterling delivered a fourth-down pass to senior Chris Sennette to keep the drive alive.
Senette, who carried 16 times for 151 yards, had a sparkling 48-yard run that tied the game at 17-17. He ducked under a potential tackler early in the impressive scoring run.
Down 10-3 at halftime, the Cougars needed two plays to score the tying touchdown, dropping a perfect pass into the hands of Cedrick Williams, who blazed 69 yards for the score with 47 seconds gone in the second half.
Bryan answered one play later when Lister burst up the middle for 65 yards into the Cougars’ end zone.
“I didn’t know I was going to score,” said Lister, who angled away from the final defender. “The hole opened up and I just tried to get it in the end zone and put us on top. I saw the ref and I felt if I got behind the ref that they would slow down a little bit.”
The most important play of the first half might have been Tyler Slaydon’s 45-yard coffin corner punt, which hit just outside the goal line, and took a sharp turn to the left. It was spotted out at the one, and it brought an immediate momentum swing with it.
On College Station’s first play after that, Cougars’ junior quarterback Reece Easterling floated a high pass for Charlie Glover, but sophomore safety Gus Hancock was waiting for it. Hancock leaped to pick off the ball and sprinted the right sideline to score the only first-half touchdown.
“We ran that play all week during practice,” Hancock said. “We just set up in the right formation and it just happened. When I caught it and I looked in front of me and the field was open, I was pretty sure [to score].”
The score gave the Vikings a 7-3 lead with 8:33 left in the half, and marked Bryan’s third true defensive touchdown in the last three weeks. The Vikings also had two punt block returns and a punt return for a score over that stretch.
Bryan moved into position for Angel Quiroga’s 21-yard field goal, which he converted with :16 left until halftime. B.J. Ross ran for 12, hit Jarvis Lister for 11 and then handed to Hunter Batten, who gained 21. On a third-down play, Ross rolled left and tried to deliver a pass in the right corner of the end zone to an open Lister, but the pass was long, setting up the field goal.
College Station held a strong field possession advantage early, getting as close as the Bryan 19 on their opening drive before a holding penalty set them back and Easterling’s fourth-down pass was incomplete.
The Cougars again within reach in late in the opening quarter, but again were penalized, setting up a go-ahead 35-yard field goal by Bowersox for a 3-0 lead, the only lead of the night for College Station.
Story courtesy of The Eagle