ROYSE CITY, Texas — Wow, what a game.
ROYSE CITY, Texas — Wow, what a game.
One of the most exciting games in recent Jackrabbit history came down to what was likely less than a yard and eight seconds as the Forney High School (1-0, 4-0) Jackrabbits ruined the Royse City High School (0-1, 2-2) Bulldogs’ homecoming with a 46-42 win.
In a preview of things to come, Royse City’s first possession ended with a turnover on downs after just four plays. With a short field, Luke Skipper completed two straight passes to Michael Prox for nine yards each before changing it up and handing it to Prox who scored from eight yards out.
An early lead for the Jackrabbits had Forney fans hoping for another blowout victory. That was not to be, as the teams exchanged possessions before Royse City tied the score at 7-7 near the end of the 1st quarter on a Courtland Vance one-yard touchdown run.
Forney scored the next 14 points, on a Luke Skipper 25 yard run and a relatively easy 28-yard touchdown by big-play receiver Cody Cook.
Once again, it looked like Forney may run away and hide with this game, but Royse City was more than capable of responding. Led by quarterback Vance and running back Brett Martinez, the Bulldogs tied up the game at 21 on two Martinez touchdown runs. Forney had a great chance to take the lead going into halftime, but a Skipper pass fell incomplete in the end zone on the last play of the first half.
Royse City then did something the Jackrabbits first three opponents had not been able to do yet this year. After recovering the opening kickoff of the second half, Martinez again ran the ball into the end zone for a 28-21 lead. This was the first time all year the Jackrabbits had trailed in a game.
A young team that has been comfortable all year suddenly found themselves in a literal dogfight and had to find a way to come back for the victory.
Aaron Rideaux helped the cause with a three-yard touchdown run around the left side to bring the Jackrabbits to within one. An attempted two-point conversion was unsuccessful and the Jackrabbits were still on the bad side of the score, 28-27.
The Bulldogs next possession didn’t last long, as Martinez broke up the left side for an untouched 66-yard touchdown run that put the Bulldogs up 35-27.
At this point, Forney had to respond, or the game was going to get out of hand and respond they did.
Two unanswered touchdowns later, a Skipper 4-yard run and Prox 22-yard run, the score was 39-35 in favor or the Jackrabbits. Both two point conversions failed, resulting in the unusual score.
With 3:37 left in the game, this is the point both crowds and teams started finding it hard to breathe.
It only took Royse City a little over a minute and a half to let the wind out of the Forney sails with a Vance 26-yard touchdown run to make it 42-39 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Not to be outdone, Skipper and the Jackrabbit offense only took 1:09 to march down the field and score the go-ahead touchdown on a beautiful 32-yard pass and catch from Skipper to Devon Rideaux down the middle of the field. The possession featured a great runback from 9-yards deep in the endzone by Zadarius Miles to get the ball out past the 35-yard line. Prox then gobbled up yards on two counter runs up the middle, showing his great field vision and making Bulldog tacklers miss as he put his team in scoring position.
As much as Jackrabbit fans wanted to breath a sigh of relief with just 54 seconds on the clock, Vance was not done with his own set of heroics.
On the third play of the drive, Vance scrambled and ran for 50 yards while breaking three tackles and nearly hurtling a Forney defender. Brendan Vaughn made a game saving tackle from behind when he took Vance down at the 7-yard line. It was the first time all night Vance had been brought down from behind. Martinez advanced the ball to the Jackrabbit 2-yard line and Royse City was looking at two chances to score. Inexplicably, a pass play was called on third and two. The Jackrabbits were not fooled and the ball fell incomplete in the end-zone setting up a fourth-and-goal with eight seconds on the clock. Vance called his own number on the deciding play and ran to the left side of the offense. The Jackrabbit front seven made the biggest play of the year and stuffed Vance just short of the goal line to preserve the most exciting Jackrabbit win in several years.
The show put on by both teams was what the “Friday Night Lights” legend is made of. Skipper and Vance had a quarterback duel the likes of very few have seen. The time-honored cliche, “It’s a shame someone had to lose this game” was born out of games like this.
The game featured over 1,000 yards of combined offense and some breathtaking plays by both teams. On the deciding play, it was standing room only on both sides of the field. The Jackrabbits escaped with a hard fought win and remain undefeated on the season.
The Jackrabbits next game is Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at City Bank Stadium against the South Garland Colonels.