Grapevine overcomes turnover bug to beat Wichita Falls in football playoff opener

Grapevine jumped out to an early lead and survived three turnovers, two in the shadow of its own goal posts in the third quarter, before running away from Wichita Falls 44-7 on Thursday night in a Class 5A Division 2 bi-district game at Mustang-Panther Stadium.

It was a nice start to the playoffs for Grapevine (9-2) after rolling through district play. The Mustangs will play the winner of the game between El Paso Horizon (5-5) and El Paso Burges (7-3) next Friday (Nov. 19) at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland at 7 p.m.

Grapevine jumped to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter after Colt Mercer hit Parker Polk with a pass across the middle that Polk turned in to a 64-yard score. Five plays, earlier Mustang defensive back Drew Nelson had picked off a Wichita Falls pass at the Grapevine 6 to avoid the Coyotes making it a one-score game.

The Mustangs scored touchdowns on each of their first three drives.

Grapevine opened the game with a touchdown on its third play from scrimmage when Mercer hit Kaden Cook on a 48-yard pass play. Grapevine followed a punt on Wichita Falls’ opening series with a 16-play, 78-yard march, capped by a 7-yard scoring run from Victor Delacruz for a 14-0 lead with 10:14 left in the second quarter.

Wichita Falls (3-8) got a scare late in the first half when star quarterback Bricen Vialpando went down after being tackled by the facemask that resulted in the ball being at the Grapevine 8. Without Vialpando the Coyotes lost the ball on downs at the 1.

But Vialpando returned on the Coyotes next series and tossed a terrific pass to Ke’Ondrae Fleeks, who made just as good of a catch, for a 5-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-7 with 1:37 left before intermission.

The Grapevine defense stepped up after that point as Wichita Falls intercepted passes on Grapevine’s next three possessions, but couldn’t convert the turnovers into points.

Brigman Steward stepped in front of a Mustang pass at the Grapevine 45 late in the first half, but the Coyotes were forced to punt after three straight incomplete passes.

Wichita Falls defensive back Ivy Kelley had interceptions on Grapevine’s first two possessions of the second half, both deep in Mustang territory, but the Coyotes lost the ball on downs at the 5 after the first and again at the 8 after the second.

After a scoreless third quarter, Grapevine turned up the heat in the final stanza. After Caleb Texada (19 carries, 122 yards) had upped the lead to 28-7 on his final carry on a 3-yard run with 8:15 left in the fourth quarter, disaster struck for Wichita Falls.

Vialpando, who was the cornerstone of the Wichita Falls offense, fumbled at the Coyotes 8, where it was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Grapevine’s Latham Wai. On the play, Vialpando suffered a severe lower leg injury and the game was delayed for several minutes before he was carted to a waiting ambulance.

The Coyotes offense, which had struggled with Vialpando against Grapevine’s defense, was nonexistent after that. Vialpando carried 24 times for 44 yards and was 6 of 18 for 124 yards through the air. The Mustangs defense held Wichita Falls to nine total yards in the second half and 176 for the game.

A bad punt snap resulted in a safety for the Mustangs.

Polk returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards to the Wichita Falls 30 and Grapevine scored four plays later when Rondale Carridine avoided several tackles along the sideline to score on a 21-yard pass play from Mercer to give the Mustangs a 44-7 lead with 3:35 left in the game.

Mercer did have three interceptions in a span of four throws, but finished completing 13 of 20 for 201 yards and three touchdowns for the Mustangs.