On Friday at the Centennial Knights, the Kell Longhorns weren’t able to score in the way they’re used to and even trailed at halftime. However, their defense carried the team, the offense — led by the legs of quarterback Bryce Clavon — was efficient in the second half, and the Horns opened region play with a 26-9 win.
The No. 5 Longhorns (5-0, 1-0 Region 6-5A) came in averaging nearly 39 points but trailed 9-6 at halftime. They took the lead for good at 13-9 with 47.2 seconds left in the third quarter on Clavon’s 42-yard touchdown run. It was the second of three rushing scores for Clavon, who finished with 89 yards on 13 carries.
A senior, Clavon has guided the Horns from being unranked to inside the top five but views Friday’s win as the the official start of the season.
“We’re actually just 1-0 right now because our region play just started,” Clavon said. “We need to build from here, keep winning and see where that takes us.”
The Horns defense forced a turnover, a turnover on downs and four punts on Centennial’s non-scoring drives, but the highlight of the night came in garbage time when senior defensive lineman Joshua Barker strip-sacked the Knights’ quarterback. The ball hit the ground and bounced back to Barker who, in stride, caught it and ran 57 yards for the touchdown.
That brought the score to its final margin with 1 second remaining.
His first-career touchdown aside, Barker was proud of his unit’s effort against an offense that featured one of the nation’s best tackles.
“The plan coming in was for Daniel Calhoun, No. 71. He’s a 5-star,” Barker said. “We were keying on him and so we knew to get a name for ourselves we had to beat big names. That was my personal goal. Coming into the game we smashed them in the mouth. We started slow (offensively) in the beginning but then we came out in the second half and we picked it up — didn’t let them past the 50. There’s a lot of dogs on this squad who are ready to put their bodies on the line for this, and that’s all we need.”
The Knights (1-4, 0-1) came into Friday 0-9 all-time against top five teams but had a strategy to control the ball and shorten the game, and it could have worked if not for miscues and penalties at crucial points in the game.
After forcing a Kell punt early in the second quarter, the Knights made the ill-advised choice to attempt fielding the ball around a crowd of Horns who were waiting to down it. The Knights player touched the ball but was unable to recover it, and the Horns fell on it on the Centennial 7. That led to the Horns’ first score and lead, which came on Clavon’s 4-yard run.
Leading 13-9 with 11:23 remaining, the Horns took over on their own 2 after a Centennial punt and chewed 10 minutes off the clock, ending their 17-play, 98 yard drive with Clavon’s 3-yard run on fourth-and-goal with 1:15 left. On the drive, the Knights were called for pass interference on third-and-9, which put Kell in Knights territory at the 44. They also allowed two Kell fourth-down conversions from 4 and 3 yards out.
Longhorns coach Bobby May was contempt with the lower scoring output because his players stuck to the game plan.
“Our defense played their butts off all night and the offense was efficient in the second-half,” May said. “We felt like they were giving us the run and that we just needed to execute. We had to run the ball and then once we (took the lead), we wanted to play a possession game.”
Both teams continue region play. The Horns, who are in the middle of a three-game road trip, play at Northview on Oct. 7 after their bye, while Centennial travels to Chattahoochee is set to begin its three-game road trip.
Kell 0 6 7 13 — 26
Centennial 3 6 0 0 — 9
C — Samer Layous 18 FG
K — Bryce Clavon 4 run (kick failed)
C — Desmond Leverett 2 run (kick failed)
K — Clavon 42 run (Michael Muhota kick)
K — Clavon 3 run (Muhota kick)
K — Joshua Barker 57 fumble return (Muhota kick)
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