FORNEY, Texas — The Forney High School (3-3, 6-3) Jackrabbits snapped a three-game losing streak and secured a playoff berth with a dominating performance in the second half over West Mesquite High School (2-4, 4-5) on Friday night — putting an end to a repeated 2014 season and heading to the playoffs for only the fourth time since moving up from 3A football.
FORNEY, Texas — The Forney High School (3-3, 6-3) Jackrabbits snapped a three-game losing streak and secured a playoff berth with a dominating performance in the second half over West Mesquite High School (2-4, 4-5) on Friday night — putting an end to a repeated 2014 season and heading to the playoffs for only the fourth time since moving up from 3A football.
West Mesquite jumped on the Jackrabbits early and scored the first 14 points, courtesy of a strong running game by DJ Jackson, a 245-pound running back, who scored on runs of 40 and 11 yards. Jackrabbits senior quarterback Luke Skipper helped answer for the Jackrabbits with a beautiful 46-yard run to make it 14-7.
The Jackrabbits had a chance to tie the game on the last play of the second half, but a Skipper pass in the end-zone fell incomplete. A missed pass interference call denied the Jackrabbits a chance at an untimed play and another chance to tie it up.
The second half was a very different story. The Jackrabbits have suffered some bad bounces and breaks this year but, tonight, critical plays bounced their way — West Mesquite made mistakes, and Forney capitalized with 37 points in the second half.
West Mesquite struck first in the second half on a one-yard touchdown run by Eric Knight. On the play, senior defensive back Jarod Gonzalez was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Jackrabbits were about to go down 21-7 and West Mesquite was going to be kicking off from the Jackrabbit 45. Things were definitely not going Forney’s way, then, things changed. West Mesquite was flagged for a false start and the longer-than-normal extra point was blocked. The ball bounced up to Gonzalez who took off for the end zone 90 yards downfield. Two huge blocks and a nice cut inside the ten yard line and Gonzo had given his team and himself a nice 18th birthday present.
Senior running back Michael Prox, who had had three sub-par games over the last three weeks, took the short kickoff and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. Prox put on an impressive burst of speed to outrun four Wranglers near midfield. The Wranglers got their run game back on track and took a 27-17 lead on a Curtis Williams three-yard touchdown run.
That was the last time the Wranglers would find the end-zone on this rain soaked night. The Jackrabbits took control and scored the next 27 points — uncontested from behind with their playoff hopes on the line.
Malik Woods made a nice catch for a 15-yard touchdown. Michael Prox ran for a 38-yard score. Skipper ran for 6 yards and a score. Prox capped the comeback off with a three-yard touchdown run that ended the scoring.
In the midst of that scoring run, the Jackrabbits special teams recovered two consecutive kickoffs. Mikey Sanders deserves credit for a textbook kick that bounced high and allowed his coverage team to make the recovery on one of those kicks.
The defense made stand after stand and forced West Mesquite to abandon their running game.
The rain stopped and the momentum and bounces kept going the Jackrabbits way and, in the end, the Jackrabbits walked away with a 44-27 win over West Mesquite.
Key stats: Luke Skipper, 191 yards, and Michael Prox, 168 yards, combined for 359 yards on the ground; West Mesquite lost 3 fumbles; West Mesquite had 0 yards passing; Forney had 105 penalty yards.
With the win, Forney sits in 4th place in District 12-5A with one more game to be played against cross-town rival North Forney High School (1-5, 2-7) next Friday. With wins over Royse City, ranked 5th, and West Mesquite, ranked 6th, Forney secured a playoff spot no matter the outcome of next week’s games.
Forney High School has won the last three matches against North Forney High School in the Forney ISD Unity Bowl.