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SHADOW CREEK SURGES PAST FOSTER TO ADVANCE IN PLAYOFFS

Shadow Creek surges past Foster to advance in playoffs

JASON MCDANIEL

Houston Chronicle | 11/30/2019

It’s a familiar story now – one Foster’s fed up with hearing.

The Falcons once again showed they aren’t intimidated by the area’s top-ranked Class 5A team, they again had the advantage in the second half – and again the Sharks found a way to save the day.

Shadow Creek used a 23-point third quarter to take its first lead, lost it in the fourth, then prevailed with a 99-yard scoring drive in the final minutes of a 36-31 playoff win Friday at Challenger Columbia Stadium.

“In the first half, we had to face a lot of adversity,” said Shadow Creek quarterback Kyron Drones, who completed 18 of 31 passes for 316 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for 118 yards and another score. “But in the locker room at halftime, everybody was saying we’ve got to keep going, we’ve got to fight, we’re messing up ourselves – and that’s how the game came down.”


Shadow Creek (13-0) overcame a 20-point deficit going into the fourth quarter to take their district meeting last year, and then came back from seven down in the fourth to win 25-21 in the regional finals.


Now they’re heading back to the Class 5A Division I Region III championship game after spotting the Falcons a 17-0 advantage and trailing 24-7 at halftime of their regional semifinals reunion.

The Sharks will face Cedar Park (11-1) or Manor (7-5) at noon next Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Foster, 0-4 in two years against Shadow Creek, finished the year 8-5.

“That’s the story of what we do,” Foster coach Shaun McDowell said. “We’ve got to figure this out. As a coaching staff and as a program, we’ve got to figure it out because we were hanging right there with the big dogs. But I don’t know what the deficiencies are toward the end. Being up 24-7 going into the half, and then really playing the worst third quarter we’ve played this whole season – it was bad.”

It was a great quarter for Shadow Creek, which notched a field goal and three touchdowns in less than five minutes.

Kicker Eric Landaverde drilled a 22-yard field goal on Shadow Creek’s first second-half possession, then two-way Foster star Cody Jackson lost a fumble fighting for more yards and the Sharks recovered at Foster’s 40 – setting up Drones’ 40-yard scoring run on the first play of the ensuing series.


His score cut Foster’s lead to 24-17.

Then Shadow Creek forced a three-and-out and Foster flubbed the punt attempt, leaving punter Bryson Harrell to throw up a long pass that fell incomplete, and giving the Sharks the ball at Foster’s 32.

Four plays later, Drones hit tight end Trent McGaughey for the game-tying score.

After another Foster punt, wide receiver Seth Jones hauled in a Drones pass for a 41-yard score and 30-24 lead with nine seconds left in the third quarter. But the missed extra point left the door open and the Falcons flew threw, regaining the lead, 31-30, on a 4-yard run by running back Issac Johnson.

“We knew it would be a battle,” Shadow Creek coach Brad Butler said. “It’s been a battle all four times. And really we didn’t get off to a very good start, and it tested our guys’ resolve going in at halftime.

“So I couldn’t be prouder of the way they came back out.”

The Sharks still had to survive a late turnover with a clutch goal line stand, stopping the Falcons four times inside the 5-yard line, before marching 99 yards on 10 plays, and scoring on junior WR C.J. Guidry’s sliding 14-yard reception in the end zone with 2:30 remaining in the contest.

“They’ve got the same amount of athletes we’ve got, they work as hard as us, but they can never beat us,” Drones said.

Foster dominated the first half, taking a 24-7 lead into the break. It led 10-0 after scoring off two Shadow Creek turnovers in the first quarter.

Drones lost a fumble, and linebacker Dennis Everson returned it 53 yards, leading to K Nicholas Arellano’s 24-yard boot; and Jackson intercepted Drones, setting up QB Ryan Stubblefield’s 36-yard strike to Johnson up the middle.

In addition to the two early turnovers, Shadow Creek also punted twice in the first quarter.

The second punt preceded the Falcons’ most impressive first-half drive – a 10-play, 78-yard series. WR Ethan Newton collected 23- and 10-yard passes, WR Carter Wilson secured one for 30 yards, and RB Mario Simmons found the end zone on a 2-yard run for a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Shadow Creek finally shook off the nerves on its ensuing possession.

WR Randy Masters hauled in a 25-yard pass, setting up RB Kelvon Brown’s 2-yard score to cap a quick five-play, 42-yard drive.

But the Falcons weren’t done flying.

They forced a turnover on downs, after Shadow Creek had reached their 21-yard line, then overcame three consecutive negative plays – a holding penalty and back-to-back sacks – in the middle of their next drive to build a 24-7 halftime lead on Jackson’s 33-yard grab over the middle.

The play came after Stubblefield scrambled for 13 yards on third-and-28, and featured Jackson leaping over everyone on fourth-and-15, securing the ball, then walking in as defenders fell around him.

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ARTICLE SOURCE:
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