Strong first half carries Grapevine in 8-5A victory over Richland
Faced with its biggest game to date, Grapevine High School deployed its array of offensive weapons, led by its star quarterback, in seizing a big District 8-5A victory with championship implications.
QB Alan Bowman, a Texas Tech pledge, passed for 255 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-18 victory Friday night over Richland, which could be pardoned if it left Mustang-Panther Stadium wondering about what-if.
Bowman threw first-half touchdowns of 31 yards to David Clayton and 41 yards to Jordan Brooks-Wess, and another to Wess of 23 yards in the second half for the Mustangs, who will have little time to enjoy the feat of improving to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in district.
School district rival Colleyville Heritage, also 6-1 and 4-0, awaits the Mustangs next week in their annual tango known as the Battle of the Red Rail.
Bowman was 15 for 33 passing. His second TD, to Wess, was the 100th of his high school career. Wess, a senior transfer from Haslet Eaton was Bowman’s preferred target in this game, finishing with eight receptions for 148 yards. Clayton had four catches for 177 yards.
Running back Roshawn Prear rushed for 105 on 19 carries, and place-kicker Carson French booted field goals of 24, 42, and 39 yards.
Both teams entered averaging better than 50 points a game.
Grapevine’s defense collected two interceptions, including Braedan Hudson’s pick that he returned to Richland’s 23, setting up Bowman-Wess Part II and increasing the Mustangs’ 14-point halftime lead to 27-6.
Richland fell to 6-1 and 3-1 in district.
The Rebels played the second half without star running back Rylee Johnson, who appeared hobbled while gaining 33 yards on six first-half carries. The senior had averaged 125 rushing yards a game.
Though the first half belonged to Grapevine and Bowman, Richland might have walked away wondering what-if on what could have been two crucial plays.
On first-and-goal on Grapevine’s third drive, Richland defensive lineman Nate Graves got his hand on Bowman’s attempted lob on a screen play. He appeared poised to intercept it until Mustangs lineman Diego Fergus knocked the ball out of Graves’ hands.
Three plays later, Grapevine’s French kicked his first field goal.
On the Mustangs’ last drive of the half, with Grapevine up 17-6, Larry Nixon III’s interception return for an apparent touchdown was called back by a penalty, negating what could have been another potential game-changer.
Instead, Grapevine moved into field-goal position, and French kicked his second of the game, a 42-yarder for a 20-6 Mustangs’ half-time lead.
Rebels’ wide receiver Shamar Johnson had nine receptions for 153 yards and 61-yard TD reception from QB Drew Trent. Trent had an 8-yard TD run, and sophomore running back Brandon Johnson had a 3-yard scoring run.
This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 11:20 PM with the headline "Strong first half carries Grapevine in 8-5A victory over Richland."