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By COREY ROEPKEN Published: 10.30.10 A big change of pace at the start of the second half sparked the Elkins High School football team to a come-from-behind 34-16 victory over Kempner Saturday night at Mercer Stadium. Most importantly for the Knights, the result means they’re heaed to the postseason for the second year in a row and the third time in school history. Elkins (7-2, 4-0) claimed the District 23-5A Zone A title to clinch a berth in the district championship game against Travis. Elkins and Travis will play Friday night at 7 p.m. at Hall Stadium. “This is huge because we haven’t beaten Kempner in the last two years,” Elkins coach Robert Crivellari said. “Coach (James) Brown does a good job coaching those guys. I was concerned coming into this game because they have improved immensely since the beginning of the season. I knew they were a team we were going to beat all along.” While Elkins and Travis will play in the postseason no matter the result of next week’s game, Kempner (4-5, 2-2) must win one of the district’s two zone playoff games to advance. Kempner will play Dulles at on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Mercer Stadium. Kempner led Elkins, 14-7, at halftime then gave up an 80-yard drive on the opening possession of the third quarter. Elkins running back Dorian Williams tied it with a 7-yard touchdown run. Just like Hightower did against Kempner last week, Elkins’ first kickoff of the third quarter was an onside kick. Just like Hightower, Elkins recovered it. Five plays later quarterback Jake Burkhalter passed to Kent Hadnot for an 11-yard touchdown and Elkins had a 21-14 lead despite fewer than five minutes elapsing in the quarter. Those first two drives featured nine passes and five runs. Elkins had the ball four times in the first half and ran 10 running plays against six passing plays. Crivellari said he knew the Knights needed to pick up the pace. “We changed the tempo,” he said. “We had to see what they were doing and figure out a few things. We had a few holding penalties we couldn’t overcome. We had to stay patient and find a few things and get clicking. Once we did that we moved the ball pretty well.” The Elkins defense did its part, too. The Knights limited Kempner to one first down during the next three drives. Kempner had nine in the first half. By the time Kempner got a good drive it trailed by 11 points thanks to Williams’ 12-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Zackery Bamijoko put an exclamation point on the defensive stand with an interception late in the game. “I tagged Kempner as being one of the strongest teams in the zone,” Crivellari said. “I’m just glad our kids came out and played hard tonight, especially our defense in the second half.” Williams led the Elkins offense with 20 rushes for 103 yards. Demarcus Sherman and Donte Clark also scored rushing touchdowns. Kempner quarterback Julius White rushed 19 times for 105 yards and one touchdown. Fullback Vedial Johnson rushed 24 times for 72 yards and one touchdown. ELKINS 34, KEMPNER 16 Elkins 7-0-14-13 – 34 Kempner 0-14-2-0 – 16 SCORE SUMMARY First quarter E – Donte Clark 5 run (Nick Coffman kick), 3:57 Second quarter K – Julius White 8 run (Rafael Villatoro kick), 5:33 K – Vedial Johnson 7 run (Villatoro kick), 0:38 Third quarter E – Dorian Williams 7 run (Coffman kick), 9:03 E – Kent Hadnot 11 pass from Jake Burkhalter (Coffman kick), 7:35 K – Safey (Elkins punt snap out of end zone), 4:13 Fourth quarter E – Williams 12 run (pass fail), 8:08 E – Demarcus Sherman 32 run (Coffman kick), 0:42 TEAM STATISTICS First downs: Elkins 13, Kempner 13 Rushes-Yards: Elkins 26-142, Kempner 51-200 Passing yards: Elkins 118, Kempner 21 Comp-Att-Int: Elkins 13-22-0, Kempner 3-5-1 Punts-Avg: Elkins 3-38.0, Kempner 3-30.7 Fumbles-Lost: Elkins 0-0, Kempner 2-0 Penalties-Yards: Elkins 5-55, Kempner 8-65 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – E: Dorian Williams 20-103, Demarcus Sherman 1-32, Jake Burkhalter 2-14, Donte Clark 1-5, Paije Buchannon 2-4, Team 1- (-16); K: Julius White 19-105, Vedial Johnson 24-72, Jared Scruggs 6-20, Onye Chi-Ukpai 1-19, Edgar Guzman 1- (-16). RECEIVING – E: Donte Clark 5-54, Paije Buchannon 5-32, Kent Hadnot 2-15, Jason Billy 1-17; K: Vedial Johnson 1-15, Jacob Murillo 1-10, Ony Chi-Ukpai 1- (-4). PASSING – E: Jake Burkhalter 13-22-0, 118; K: Julius White 3-5-1, 21. Copyright © 2010 - Houston Community Newspapers Online http://bit.ly/dv2rUL
District 23-5A football zone playoff scenarios
By COREY ROEPKENPublished: 10.25.10
Hightower coach Barry Abercrombie came out of the locker room Saturday night and didn’t even need to be asked a question before addressing the topic at hand. “I hate that system,” he said. It was an unfortunate moment after a victory that should have caused celebration. Hightower had just beaten a strong Kempner team, 42-21, but the elephant in the room was the touchdown the Hurricanes scored in the final minute. Kempner was out of timeouts so all Hightower had to do was take a knee to end the game with a final score of 35-21. Instead, quarterback Bralon Addison connected with Joseph Giles for a 49-yard touchdown pass. Without perspective there was no question Hightower was running up the score. Abercrombie, though, was preparing for a potential tiebreaker with Kempner and Elkins. If Kempner beats Elkins this week then those two and Hightower tie for first place in District 23-5A’s Zone A. In that case the tiebreaker is point differential in games played among those three teams. The most points one team can have on another is 18. Before the final touchdown Hightower led by 14 points. The last score gives the Hurricanes the maximum of +18, which brings their point differential from -12 to +6. Without the last touchdown Hightower would be at +2. Hightower already was guaranteed a spot in a zone playoff game, but the difference between finishing first and second or third is significant. The zone champ doesn’t have to sweat a Week 10 game to qualify for the UIL postseason. The second- and third-place teams have to win in Week 10 to qualify. “The difference between +2 and +6 could be the difference in having a chance to play in the championship game,” Abercrombie said. “I respect (Kempner) coach (James) Brown. I respect his staff. I don’t like having to do that, but that’s the system. I owe it to my kids to put us in the best position I can. Now, ironically, we’re the biggest Kempner fans there are because we need them to beat Elkins by seven or more.” A similar situation could arise on Friday when Clements and Dulles square off at Hall Stadium. Depending on the outcome of the Travis-Bush game at Mercer, Clements may need to beat Dulles by at least seven points to advance to the zone playoffs. The system can lead to perplexing situations. The Sun is here to clear up any confusion about the race for the zone playoffs. Austin, Marshall and Willowridge have been eliminated. ZONE A update Effective standings: Elkins 3-0, Hightower 3-1, Kempner 2-1 Remaining game: Elkins vs. Kempner Explanation: Elkins can clinch the zone title simply by beating Kempner. Elkins also can clinch the zone title if it loses to Kempner by fewer than seven points. Hightower can win the zone title only if Kempner beats Elkins by at least seven points. Because it cannot surpass Hightower’s point differential, Kempner cannot win the zone title. ZONE B update Effective standings: Bush 2-1, Dulles 2-1, Travis 2-1, Clements 1-2 Remaining games: Travis vs. Bush; Clements vs. Dulles Explanation: Travis and Bush have clinched berths in the zone playoffs, but Travis is the only one that can clinch the zone championship simply by winning this week. Here is a closer look at what would happen given each possible combination of Friday winners. If Travis and Clements win: Travis wins the zone title and the other three are tied for second place. In that case, the teams’ effective point differentials are Bush (+6), Dulles (+4), Clements (-10). Because Dulles and Clements both could not pass Bush, Bush would be guaranteed a berth in the zone playoffs. Clements would have to beat Dulles by at least eight points to claim the final zone playoff berth. If Travis and Dulles win: Travis wins the zone title based on its previous victory over Dulles. Dulles and Bush would be in the zone playoffs. If Bush and Clements win: Bush wins the zone title and the other three are tied for second place. In that case, the teams’ effective point differentials are Travis (+10), Clements (+4), Dulles (-14). Because Clements already is ahead of Dulles in that category the margin of victory for Clements over Dulles would not matter. Travis and Clements would be in the zone playoffs. If Bush and Dulles win: Dulles wins the zone title based on its previous victory over Bush. Bush and Travis would be in the zone playoffs. Fort Bend Sun -
Elkins clinches zone playoff berth with win over Marshall Staff Reports Published: 10.22.10 The Elkins High School football team clinched a berth in the zone playoffs with a 21-14 victory over Marshall Friday night at Hall Stadium. Marshall’s loss means Elkins, Hightower and Kempner will represent Zone A in District 23-5A’s zone playoffs during week 10. The zone winner still is to be determined. Elkins (6-2, 3-0) scored all of its points in the first half. Dorian Williams scored the first two touchdowns on his way to another big rushing game. He carried 33 times for 197 yards. Demarcus Sherman scored the other touchdown on his only carry with nine seconds left in the first half. The Knights led, 21-0, at halftime. Marshall (1-7, 0-3) scored once in the third and once in the fourth. Running back DeAndre Washington (16 rushes for 136 yards) passed to Tyler White for the first score. Quarterback Allan Osenwegie passed to White for the second score with three minutes left in the game. Elkins quarterback Jake Burkhalter completed 16-of-25 passes for 130 yards. Paige Buchannon caught nine passes for 83 yards. Copyright © 2010 - Houston Community Newspapers Online http://bit.ly/93rODr |
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