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Football: Near-Miss: Hebron defense foils Plano's comeback bid
By Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
PLANO -- Hebron head football coach Brian Brazil admits his heart might have skipped a beat on Plano Senior's final play from scrimmage Friday night at Clark Stadium.
It'd be hard to blame him, but nevertheless it was the Hawks (3-2) who stood firm in weathering a second-half rally by the Wildcats (3-1) for a 24-21 victory.
"I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh,'" Brazil said. "But we got there and got the stop, so that's high school football for you."
Three plays later, the Wildcats were dealt fourth-and-21 from the Hebron 45 and in a last ditch effort, Lagow heaved a pass downfield to a streaking Hansen, who was out in front of Hebron junior Braelen Evans.
The bid for the go-ahead score went awry, with an outstretched Hansen unable to haul in the pass to turn the ball over on downs and assure the Hebron victory.
"The bottom line is Mitch is one of our best players and we just didn't make the play," said Jaydon McCullough, Plano head coach. "We go on and move forward."
The Wildcats' last-ditch effort marked their third attempt at taking the lead after cutting the Hawks' edge to 24-21 with 2:25 in the third following a 62-yard hookup between Lagow and Hansen, who led Plano with 102 receiving yards on two catches. Lagow would add 206 passing yards, a touchdown and two picks on 6-of-12 attempts.
Hebron's defense didn't budge, forcing a punt and a pair of turnovers on downs on Plano's final three possessions to quash the rally.
"[Plano] made some big plays," Brazil said. "That's the one thing with Lagow is that he's got an incredible arm. He can throw the ball 70 yards on a rope and is so scary, but after they had their big plays, our kids rallied and kept him in the pocket.
"I was proud of how our guys battled tonight."
The Hawks were tasked with holding their ground after losing senior Dezmond Wortham to injury in the third when the running back converted a fourth-and-2 in Plano territory.
Prior to that, Wortham had given the Wildcats fits in racing for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries.
"If we would have needed to, then we could have gone with [Wortham], but I said it wasn't worth it right now," Brazil said. "We've got a week off next week, so we need to heal up and get ready for district."
Evans was tasked with filling the void and did so with a 9-yard touchdown run moments after Wortham's injury to extend Hebron's lead to 24-7 with 6:29 left in the third. The Wildcats responded with a fourth-down conversion of their own, with senior Andre Morman breaking off a 21-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 to make it 24-13 before Lagow and Hansen decreased that deficit to 24-21 just 90 seconds later.
Morman led the Wildcats on the ground with 95 yards on 15 carries, but it was Wortham who stole the show in the first half to help pace Hebron to a 17-7 lead.
Scoring a takeaway off an Evans interception to halt Plano's opening drive, the Hawks pieced together a methodical 15-play, 95-yard drive capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by Wortham for a 7-0 lead with 3:02 left in the first.
One Hebron possession later, Wortham ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run that included a juke that staggered Plano junior Josh Johnson dead in his tracks.
The Wildcats would enjoy their lone score of the first half early in the second quarter with a dash of trickery as senior running back Braylan Campbell took a toss from Lagow and lobbed a 5-yard touchdown pass to uncovered senior Anthony Antwine.
The Wildcats would muster just two first downs for the remainder of the half, with both teams trading takeaways - including interceptions by Hebron senior Austin Griffith and Plano sophomore Cody Farhat - before Hebron cashed in on one last chance before the break with junior Joel Carlos knocking through a 46-yard field goal as time expired for a 17-7 Hawks lead.
Hebron will enjoy a bye prior to its District 5-5A opener Oct. 12 against Coppell, while the Wildcats get a short break before capping non-district at 7 p.m. Thursday at Flower Mound Marcus.
"I think we got better tonight, but what we have to focus on now is Marcus," McCullough said. "Did we play a perfect game? No, but the thing with this group is that we're going to stick together and keep fighting."
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