Denton Guyer 41, Hebron 21
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By ADAM BOEDEKER/Denton Record-Chronicle
DENTON -- An hour before Denton Guyer began its postseason run against Hebron at Apogee Stadium, Guyer coach John Walsh realized he'd packed the wrong jerseys for his team, as Hebron had elected to wear black uniforms and Guyer had shown up with their all-black uniforms, as well.
He sent an assistant coach scrambling back to Guyer to get white jerseys, and the Wildcats sported a white-on-black look they hadn't used since the early days of Guyer football.
That was only the beginning of a wild night as Guyer overcame a 13-point deficit with just more than a quarter to play by scoring 28 unanswered points and rolling to a 41-26 win over Hebron. The Wildcats will move on to face Southlake Carroll in the area round Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Allen.
"We can chalk the start of the game up to me," Walsh said. "I mean, when the coach brings the wrong colored jerseys, what do you expect your team to do?"
The start of the game -- really the entire first half and some of the third quarter -- couldn't have gone much worse for Guyer (8-3), as its third-down defense struggled to stop Hebron. Despite outgaining the Hawks in the first half, Guyer trailed 13-6 at halftime even though it forced two turnovers.
"The first half we collectively screwed it up, and in the second half we collectively took over," Walsh said. "Whether it was defense getting turnovers, covering better in special teams, or the fact we just ran the ball real effectively, we were better."
After Walsh watched a trick play result in a turnover and a subsequent one-play scoring drive for Hebron to give the Hawks a 26-13 lead, the Wildcats went to their bread and butter, and Hebron had no answer for it.
The Wildcats racked up 262 of its 532 total rushing yards from the 1:40 mark of the third quarter after the Hawks (4-7) had taken their 26-13 lead on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Clayton Tune to Derek Mueller.
The ensuing drive featured six runs and no passes. Guyer scored on a 24-yard run from quarterback Shawn Robinson, one of his three rushing touchdowns. On Hebron's first play of the next drive, a Tune fumble was recovered by P.J. Broussard at the Hebron 30-yard line. Two rushing plays later, Guyer was in the end zone on a 27-yard Robinson scamper to take a 27-26 lead with 11:21 left in the game.
"Our defense gave us energy and they had our back," said Robinson, who finished with 14 carries for 247 yards and threw for just 55 yards. "After that, we had the momentum. They gave it to us; we just rolled with it."
Guyer averaged 13.1 yards per carry from the time of that turnover late in the third quarter, led by Robinson and freshman running back Noah Cain, who had 15 carries for 177 yards and two touchdowns.