Benbrook edges Eastern Hills late as Bobcats remain undefeated in district play

Fort Worth Eastern Hills has never scored against cross-town opponent Benbrook. Not until Thursday night’s matchup that was a battle until the end.

Eastern Hills suffered a costly face-mask penalty that put the Bobcats on the Highlanders 3-yard line which was followed by a rushing touchdown from Benbrook running back Harry Gonzales.

That would be the last score of the night giving the Bobcats a 20-19 win at Scarborough-Handley Field.

“Coach Anderson, his staff and his kids were playing really hard and they should be patted on the back for that,” Benbrook head coach Cody Slater said. “But super proud of our kids for finding a way to win there at the end, take the ball the length of the field and put it in and then have a stop on defense to win the ballgame.”

The Bobcats (3-3 overall, 3-0 in District 6-4A D1) came out with a strong run game behind Gonzales with nine carries on the opening drive, capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Eastern Hills (2-4, 1-2) also started out with a strong run game, with an 18-yard carry by Kareem Walker until a strip sack by Jackson Littlepage gave the Bobcats the ball right back with 5:15 left in the first quarter.

The Highlanders responded by getting an interception from Jayden Curry with 3:24 left in the period.

Benbrook chewed the clock down to go into halftime up 7-0.

It was the second half when things got interesting. Eastern Hills received the second half kickoff and got the half started with back-to-back runs from Alex Bradshaw to set up a 35-yard score from quarterback Kenwaun Durst to give the Highlanders their first touchdown of the game.

The Bobcats responded with a huge gain from Bryan Muzquiz to put them in Highlander territory. This set up a 1-yard TD run by Gonzales, his second of the night to give the Bobcats back the lead 14-7.

The lead was short lived as Durst answered with a big run up the middle for a 50-yard score, his second of the night to make it a 14-13 game as the extra point was missed.

Eastern Hills took its first lead when Durst scored on his third TD run to make it 19-14 in the fourth quarter.