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The D-p end: Collin County defense overwhelms West Texas in semifinal win
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MURPHY -- The Collin County Rattlers and West Texas Drillers entered Saturday's American Conference Championship as arguably the top two defenses in the MPFL.
By the end of the evening, only one of those squads had lived up to their mantra -- that being the Rattlers, who are now within one victory of an MPFL Title after a 24-5 victory from Kimbrough Stadium.
"It's overwhelming," said Tim Smith, Collin County head coach. "There's been a lot of work that's gone into this. We expected to be here, but it's a little overwhelming right now."
"All week, [West Texas] had been saying they have the best defense in the league," said Quinten McKinney, Collin County receiver. "That's West Texas and they haven't faced anybody like us. We've got the best defense in the nation, not the league, but the nation."
The Drillers were hoping to make their own case to that claim, entering Saturday allowing just 4.4 points per game.
The Rattlers eclipsed that mark midway through the second quarter en route to a 17-5 halftime advantage.
Collin County converted defense into offense, recovering a fumble by West Texas rusher Jerry Zachery and posting the game's first touchdown one play later after quarterback Terry Barber found McKinney for a 53-yard score.
"The guys started talking noise and I got kinda crunk in the locker room," McKinney said. "I just relaxed and let the game open up to me. [Barber] put the ball in the right spot, Alex (Martinez) ran the right routes; it's a team effort."
McKinney had plenty of say in that effort, hauling in four catches for 157 yards over one half of work. Mario Limas accounted for 42 receiving yards of his own, the highlight of which came after besting West Texas' Chris Knox on a jump ball for a 28-yard touchdown and 17-2 Rattlers advantage with 2:38 left in the first half.
Collin County weathered an early storm orchestrated by the Drillers' red zone defense, which scuttled a 10-play, 89-yard opening drive that featured McKinney receptions of 37 and 45 yards by stuffing the Rattlers on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
West Texas didn't budge on Collin County's third series either, sending defensive lineman Romell Terry on a third-and-goal rush to force the Rattlers into a 19-yard field goal by Tavo Gomez for a 3-0 edge with 9:48 left in the half.
"Penalties killed us a bit down there, but West Texas certainly came to play," Smith said. "They're big, strong and fast, and we anticipated that. Fortunately, we made some big plays to get out on them early."
Unfortunately for the Drillers, early momentum didn't carry over to the offense.
Even West Texas' most productive push -- a 78-yard completion from Walter Washington to Tevin Collier -- was dashed in a hurry after penalties led to a missed 44-yard field goal. The completion to Collier was the only first down the Drillers had for the first three quarters, with Washington limited to just 135 yards and two interceptions on 10-of-35 passing.
The West Texas run game was buckled to minus-8 yards on 17 carries.
"The Drillers have a great running game, so we wanted to take that away and make them pass, and we did that," Smith said. "Once we made them one-dimensional, they didn't have a chance and give it up for our run defense."
Credit Terry, Brandon Hearne, Rod Richardson and T.J. Wade for the pursuit at the line with interceptions chipped in by Eddie Morgan and Chase Richey, the latter returning his pick 11 yards for a touchdown and a 24-5 advantage with 4:20 left in the fourth.
The victory, Collin County's 12th of the year, nudged the team within one win of a league championship. In eying a perfect run during their inaugural stint in the MPFL, the Rattlers will attempt to make franchise history at 7 p.m. June 23 from Pennington Field in Euless when they square off against the North Texas Stampede. The Stampede earned their spot in the title game following a 35-30 win over the defending league champ San Antonio Warriors.
"[North Texas] is going to throw the ball all over the place, so our defense is going to be up for another hard test," Smith said. "They have a good defense as well and it's going to be an epic battle.
"For sure, the two best teams are going to play."
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