Jacob Martella, Staff Writer
November 19, 2010
Filed under Sports
With three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game, the Killeen Kangaroos faced a fourth down inside the Jaguars’ 20 yard-line. Killeen’s quarterback Quintin House looked to the end zone, but his reciever could not get a foot inbounds, giving the Jaguars the playoff victory.
“I cried,” linebacker Allen Huynh said. “It was a good feeling. I wanted to go through that experience.”
The 31-27 victory gave the Jaguars their first playoff win since 2005. That year, the Jags went to the regional round before losing to Trinity. Before the game, head coach Travis Pride said they had worked hard for this and told them to enjoy the moment.
“I don’t want it to be so serious that they lose the fun,” Pride said. “These kids didn’t just wake up and expect to be good. Their season started at the end of last year so it’s been 365 days of work.”
This year, the team has a motto “Work to Win” and Coach Pride said the players are seeing the upside of that.
“They’ve worked hard and now they’re reaping the benefits,” Coach Pride said.
The Jags got off to a slow start against the Kangaroos and found themselves down 7-0 early with Killeen with the ball once again. Despite the predicament, Coach Pride didn’t make any major adjustments.
“We just told them to settle down,” Pride said. “There was a significant wind and it was different going into the wind from having it at our back. We told them to relax. They had a lot of adrenaline going and they weren’t doing what they were coached to do.”
The Jags settled down and pulled even on a seven yard touchdown run by quarterback Xavier Williams. But in the second quarter, Killeen pulled ahead once again on a Jaqual Haskins run and once again looked to grow that lead. But Williams found receiver Jaylon Singleton for an 18-yard touchdown and a 14-14 tie. On the ensuing Killeen possession, the Jaguar defense got into the Killeen backfield and forced a fumble which was returned 30-yards by Zachary Coleman.
“Coleman basically won us the game,” Huynh said. “If it wasn’t for his touchdown, we would have been in a pickle.”
After Killeen scored and missed the extra point and both teams traded fumbles, the Jags were set up inside the Kangaroos’ 20-yard line with five seconds left. Williams looked to the endzone on the first play, but his play, but his receiver was just unable to reel it in. With one second on the clock, Coach Pride decided to go for the field goal.
“It wasn’t really a decision,” Pride said. “With five seconds left, we went for the touchdown. With one second we needed to get points.”
Chris Brown sent the 30-yard field goal in the air, but hit the left upright. Fortunatly for him and his teammates, it bounced through the uprights.
“It was dead silent,” Singleton said. “It felt like the game winner. We were going crazy. It was a lucky kick.”
Killeen took their first possession of the second half easily for the score to go up 27-24. From there, neither offense could get anything going.
“There was some nervousness and anxiety,” Pride said. “We practiced that daily. We create those game situations in practice.”
Finally, the Jags broke through midway through the fourth quarter. Lewis Washington capitalized off of a long drive, scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown for three yards out.
“Nothing was in my head (when Washington scored),” Singleton said. “We knew the game was ours.”
Killeen however, didn’t go down without a fight. The Kangaroos went down the field and looked to get the go ahead score with the ball inside the Jaguar 20-yard line. But the Jaguar defense stopped Killeen and forced a dramatic fourth-down play.
House was patient in the pocket and looked for his receiver on the far sideline in the end zone for the score. The receiver caught the ball cleanly, but his foot was out of bounds, turning the ball back over the Jags.
“I was relieved,” Huynh said. “If they had scored, we would have been packing our bags.”
Killeen got the ball back with under 20 seconds to go, but Coleman intercepted House’s final desperate pass attempt on the last play of the game.
The Jaguars will play Birdville, Friday night at 7:30 at Pennington Field in the area round. That game could be history for the Jags.
“If we win, we would make history,” Singleton said. “Only one other (Summit football) team would have made it as far as us.”
For that to happen, Coach Pride said it will take an all-around game.
“Defense is going to have to have a strong performance and the offense will need to score when we need them to score,” Pride said. “If it’s a shootout, we need to match them.”
As for the mindset of the players after getting the first win, it’s still the same.
“Coach has been reminding us we can’t be complacent,” Huynh said. “We have get ready for the next one.”
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