Defense fuels offense as Stephenville knocks off Melissa for Region II-4A Division I title
BEDFORD — All 24 of the Stephenville football team's points came in the second half of Friday's 24-21 Region II-4A Division I final win against Melissa at Pennington Field.
For the second-straight week and third time in the playoffs, the No. 2 Jackets (14-0) came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to pull out a close win to advance.
"We talked about it, our nondistrict prepared us, our district prepared us, great football teams," Stephenville coach Sterling Doty said. "Here we are in these moments, one possession game in the second round, in the third round down seven and in the fourth round down seven. But we believed in what we do, we believed in our offseason and the guys love and care about each other."
The fourth-ranked Cardinals (11-3) scored on the opening drive of the game, but that was all it would get in the first half for a 7-0 lead at the break.
It was the defense that got the Yellow Jackets on the board first.
After the offense went three-and-out to start the second half, Melissa got a first down and was trying to match its first drive of the first-half. But Ben Kirbo jumped the route on a screen pass, intercepted it and took it 33 yards for the score.
"It all starts in practice," Stephenville receiver Coy Eakin said. "Kirbo's one of the hardest practicers we have, every rep and he runs after practice. It really shows on the field.
The defense would come up big again for Stephenville, as it held Melissa on fourth down from the 5-yard line two drives later.
"They believe in each other, they play hard for each other," Doty said. "The defensive staff does a phenomenal job of getting them ready to play. We've got the best D-line, we've got the best linebackers and we proved tonight that we can cover some folks. It's 11 working as one."
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Ryder Lambert hit Eakin in stride and he outran the defense for a 95-yard touchdown.
"No one was really down in the locker room, we all stayed up," Eakin said of the halftime deficit. "Our coaching staff came with a great plan and we went out and executed it."
It gave the Jackets a lead they would not give up.
Lambert and Eakin would connect again, this time on a 36-yard pass, to make it 24-7 after Corbin Poston delivered a 44-yard field goal.
The second Eakin score came on a three-play, 51-yard drive that took only 19 seconds off the clock. At a time when some teams would have tried to run the ball and milk the clock, Stephenville went for a 17-point lead and the jugular.
"High octane (offense) with them, so no lead is ever safe," Doty said. "We challenged our guys to be ready. If they're going to load the box and stop our run, you've got to take advantage of the man outside. Trust your dudes and that's what the offensive staff did tonight."
After a slow start offensively, Lambert finished with 230 yards passing and the two scores to go with his team-high 79 yards rushing.
"You've got to give credit to that side of the ball, Melissa's defense is really good," Doty said. "They were putting pressure on us. We settled into the game plan and we started executing, as a staff we found some things we could take advantage of, or try to anyway, and ultimately our guys went out and made plays."
But Melissa wouldn't go quietly. Two touchdown catches by Bryson Nealy, including one from 48 yards out, kept the Cardinals in the game. But when they couldn't recover the onside kick attempt with 2:01 to play, all Stephenville had to do was take three knees to run out the clock.
It was Stephenville's defense that kept it in the game until the offense could get going. Then it was the offense that gave the Jackets some breathing room to hold off Melissa's comeback attempt.
The two sides of the ball, along with a solid kicking game from Poston and punter Reece Elston, build off each other and can count on each other getting their job done.
"It's huge, to trust your defense when they're backed up against the end zone," Eakin said. "We have trust in them and they have trust in us and we play back and forth. … We're not ever down. We rely on them and we showed them, in the (second) half, that they can rely on us."
Stephenville advances to its first region final since 2017.
"We're going to enjoy this one tonight and then we'll come back and evaluate the game film and lay this one to bed and we'll start our process (on the next game)," Doty said. "That's what we've done the last 14 weeks, focus on being 1-0 and we've done that. I love our group, love our staff and the way that we prepare."
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Game summary
► Turning point: Ben Kirbo's interception returned for a touchdown was big, but it was the second defensive effort of the second half that turned things around. With Melissa threatening inside the 10, the Stephenville defense stood tall and got a fourth-down stop at the 5. On the next play, receiver Coy Eakin finally got open and Lambert didn't miss for a 95-yard touchdown and a lead the Jackets held the rest of the way.
► Player of the game: Coy Eakin, WR, Stephenville — All year, Eakin has proven himself as a difference-maker and Friday's game was no different. He got most of Melissa's attention on defense and wasn't able to get open in the first half. But he did so in big ways in the second half for two touchdowns, including a 95-yard strike to turn the game around. Eakin finished with three catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns. His only catch that didn't go for a score came on third-and-26 from Stephenville's own 2, on the drive that ended in a field goal.
► Key stat: Melissa scored on its first drive of the game. Its next 10 drives ended with a punt, a turnover on downs or a turnover. It allowed the Jackets to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 24-7 lead. By the time the Cardinals offense got going again, it was too little, too late.
► Coach Doty said: "It was our time. We challenged our guys with man coverage, 'Hey, we're going to keep putting it up to you and you're going to have to go up and make plays.' That's what he did. Ryder gave (Eakin) a shot, got it up in the air and he took it down our sideline for a huge play."
► Impact: Stephenville wins the Region II-4A Division I title and advances to the state semifinals. Melissa ends its season at 11-3.
► Up next: Stephenville will face Wichita Falls Hirschi, which beat Springtown 32-6 in the Region I final, in the state semifinals. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at The Star in Frisco.
REGION II-4A DIVISION I FINAL
No. 2 Stephenville 24, No. 4 Melissa 21
Melissa 7 0 0 14—21
Stephenville 0 0 14 10—24
FIRST QUARTER
MEL — Ashton Mitchell-Johnson 1 run (Aidan Pintor kick), 9:08
THIRD QUARTER
STE — Ben Kirbo 33 interception return (Corbin Poston kick), 9:17
STE — Coy Eakin 95 pass from Ryder Lambert (Poston kick), 3:42
FOURTH QUARTER
STE — Poston 44 field goal, 8:12
STE — Eakin 36 pass from Lambert (Poston kick), 5:44
MEL — Bryson Nealy 48 pass from Sam Fennegan (Pintor kick), 4:49
MEL — Nealy 9 pass from Fennegan (Anna Blankenship kick), 2:01
TEAM STATISTICS
……………… Mel … Ste
First downs … 23 … 14
Rushes-Yards … 47-160 … 35-150
Passing … 241… 230
Comp-Att-Int … 17-32-1 … 12-29-0
Punts … 6-35.8 … 6-39.3
Fumbles-Lost … 1-0 … 1-0
Penalties-Yards … 4-20 … 6-46
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Melissa, Ashton Mitchell-Johnson 32-128, Nathan Adejokun 4-27, Sam Fennegan 11-5; Stephenville, Ryder Lambert 10-79, Tate Maruska 8-50, Julian Iribarren 10-26, Coy Eakin 3-9, TEAM 4-(-14).
PASSING: Melissa, Fennegan 17-32-1—241; Stephenville, Lambert 12-29-0—230.
RECEIVING: Melissa, Jayvon Smith 5-24, Jacob Kusano 4-63, Bryson Nealy 3-106, Matthew Sanford 3-30, Mitchell-Johnson 1-14, Walker Overman 1-4; Stephenville, Reece Elston 8-51, Eakin 3-172, Kallan Kimbrough 1-7.
RECORDS: No. 4 Melissa 11-3, No. 2 Stephenville 14-0.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Stephenville football's defense sparks offense in win against Melissa
