Brazos Beck makes most of opportunity to continue New Home football's historic run
CANYON — The stage couldn't have been bigger for Brazos Beck to make his first start at quarterback for the season.
And yet, much like the rest of the New Home football team, he handled himself as if he'd been in this situation, playing for a Region I-2A Division II championship, before Friday night.
Except he and the Leopards had never played this late into the playoffs as an 11-man team, making the result all the more impressive.
Much the same way Caleb Cook took over the quarterback position for New Home last season, Beck resumed his role as the gunslinger in Happy State Bank Stadium with Cook sidelined with an injury. It's a role the junior has remained prepared for all season, just in case.
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With Beck at QB, the Leopard offense found a spark it lacked the previous two rounds. The conservative, run-heavy approach was abandoned against Wellington. Instead, Beck was allowed to air it out early and often. It paid off with a five-touchdown performance, a 35-20 win and New Home's first trip to the state semifinals in school history.
"I can't say enough," New Home head coach Jon Ward said of Beck's performance. "I hugged him, he's emotional. ... I'm just so happy for him. A lot of kids, with the quarterback situation that we had, you know, they could pout up and think about themselves, but you know, he just wants to win. He wants to do what's best for his team and he knew he's just a snap away. He kind of proved it last week against Clarendon and he came in tonight and he did exactly what was asked of him and he did a great job. He did a great job. Everybody did a great job tonight. It was awesome."
Soon after the Leopards (13-1) were awarded the region championship trophy, Beck was greeted by a bevy of hugs, the first coming from his older brother Braxton, a senior linebacker. The Becks have formed part of New Home's stingy defense throughout the 2022 campaign. That proved crucial against a physical Skyrocket front.
It was Beck's offense, though, that turned the game.
New Home ran eight plays on the opening possession of the game. Seven of them were passes, the biggest coming on a fourth-and-9 spot when Beck hit Brody Emert for a 20-yard TD.
That was just the start of a memorable night that included a big game from Jackson Raines.
After a drop early in the first quarter, the speedy senior needed just five catches to accumulate 217 yards thanks to TDs of 78 and 89 yards. He also had a fumble recovery that set up the final, nail-in-the-coffin score.
Between his two TD tosses apiece to Raines and Emert (four catches, 79 yards), Beck took one in himself.
On a crucial third-and-long deep in Wellington territory, the Skyrocket defense parted like the Red Sea, giving way to a wide-open 22-yard scoring run from Beck.
By the end of the game, the Leopards had accumulated 341 yards of total off, 307 of which came from the arm of Beck, who also had the game-clinching interception on defense late in the fourth quarter.
"That kid's a great athlete," Wellington head coach Greg Proffitt said of Beck. "He's a great safety. He was a great receiver. I mean, he's good. He did a good job with their offense and making plays with his feet and throwing that thing around a little bit. Hats off to him for stepping in there and doing his job."
A year ago, Beck was in the process of rehabbing his torn ACL, hoping to be able to get back to what he once was before the injury. He can now say when everything was on the line, he came through.
"Our coaches did a great job with the game plan for this game, and we went out and executed it," Beck said. "I credit Caleb we're here. We wouldn't be here without Caleb. Him going down, we try to step up and do our job and I think everyone did that to max potential. We played great tonight."
Following his performance, Beck was calm and composed. Happy to be sure, for what he and the Leopards accomplished. But the postgame celebration was befitting a more experienced team. It would've been hard to tell which of Friday night's squads were in their fourth straight region final and which was continuing its best season ever.
"We've got big goals and our goals are gonna stay," Beck said. "We got two more ahead of us and that's what we're really waiting for. That's when we'll celebrate, if we make it all the way."
REGION I-2A DIVISION II FINAL
New Home 35, Wellington 20
Wellington 8 6 0 6 — 20
New Home 7 7 14 7 — 35
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
NH — Brody Emert 20 pass from Brazos Beck (Ryder Starkey kick), 9:45
WEL — Miguel Rincon 11 run (Gumaro Rincon run), 2:58
Second quarter
NH — Jackson Raines 78 pass from Beck (Starkey kick), 8:31
WEL — G. Rincon 6 run (run failed), 1:25
Third quarter
NH — Raines 89 pass from Beck (kick failed), 5:48
NH — Beck 22 run (Emert pass from Brady Brown), 1:37
Fourth quarter
WEL — Bryant Tarver 21 pass from Braylon Tarver (run failed), 7:51
NH — Emert 16 pass from Beck (Starkey kick), 3:48
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: (W) 23; (NH) 11
Rushes-Yards: (W) 55-259; (NH) 20-34
Passing: (W) 97; (NH) 307
Comp-Att-Int: (W) 9-13-1; (NH) 10-24-1
Punts-Avg: (W) 2-37.5; (NH) 3-37.3
Fumbles-Lost: (W) 5-3; (NH) 0-0
Penalties-Yards: (W) 4-40; (NH) 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Wellington, Gumaro Rincon 17-91, Nixon Folk 14-66, Carson Tarver 16-61, Miguel Rincon 5-28, Jordan Nation 2-12, Travon Lewis 1-1. New Home, Brazos Beck 8-19, Logan Addison 11-18, Brody Emert 1-(-3).
PASSING: Wellington, C. Tarver 7-11-1—69, Braylon Tarver 2-2-0—28. New Home, Beck 10-23-1—307, Brady Brown 0-1-0.
RECEIVING: Wellington, Nation 5-53, Bryant Tarver 1-21, Bra. Tarver 1-9, Folk 1-7, Enrique Jaimes 1-7. New Home, Jackson Raines 5-217, Emert 4-79, Nevin Mojica 1-11.
RECORDS: Wellington 12-2; New Home 13-1.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Brazos Beck makes most of opportunity to continue New Home football's historic run
