Brewer out-muscles Azle to turn back Hornets, Bears stay perfect in district play
Todd Peterman couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present Friday night.
Brewer running back Montrail Cushionberry ran for 290 yards and two touchdowns, and the Bears scored three times in the fourth quarter to beat Azle on the road, 42-27, snapping the Hornets’ 19-game home winning streak.
The win pushed Brewer’s mark to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in District 3-5A Division 1 while Azle dropped to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in district. A Brewer win next week against Justin Northwest will clinch the district championship.
“We set some goals this season,” Brewer coach Todd Peterman said. “Seven wins, which we haven’t done in 24 years, we did that tonight. Eight wins, we haven’t done that in 30 years.”
Leading by 23-21, the Bears scored 13 straight points on a Jaylen Spriggs’ 1-yard run and a Cushionberry 14-yard run, the latter coming at the 3:29 mark of the fourth quarter.
Azle had forced Brewer to kick a field goal at 29-21, but the Hornets went offsides on the fourth-and-4 attempt that extended the drive, which led to the Cushionberry score.
“Game plan was to run, run the ball until they tried to stop it and obviously they couldn’t,” said Cushionberry, a senior. “O-line kept opening holes and pushing them back.”
“We made a couple of first down, to be honest. We were close on some things,” Peterman added. “Montrail had some great runs, broke some tackles and got us going.”
Spriggs added a touchdown run late.
Azle, No. 4 in the Star-Telegram 5A area rankings, came out on fire on the game’s opening drive. Quarterback Chris Lee connected with Bernock Iya for a 65-yard gain down to the Brewer 1 and one play later, the Hornets scored on a Mason Wyble run.
After punting on its opening drive, Brewer started to find a groove on its second drive.
Cushionberry took the first play and darted 56 yards from the Brewer 17 to the Azle 27. Two plays later, the ball went back to the big running back, who scored from 25 yards out that tied the game at 7-7 with 4:32 left in the first quarter.
The Hornets struggled on offense for the rest of the first half with a punt and turnover on downs during their next two possessions.
“Defensively, coach [Mark] Howeth mixes it up,” Peterman said. “He knows what he’s doing. I leave the old man alone and let him do his job.”
Brewer, No. 5 in the 5A area rankings, stuffed a run attempt on a fourth-and-1 at the Bears 15. Then Brewer marched down field to take its first lead of the game.
The Bears went 85 yards on 10 plays, capped off with a 1-yard scoring run from Kay’Den Brooks for a 14-7 lead with 10 minutes left in the second quarter.
Brewer had a chance to extend the lead after driving inside the Azle 5, but it fumbled and Luke Briseno recovered for the Hornets. However, Azle went three-and-out and Brewer capitalized on the ensuing drive.
Spriggs hit Will Washington down the left sideline for a 36-yard touchdown and Brewer went into intermission leading 21-7.
Azle built up some momentum holding Brewer to a three-and-out on the first drive of the third. Isaiah Fuller had a nice return on the punt and Lee hit Akers on the first play for a 32-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 21-14.
The Hornets were able to force another Brewer punt, but the ball was downed at the 2 and the Bears defense was able to stop Wyble in the end zone for a safety and 23-14 lead midway through the third.
“Defense worked hard during practice all week,” senior linebacker Gabe Ballard said. “It was a big game since they beat us in overtime last year. We stayed humble, focused and now it’s on to the next one.”
Azle then pulled within two after Lee threw a 20-yard touchdown to Iya with 3:36 left in the quarter. Lee and Iya hooked up again on a 6-yard touchdown with 2:35 left to play, but Azle couldn’t convert the two-point attempt leaving the score at 36-27.
Wyble ran for 87 yards while Lee threw for 205 to lead the Hornets. Iya had three catches for 91 yards.
The Bears finish the final two weeks against Northwest and Fort Worth Arlington Heights.
The Hornets finish with Abilene Cooper and Northwest.
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 10:10 PM.
