Birdville holds off Granbury’s late comeback attempt, starts district play with a win

Birdville running back Lamar Leggins ran the Hawks to a 27-24 victory in their first district game against the Granbury Pirates.

It came down to the final drive for Granbury. Down by three with five minutes left in the game, the Pirates returned the Birdville punt 31 yards, starting on their own 32-yard line.

The Hawks defense had the Pirates in a 4th-and-10 situation on their own 43-yard line and broke up a deep pass from Granbury’s senior quarterback Hayden Meyer, but a pass interference call gave them new life, now in Birdville territory.

However, the Birdville defense remained calm and pressured Meyer, forcing him to scramble. He threw the ball away on first down, threw an incomplete pass on second down, was sacked for a loss of 18 on third down and threw another incomplete pass on fourth down.

Birdville quarterback Zach Wells kneeled to let the remaining 20 seconds run off the game clock, securing the win in the first district game of the season.

“We all played well at times and we played poor at times,” said head coach Chris Smith. “There at the end, our defense played really well and they won the game for us.”

The Hawk defense was solid throughout the entire game. Line backer Graham Hightower recorded an interception and returned it almost 50 yards down the field, putting Birdville in great position to score its first touchdown of the game.

Birdville’s defense also forced two fumbles. One was recovered by James Mweri, a 60-yard rush from Meyer that was fumbled in the red zone. The Hawks also forced two turnover on downs, held the Pirates to a field goal when they were in the red zone and blocked an extra point attempt.

Offensively, Leggins led the team with 100 yards rushing and three touchdowns, even though the position is new to him.

“He’s done a great job transitioning from receiver to running back,” said Smith. “He’s still learning the position, but he has speed and has jumped right into it.”

Birdville’s only other touchdown came on a pass from Wells, who connected with wide receiver Zack Yang for a 15-yard receiving touchdown.

Wells ended the game with 121 yards passing and one touchdown.

His counterpart, Meyer, finished with 154 yards passing, a 49 yards rushing, three touchdowns and one interception. He even found himself open in the end zone to catch a pass from wide receiver Zane Knight to complete a 2-point conversion.

Granbury’s wide receiver Jackson Arnett was the best performer for the Pirates. He finished the game with 103 yards receiving and two touchdowns. It only took him four receptions to reach the 100-yard mark. His longest was a 54-yard receiving touchdown on the second play of Granbury’s last drive of the first half, which started with just one minute left.

The Hawks start district play 1-0 with their win over Granbury, a new district opponent. However, the teams are new for both coaches, who both entered the season newly-hired.

Granbury’s Bobby Allison previously coached at Northwest High School. Smith previously coached at Southlake Carroll, Carthage High School and Texas A&M University.

“With me being a new head coach, [all of the district teams] are new to me,” said Smith. “So, that’s the hard part for me. And coach Allison has done a great job in his first year, as well, so we’ll have our hands full in our district, for sure.”

Birdville improves to 2-1 on the season and will travel to Aledo to face the Bearcats next week.