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Last-second FG helps South Grand Prairie upset Trinity 24-21, ease sting of 2014 collapse

By RANDY JENNINGS / Special Contributor

BEDFORD -- For 12 months, veterans of South Grand Prairie's 2014 season stewed about a failure to protect a 22-point lead in an overtime playoff loss to Euless Trinity.

"It was all we talked about all off-season,'' said quarterback Greg Eisworth. "When we got the chance to play them again 364 days later, it was exactly what we wanted.''

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Eisworth rushed for 113 yards and threw for two touchdowns in a 24-21 victory over the state's third-ranked team in the rematch of a Class 6A Division I Region I bi-district playoff Friday night at Pennington Field.

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Senior kicker Jose Cruz completed the upset with a 32-yard field goal on the game's final play for the Warriors first playoff victory since 2006.

South Grand Prairie (7-4), No. 13 in SportsDay's Class 6A area ranking, advances to face another undefeated team, Denton Ryan, in an area playoff.

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"It wasn't a case of revenge,'' said South Grand Prairie coach Brent Whitson, "but just knowing how close we were and what we could have done last year.''

Trinity (10-1), No. 2 in the area, trailed for most of the second half until Ja'Ron Wilson's one-yard touchdown run tied it with 2:47 remaining.

Eisworth, an Ole Miss pledge, kept alive the 40-yard drive for the winning field goal with a 17-yard sideline pass to Lawrence Dixon on third-and-15.

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"We don't point fingers,'' said Trinity coach Chris Jensen. "We played a really good team. Once we got a 14-point lead, we seemed to relax a little bit.''

Trinity made it look easy with 65- and 64-yard touchdown drives on its first two possessions for a 14-0 lead.

Spencer McDonald's recovery of a fumbled kickoff set Trinity up for a third score, but Wilson's 22-yard run for an apparent score was wiped out by a holding penalty.

South Grand Prairie seemed to ignite after its defense went on to make the first of six consecutive stops of the powerful Trojan offense.

"Our defense is great because they play really hard,'' Whitson said.

Momentum carried over to the South Grand Prairie offense in the second quarter. Eisworth scrambled to the right sideline and spotted Andre Johnson alone on the opposite side for a 30-yard score. Sophomore Atanza Vongor pulled South Grand Prairie even at the break on a 5-yard pitch sweep.

The Warriors, entering the playoffs on a three-game losing streak, drove 70 yards with the third quarter kickoff to take a 21-14 lead, scoring on Eiswoth's one-yard pass to Ronnie Allen.

South Grand Prairie came in winless in its last three playoff games with Trinity responsible for two of the losses.

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Not since 2003 has Trinity failed to advance past the bi-district round.