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Instead of football's traditional handoff, Fort Worth Dunbar was confronted with the ultimate sleight of hand in its Class 4A Division II bi-district game against Wichita Falls Rider, a team that stayed in touch with the state's top 10 all season with a run-heavy attack.
But on Friday, the Rider Raiders came out firing -- as in passing -- and on all cylinders.
Quarterback Chase London passed for 216 yards and two touchdowns and added a third touchdown rushing in a 44-26 win over the Wildcats at Clark Stadium.
This from a team that averaged almost 250 yards rushing a game during the regular season.
"It surprised us," said Dunbar coach Todd Lawson, whose team's season ended at 5-6 after finishing fourth in District 6-4A. "That's a good, well-coached team, so they're going to do the opposite of whatever you think they're going to do."
It'll be one additional challenge for Fort Worth Southwest, which will meet the newly multi-dimensional Rider in a Region I area-round game next week. Southwest and Rider will play at 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls.
Senior quarterback Dan Harris led Dunbar with 96 yards rushing and two touchdowns, including a 43-yarder that brought the Wildcats back to within 10 late in the first half.
Harris also had 103 yards on 6-of-16 passing and a touchdown, to Ty Watson late in the game. Stepfawn Hughes, a junior, caught four passes for 78 yards.
Sophomore running back Taylor Martin was held to 67 yards, more than 100 below his 176-per-game average.
Rider set a dizzying first-half pace, turning Clark into a NASCAR practice session.
A big return to near midfield after Harris' first touchdown and then a 15-yard penalty assessed on Dunbar set up Rider at the Wildcats' 41.
London hit Josh Price for 14 yards, then found Davon Allison for a 27-yard scoring strike.
After a Luis Trejo's 34-yard field goal put Rider up 15-7, the Raiders scored from midfield in two plays for a 23-7 lead.
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