Controversial calls, comebacks, a tear-jerker victory — a girl in the championships?

Allen against Euless Trinity, one of those matchups that makes every high school football fan’s heart go pitter-patter, went from a humdinger to a blowout in short order.

It’s a shame to think officiating might have played a teensy-weensy part in that. And I realize, I’m wading into it a bit here.

These things will be squabbled over endlessly, to nobody’s satisfaction, but the Trojans suffered what some called a bad call on a spot that turned the ball over to the Eagles near the half with the score at 14-13 in favor of Allen.

The Eagles would go on from that point to roll off 27 straight points.

It always helps when your quarterback can complete an awkward-yet-spectacular, falling-to-the-ground, oh-help-me-Lord shovel pass for a touchdown. That’s a very underrated quality in a player.

But some said it looked like Allen’s Grant Tisdale put knee to turf before that desperate fling.

At any rate, the Trojans’ comeback season ended in a 41-20 loss that, let’s be real, probably wouldn’t have been a Trojans win regardless of the refs. And, let’s be real, that touchdown was definitely the play of the year.

▪  Sometimes, those controversial calls can be a good thing even when they come against you!

Houston Cy-Fair’s Trenton Kennedy was ruled to have butter-fingered the ball late against Langham Creek, but that seemed to light a fire under his tea kettle. He scored two late touchdowns in under three minutes to get the Bobcats a ride on the state semifinals roller coaster for the first time since 1985. Cy-Fair won 31-14.

▪  The state championship round could feature a girl player for the first time ever:

Lani Nava’s Strawn program just whooped the ever-lovin’ tar out of its state quarterfinals opponent, Milford, by a whopping 102-71 final.

▪  Kevin Lonnquist, one of our football seers, looked into his crystal ball and saw no Class 6A or 5A teams from Tarrant County advancing this weekend. Nobody took his forecast very well — they blew up my Twitter just a bit — but Mansfield Legacy actually did something about it.

Staked to a lead until Frisco Lone went up 20-17 with under five minutes left, the Broncos had to turn to quarterback Jalen Catalon, who’d struggled in his passing game up to that point. Catalon was there when needed, though, chucking a 66-yard touchdown bomb. Legacy 24, Lone Star 20. A Jared Hopper interception in the end zone tucked it in and kissed it goodnight.

▪  There are comebacks in football, and then there are comebacks in life that are just set in the world of football. Colleyville Covenant had one of the latter.

Jack Cross hadn’t seen the field since his 2016 cancer diagnosis. He’d dropped all the way down to 124 pounds from chemo and radiation before rebounding. And his family has had a tragic run for the past few years.

The former standout was declared a cancer survivor just this past Thursday. And now he’s also been declared a state champion after finally getting back to the turf, lining up at quarterback late in Covenant’s victory over The Woodlands Legacy Prep Christian — 14-0.

▪  Lonnquist actually did pretty well this round. Southlake Carroll, though rallying again and again with a flamethrower offense led by standout quarterback Will Bowers, fell to Waco Midway 42-28.

▪  Wait, they don’t feed you (or even water you) at the Frisco Ford Center?

This story was originally published December 9, 2017 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Controversial calls, comebacks, a tear-jerker victory — a girl in the championships?."