Arlington Seguin shuts down Mansfield Summit after halftime; advances to playoffs

With District 3-5A Division 2 settling their three-way ties in football with points first and head to head play second, the game between Mansfield Summit and Arlington Seguin came down to a showdown for the final playoff berth.

It was a shootout at the start, but Seguin’s defense put a strangle hold on Summit after halftime to lead the Cougars to a 36-28 win over the Jaguars in The Battle of Matlock Road on Nov. 7 at Wilemon Field.

Seguin (7-3 overall, 5-3 district), No. 8 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A rankings, and No. 6 Summit (5-5, 5-3) are three miles apart.

Mansfield Timberview (6-4, 5-3) defeated Seguin by 14 and lost to Summit by one, so the Wolves, who were off in Week 11, came in with a plus 13 and no way to be caught by Seguin who had to win to force the three-way tie. Timberview will now be the third seed out of 3-5A D2 with Seguin claiming the final spot.

Seguin’s offense played keep away from Summit in the second half. After allowing 28 first-half points to the Jaguars, the Cougars went on two second-half scoring drives that took 16 of the 24 minutes off the clock in the third and fourth quarters.

“When we got to the second half, we knew we had to eliminate big plays,” said Seguin coach Joe Gordon whose team was down 28-22 at the half. “We didn’t panic. One of the things we preach is don’t flinch and we made some adjustments and were able to get out of there.”

Seguin running back Kadarius Trotter bulled in from a yard out to cap a 16-play, 72-yard march to open the second half. The drive took 9:04 off the third-quarter clock and gave the Cougars a 29-28 lead.

The teams traded punts before Summit committed the first of two second-half turnovers. Defensive back Jacob Bly picked off a Summit pass at the one-yard line and returned it out to the Seguin 26.

The Cougars took 6:39 off the clock this time running 14 plays to cover the 74 yards. Summit quarterback Chevy Andrews and Kohen Peeler provided the back breaker on a fourth and 19 from the Summit 20.

Andrews scrambled out of the pocket to the right and found a well-covered Peeler who made a nice sliding catch in the end zone to give Seguin a 36-28 lead with 2:02 remaining.

Seguin running back Malachi Meche was instrumental in helping the Cougars take time off the clock in the second half carrying 14 times for 68 yards, all after the break.

“I was just doing my job, even though I didn’t score,” said Meche. “I was doing my part by being a leader, keeping my teammates up and executing plays. I have to give a big shout out to our offensive line for doing a great job tonight.”

Cougar linebacker Lacorian Hodge was a menace to Summit all night. Hodge had three sacks, numerous tackles, a fumble recovery and deflected a pass that Adrian Contreras intercepted with 37 seconds left in the game to seal the win.

“Just playing with relentless effort and doing what the coaches taught us to do on every play,” said Hodge. “This really means a lot to us because we’ve all been together since the seventh grade and have built a brotherhood here.”

Summit ran 16 offensive plays in the second half and gained a mere 60 yards of total offense after halftime. Seguin had 337 yards of total offense for the game while Summit picked up 329 total yards.

The first quarter was a blur as both teams traded scores and put up 35 points. Wide out Domonique Young caught two scoring passes of 74 and 36 yards from quarterback Demarus Bird and Ian Gebhardt ran around right end for a 20-yard TD for Summit.

Seguin countered with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Andrews to Carterrious Brown and a 12-yard TD run by G’Mani Smith. There was only one punt in the first quarter, by Seguin, but two plays later Hodge pounced on a Summit fumble at the Jaguars’ 12 yard line, setting up Smith’s run.

Andrews was an efficient 12 of 15 passing for 158 yards and rushed nine times for 22 yards. Brown had three catches for 63 yards.

Things slowed down in the second quarter as Seguin went on a 14-play, 55-yard march to take a 22-21 lead with 7:00 left before halftime. Trotter darted in from the one and Andrews tossed a two-point conversion pass to Leontay Bowman-Hunt.

Summit answered right away. Adarion Nettles started with runs of 23 and 14 yards sandwiched between a holding penalty. Nettles hauled in a 36-yard pass from Bird on third and 11 from the Segiun 40 to set up a four-yard scoring run by Gebhardt to make it 28-22 Summit with 3:37 left before the intermission.

Nettles led Summit with 105 yards rushing on 16 carries. Bird went seven of 15 passing for 213 yards with Young catching the two scoring passes for 110 yards.

“I’m extremely excited for our kids, our coaches, and our community,” said Gordon whose team’s last playoff appearance came in 2020, but the Cougars didn’t get to play because of the Covid pandemic . “It’s been a long time coming and we’re just so grateful that we get the opportunity to play. We knew this could be a special season.”