FW Trimble Tech outlasts FW Southwest

Posted Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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By CARLOS MENDEZ

cmendez@star-telegram.com

Akim Nixon is Fort Worth Trimble Tech’s big-play producer.

He produced two Thursday night when the Bulldogs needed them most.

He caught a 75-yard pass to bail the team out of a third-and-long deep on its end and then finished the drive with a 20-yard touchdown catch to provide the winning points in a 21-16 victory against Fort Worth Southwest at Farrington Field.

The big plays gave the Bulldogs (7-2, 2-2 District 7-4A West Zone) their winningest season since at least 1990. They won six games in ’02 and ’03.

It was a bit of consolation for Trimble Tech, which knew before the game that it could not qualify for the playoffs. The Bulldogs can finish in a tie with Fort Worth Polytechnic for second in the zone, but Polytechnic owns a head-to-head tiebreaker. In a three-way tie, Polytechnic would emerge on points.

The Bulldogs are headed to the 7-4A fifth-place game next week against either Fort Worth North Side or Fort Worth Wyatt.

Southwest (1-8, 0-4) will meet Fort Worth South Hills in the ninth-place game.

Trimble Tech trailed 16-14 after a punt snap out of the end zone produced a safety for Southwest with 9:35 left.

The Bulldogs gave up the ball on a free kick but got it back on Chris McLaurin’s interception at the 5-yard line. Two short runs had the Bulldogs facing third-and-8 at their 7, but that’s when quarterback Donald Taylor finally connected with his top playmaker.

Taylor had barely overshot Nixon twice earlier in the game, but this time he floated a pass into the speedster’s hands, and Nixon — who leads Tech in touchdowns, yards per catch and yards per run — made it to the 18 before he was stopped. Two plays later, he caught a 20-yard touchdown pass for the lead with 5:54 left.

Andre Creer scored the Bulldogs’ first two touchdowns, on runs of 38 and 2 yards. The short run produced a 14-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

But Southwest tied it on the next play with a 67-yard run by George Smith, who bounced off several would-be tacklers at the line of scrimmage and one near the sideline to go all the way with 11 minutes left.

Trimble Tech forced four turnovers, including an interception by Keenan Maynor.

Jose Castro had two sacks and two tackles for loss for Southwest.

CARLOS MENDEZ, 817-390-7407

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