Keller football shuts out Timber Creek in rivalry game to snap three-game losing streak

In a Keller ISD rivalry game, Keller’s defense delivered.

The Indians shut out Keller Timber Creek, 34-0, in a ‘road’ game Friday night at Keller ISD Athletic Complex at Keller High School.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Indians, now 3-4 in District 4-6A play and 4-5 overall.

The Keller defense came up with a handful of big stops and put a punctuation mark on the victory with a 103-yard interception return by Kaleb Malzac in the third quarter.

The senior’s first interception helped preserve the Indians’ first shutout since Week 2 last season.

Keller Timber Creek (4-4, 2-4) had gotten to the Keller 1-yard line but three straight runs had the Falcons facing a 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line.

Timber Creek quarterback Carson Porter threw a pass to a receiver near the pylon, but Keller safety TJ Worthy tipped it. The ball fluttered, and Malzac caught the deflection.

“I was staying in my coverage, and I saw the ball coming to me, and then I looked forward, and there was nothing but green grass,” Malzac said.

He had a caravan of teammates with him, and he ran untouched into the end zone with 2:52 left in the third.

That extended the lead to 31-0 at the time.

Keller stopped Timber Creek on the next possession near midfield. The Falcons were in a 2nd-and-1 at the 47 and ran the ball thrice.

Two of the three times, Air Force pledge Andrew Jurasek was there to stop the run for no gain.

He made the tackle on 4th-and-1, and after the referees brought the sticks out to measure, it was good enough to force a turnover on downs.

Jurasek was a menace behind the line coming in from his linebacker spot. He made a tackle for a 5-yard loss that forced Timber Creek to punt early in the second quarter.

“It was just trusting myself and having fun out there,” Jurasek said. “When you trust yourself and you trust your teammates around, you can just fly around and have fun. Nights like this are going to happen. We were just dominant on all sides of the ball.”

The Indians scored on their first two offensive possessions to build a 10-0 lead in the first quarter — which was the score at halftime.

Connick Whitmire booted a 36-yard field on the initial drive of the game, and then running back Quintin Shropshire had a 19-yard run with 3:20 left in the first quarter.

Timber Creek, which has dropped four in a row, got to the Keller 32 in the second quarter but turned it over on downs. Then, the Falcons tried a 45-yard field goal that went wide left as time expired in the second quarter.

The Indians scored on the first two possessions of the third quarter to boost the lead to 24-0 — before the defense got in on the scoring with Malzac’s pick.

Quarterback Brock Burkett had a 1-yard touchdown run with 9:39 left. He had a 46-yard run two plays earlier to get the ball to the 1-yard line.

On the next drive, the junior hit Cash Erdmann for a 73-yard touchdown with 7:38 remaining in the third. Burkett threw for 209 yards, and Erdmann hauled in two catches for 119.

Whitmire booted a 24-yard field goal in the fourth to account for the final score.

Porter threw for 217 yards in the loss.

Keller is idle next week, and at 3-4 in district play, the Indians sit fifth and are on the outside looking in right now for a playoff berth. Keller hosts Haslet V.R. Eaton on Nov. 7 in the regular season finale.

Meanwhile, the Falcons will travel to Eaton on Halloween before wrapping up with Justin Northwest in the final week of the season.

“We’ve been improving, we did not start the season well, then we got a couple of wins and then we played some really good football teams,” Keller coach Carl Stralow said. “I think during that time we improved but the opponent was better than us. Tonight, I think we put it all together and played a complete football game; offensive, defensive and special teams.

“They played off each other and played complimentary football. There’s two weeks from the end of the year, but yeah, I’d rather be getting better than getting worse.”