BREAKING NEW GROUND

Class 1A, DII playoff roundup: Morgan Eagles soar to first-ever Bi-District victory, downing Fannindel, 70-34; fourth-ranked Oglesby eliminates Iredell

IRVING – After advancing to the Class 1A, Division II playoffs for the third straight season, the Morgan Eagles were able to accomplish something no other football team in school history has managed. But they aren’t done yet.

Sophomore EJ Aviles threw three touchdown passes and ran for three more scores as the Eagles soared over the Fannindel Falcons, 70-34, in a Bi-District playoff matchup last Friday night at Joy & Ralph Ellis Stadium in Irving to capture Morgan’s first-ever postseason win.

“I’m proud to earn Morgan’s third district championship and first playoff victory in the school’s history,” Morgan head coach Eduardo Aviles said. “It has taken some tough losses in the past to get to this point, but I know this group has really done a great job of putting themselves in this position.”

With the win, the District 10-1A, DII champion Eagles (8-3) advance to the Region III semifinals to face the District 12-1A, DII champion and ninth-ranked Bluff Dale Bobcats (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in Dublin’s Bob & Norma Cervetto Stadium.

“We are looking forward to this game this week,” Aviles said. “I feel we are playing a team that is similar to us. We both run spread in several formations, we put pressure on our opponents on the defensive side, and we make plays when things break down.”

The Eagles jumped out to an early 18-0 lead in the first quarter, but Fannindel fought back to match Morgan score for score through the next two quarters before the Eagles put the game away in the fourth. Behind Aviles, senior Adrian Vera-Rico ran for two touchdowns and caught a scoring strike, senior Kason Sims hauled in two touchdown passes and sophomore Zach Mitchell cashed in on another.

“Overall, we did what we thought we needed to do on the offense and defense sides,” Aviles said. “We had a chance to really separate ourselves from the Falcons in the first half, but a key injury to Adrian Vera-Rico during that time put us in a bind. I will give Fannindel credit because they kept on playing and made us really step it up. I am proud of our team’s efforts to keep playing the way they did.”

Usually striving to produce a balanced attack, the Eagles relied heavily on the running game due to the challenging weather conditions. Despite scoring through the air four times, Morgan only passes for 123 yards while rolling up 276 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

“Offensively, the freezing cold weather and the wind didn’t allow us to throw the ball effectively,” Aviles said. “We were able to run the ball more to make the gains needed to keep scoring.”

Sims led the Morgan defensive effort with 16 tackles, followed by freshman Adrian Alonzo with 13, Aviles with 12 and a fumble recover as well as senior Keylan Wats with five takedowns and two fumble recoveries.

“Defensively, we were able to make several stops and create a couple of turnovers,” Aviles said. “Our coverage did a great job for the most part, but we gave up a couple of deep passes and two scores that should have been deflected. We were able to keep putting pressure to their quarterback and forcing incomplete passes.”

OGLESBY 60, IREDELL 30

VALLEY MILLS – For the young and surprising Iredell Dragons, their Cinderella season finally came to an end. By the way they battled until the final second, the Dragons clearly did not want the party to be over.

But Class 1A, Division II’s fourth-ranked and undefeated Oglesby had something to say about that as freshman Kyler Fossett rushed for six touchdowns and the Tigers ran past Iredell, 60-30, in a Bi-District playoff matchup last Friday night at J.C. Larkin Athletic Complex in Valley Mills.

“That was definitely not the outcome we were wanting or expecting, but our kids gave a solid effort,” Iredell head coach Luis Guereca said. “When you go up against a good team like Oglesby, all aspects of the game need to be on point. Unfortunately, we could not produce enough offensively to keep up with their scoring.”

After battling to a 14-14 tie with 5:14 left in the first quarter, Oglesby (11-0) piled on 24 unanswered points to take a comfortable 38-14 lead into halftime.

The Dragons (5-6) continued to fight back in the second half using a balanced attack and refused to go down as a victim of the 45-point mercy rule.

Freshman Cole Heutzenroeder ran for three touchdowns while leading the Dragons with 79 yards rushing on 16 carried and freshman Jordan Gutierrez rushed for another while gaining 77 rushing yards on 10 attempts in the losing effort for Iredell.

Through the air, Heutzenhoeder and senior Preston Robinson combined to complete eight of 12 passes for 85 yards.

Fossett rushed for 337 yards while accounting for most of Oglesby’s 398 yards of total offense. With the win, Oglesby advances to the Region III quarterfinals to face the Oakwood Panthers (9-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Blackcat Field in Mexia.

Defensively for Iredell, senior Chase Wilkerson led with 11 tackles, followed by sophomore Deuce Paul with eight, Heutzenroeder with seven and sophomore Westen Chandler with six.

“The positive is that we were able to get playoff experience,” Guereca said. “And there is no doubt in my mind, we’ll be back next year. I’m proud of the way our players worked all year, and we were able to improve each week. Thank you for all the support from our school and community.”