Navarro Football: Bulldogs come up short in Conference title game
Nov. 20—Navarro's remarkable comeback season ended Saturday in Kilgore, where the Bulldogs fell to No. 3 Kilgore 48-39 in the SWJCFC championship game.
The Bulldogs had an emotional and memorable ride to reach the Conference title game, and came back from an 0-2 start in which they were outscored 92-26 to begin the season.
They bounced back and went 5-1 in conference play, beating No. 19 Tyler 34-24 in the final game of the regular season to earn a berth in the conference tournament semifinals, where they upset Trinity Valley 30-29 to advance to Saturday's title game against Kilgore (9-1).
Navarro quarterback Dane Jentsch went down fighting with another impressive performance, completing 16-of-28 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns and three interceptions while rushing for 34 yards on seven carries.
Jentsch, who was ninth in the nation in passing this season, completed TD passes to Braylon Finney and Brian Spotwood. Finney caught nine passes for 96 yards and three TDs to lead the Dawgs and Spotwood had three receptions for 68 yards.
Backup quarterback Mason Shod completed 2-of-4 passes for 20 yards and a touchdown to Finney.
D'Tyrian McCoy led Navarro's ground game, rushing for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries (13.8 yards per carry) to fuel Navarro's balanced offense.
Kilgore took the lead early and led the Dawgs 7-3 after the first quarter and 21-13 at halftime before outscoring Navarro 27-26 in the second half.
