Grandview outduels Pottsboro in top-15 shootout
Nov. 16—MESQUITE — The sky was clear but the fireworks on the football field were abundant in Thursday night's area round matchup between the No. 12 Grandview Zebras and No. 14 Pottsboro Cardinals at Mesquite Memorial Stadium. The familiar foes have faced off in the postseason in three of the past five seasons — including the 2019 state championship game matchup that Grandview won 42-35 — and the latest meeting between the two football powers provided plenty of excitement.
In this second-round clash, the Zebras got plenty of playmaking across the board in all three phases and were able to overcome a 14-point deficit on two separate occasions. Fueled late by a fourth-quarter surge, Grandview walked away with a 56-42 victory to secure a trip to the regional semifinals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
"I want to emphasize how proud I am of how hard they fought," Zebras head coach Ryan Ebner said. "At any moment, if you don't have a lot of character, you can say, 'Well, it's been a good run up to this point,' but we kept battling. That's my biggest point — you can keep achieving if you keep grinding like that. At any moment, if you never stop, you never know what's going to happen. It's a big moment for this team, especially for the young guys, to build belief during this run and lean on those older guys as they pull through for us."
Pottsboro came out of the gates strong with a touchdown drive on the game's opening drive. The Cardinals elected to go for it on 4th-and-2 on the Grandview 43, and the gamble resulted in a 43-yard touchdown run with 9:10 left in the first. Despite the early score, Grandview's offense was able to come right back as senior signal caller Ryder Hayes connected with senior wideout Carter Collins five times through the air on the Zebras' opening drive. The march down the field ended with a 13-yard connection between Hayes and Collins to tie the game up at 7-7 with 2:49 left.
However, Pottsboro found the end zone nine seconds of game time later on a 56-yard touchdown pass, and the defense followed that up with a fumble recovery, which set up a short touchdown run for the Pottsboro offense. With that, the Cardinals held a 21-7 lead with seven ticks remaining in the opening quarter.
After a strong kickoff return from senior Anthony Berrones, Hayes eventually found Collins again, this time from 30 yards out, to cut the deficit to 21-14 30 seconds into the second quarter. Pottsboro responded with its own scoring drive to restore its 14-point lead, but speedy sophomore Jaleal Allen found a crease and took a screen pass to the house from 67 yards out that trimmed Pottsboro's lead to 28-21 with 8:20 to go. On Grandview's ensuing defensive possession, Berrones scooped a Pottsboro fumble near midfield on a high snap on 4th-and-1 and sprinted 55 yards to the end zone for a score that cut the deficit to 28-27 after the point after attempt was no good.
"Anthony (Berrones) is one of our team leaders, and those guys are leaned on not only on the field, but in the locker room as well," Ebner said. "He does a great job for us in terms of his leadership. In those big moments in a game like tonight, you expect your big time players to step up in those moments, and that's exactly what he did. It was awesome to see him scoop and score."
Then, Pottsboro got another touchdown with 4:07 left to make it 35-27, but Grandview answered once again. Hayes extended the drive in Pottsboro territory on a key fourth-down conversion with his legs. That conversion set up arguably the most critical touchdown connection of the Hayes-Collins trilogy. On 4th-and-15 from the Pottsboro 35 yard line, Collins leaked out down the sideline on a busted defensive assignment, and Hayes hit him in stride for the 35-yard strike, which tied the game at 35-all with 1:38 left before halftime.
"We knew what they were going to hit us with, and it did get us at first. We didn't like it, but we knew it was going to happen at some point," Collins said. "We were able to just keep going and the captains were able to lead the way — Ryder Hayes led us on offense and Anthony Berrones kept us going on defense. The energy was rolling after those first touchdowns, and once we got it tied, things were moving. That scoop and score — game changer. When we got to the half tied up, I had a feeling that we weren't going to lose. ... At the half, the coaches had adjustments ready for us, and we took them and learned. ...The defensive ends and linebackers really stepped up and, once we made those adjustments, it was over."
The teams entered the third quarter knotted at 35 points apiece and, although Pottsboro found the end zone first, Hayes used his legs several times as he scrambled for multiple first downs.
"We knew coming out of the half they (Pottsboro) were going to make a lot of defensive adjustments to the deep passing plays we were able to complete over the middle and down the sideline," Hayes said. "Coming into the second half, I knew that if my first couple of reads weren't there, then I would have a lot of space to work with. Whenever the plays were covered, I kind of let them develop a little bit and just aimed for the sticks with my legs."
"I feel like the plays he made were huge, especially when protection broke down," Ebner said of Hayes' scrambling. "When they (Pottsboro) had us covered, he was able to scramble for first downs to keep drives alive for us, which was huge."
The senior quarterback capped the drive off with his arm as he connected with Allen for a 10-yarder that tied the score at 42-42 with 1:54 left in the third. Grandview's defense fed off that energy to force Pottsboro's first punt of the game on its ensuing possession, which fueled Grandview in the fourth quarter.
"I definitely get the confidence from my team and the guys I have out there with me on the field," Hayes said. "We've been able to stick together as a team as we moved through district and got to those tougher teams in West and Whitney. I think we were really able to bond — we've had a lot of team dinners and other things that have helped us become closer as a unit. I think that bond and togetherness helped us remain poised in a shootout like this. It really helped us in tight situations in a game like this."
The Zebras capitalized on that crucial stop with a 14-yard touchdown run from senior running back Casey Cannon and, with 9:07 remaining in regulation, Grandview took its first lead of the game at 49-42. Moments later, junior defensive back Easton Ebner came down with a huge interception on great coverage down the field. He blanketed Pottsboro's intended receiver and hauled in the interception at the Grandview 28 with 6:56 left.
From there, the offensive line and Cannon continued to wear down a tiring Pottsboro defense with several bruising runs, moving the ball near midfield. The Zebras lined up to go for it on fourth down near midfield, but opted for a pooch punt from Hayes. The decision paid off as Hayes' perfectly-placed punt rolled dead at the Pottsboro one yard line with 4:06 to go.
The energized Zebra defense took the field and stonewalled Pottsboro on four consecutive plays, which allowed Cannon to plunge in for the one-yard score and, in the process, extend the lead to 56-42 with 2:08 to go. The Zebras put the clamps on Pottsboro on its ensuing drive to secure the second-round victory, and the late defensive surge was key for Grandview in closing out the win.
"I was extremely pleased because, up to that point, it had been really tough slowing them down," Ebner said. "They've got a lot of really good players, especially number five (Major McBride), and we were having trouble tackling him early. Once our guys stepped up and made big plays, we were able to pin our ears back a little bit more. We were really able to make some big stops at some key moments."
Another component of Grandview's success is the team's overall leadership, which Collins attributed to the team's success in Mesquite and the 2023 campaign as a whole.
"We have a great group of seniors, we've all been very close," Collins said. "(Anthony) Berrones moved here his eighth grade year, and the rest of us have grown up together. Everyone likes each other and we hang out all the time. We have great leadership from our sophomore class, too, and they're very important for our team. We all play for each other every game."
Grandview (11-1, 8-0) will face the winner of Malakoff and Mount Vernon next Friday with game details to be announced.
