Richland continues its roll; Royals blasts Sandies to advance to the regional round

North Richland Hills Richland quarterback Drew Kates threw for 404 yards and three touchdowns and ran in another score as the Royals stayed on a roll in a 55-27 thumping of Amarillo in a Class 5A Division 1 area-round game on Nov. 23 at Memorial Stadium.

Richland (10-2), No. 9 in the state in Class 5A D1 according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, advances to the regional round and will face a District 3-5A D1 foe in No. 3 Denton Ryan (11-1) at a date and site to be determined. Ryan defeated Lubbock Monterey 29-16.

Ryan defeated Richland 44-19 on Oct. 10 in district play and whomever wins this time will likely face another 3-5A D1 team in No. 1 Aledo (11-1) if the Bearcats can get past Amarillo Tascosa (7-5).

The game started off in a flurry as both teams scored touchdowns in the first 23 seconds of the game. Amarillo’s Jaylend Brashears took to the opening kickoff and raced 93 yards for a score for the Sandies.

On Richland’s first snap from scrimmage, quarterback Drew Kates found Xavier Johnson for a 63-yard score to tie the game with 11:37 left in the first quarter.

“I was surprised that on the first play that they were pressing Xa (Xavier Johnson) and you know you just don’t do that,” said Drew Kates, who completed 18 of 27 passes and had 57 yards rushing on five carries. “It’s funny because it was supposed to be a running play to start and I called an audible out of it to a pass play. We had a great scheme drawn up from our coaches and we just executed it right from the start.”

Amarillo (6-5) went three and out on its next series and a short, eight-yard punt set the Royals up at the Sandies 39. Drew Kates hit two 18-yard passes to Aaron Brooks and Deon Jones to set up a three-yard scoring run by Jayshon Gibson to make it 14-7.

After another Amarillo punt, Kates found Jones wide open over the middle for a 77-yard score, and it looked as if the rout might be on as the Royals led 21-7 with 4:13 left in the first quarter.

“They’re really young on defense, and we’ve played a lot of football, so we thought that we could throw and catch it against them,” said Richland coach Ged Kates, Drew’s father, whose team will be playing in a 13th game for the second consecutive season. “He’s my son, but Drew knows what he’s looking at, and at this point in his career, there aren’t a whole lot of surprises.

“He rarely goes to the wrong spot on the field. We felt like if we lined up in one or two things and we knew what defense that they were going to be in that we could hurt them pretty bad in the passing game.”

But Amarillo wouldn’t go quietly as the Sandies traded scores with Richland the rest of the half. The Sandies countered with a six-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jett Lopez to cut the lead to 21-14 at the start of the second quarter, and Lopez added an 8-yard scoring pass to Bryson Brown.

Kates found another wide-open receiver across the middle in Brooks, who raced 33 yards for a score, and the Royals finished the half driving to the Amarillo six-yard line, but with time running out, Connor Parker came on to boot a 23-yard field goal to make it 31-21 at the half.

“They have a great culture over there, and they never give up,” said Drew Kates, who had 295 yards passing at the half. “We knew that it wasn’t going to be over at halftime, so we had to keep playing, especially with only a 10-point lead.”

And keep playing they did. The Royals went on a 27-0 scoring run, starting with the Parker field goal to end the first half.

Drew Kates scored on a five-yard run to cap Richland’s opening drive of the second half. The Royals then scored on their next three possessions on a 30-yard field goal by Parker and scoring runs of two and one yards by sophomore running back Jayshon Gibson.

Richland rode the legs of Gibson in the second half to help move the chains, take time off the clock and score points. Gibson had 148 yards rushing on 25 attempts in the game but was 19 for 116 yards in the second half.

“The second half was great,” said Gibson, who was out for eight games during the season because of injury but is back and healthy again. “I had a few mistakes in the first half that got to me a bit, but my coaches talked to me, and I talked to my o-line. I told them that I need them in the second half because without them I can’t be great and they got me the blocks and made it happen.”

The 63-yard touchdown was Johnson’s only catch of the night. Jones had eight receptions for 181 yards, Brooks caught five passes for 100 yards and Ben Sanders was 4-60 receiving.

“We’ve got some studs,” said Drew Kates. “Deon (Jones), and I mean everyone, Xa (Xavier Johnson), Aaron (Brooks), Ben (Sanders), Evan (Smith), they all played a heck of a game. The offensive line was giving me time and now we have Jayshon Gibson who is such a big factor, I mean, how do you stop us.”