Mansfield Summit denies Midlothian again as Jaguars knock out Panthers to advance
Mansfield Summit beat Midlothian by three touchdowns in the second to last week of the regular season.
So you know Midlothian was hungry to avenge that loss.
The Panthers gave the Jaguars their best fight and nearly pulled off their revenge, but in the end, Summit’s defense made the key stops to help the program advance.
Tavare Smith Jr. returned a kickoff 83 yards late in the third quarter and Ahmaad Moses sealed the win with an interception as Summit beat Midlothian, 28-20, in a Class 5A Division 1 regional round game on Friday at Gopher-Warrior Bowl.
Summit (10-3) advances to the state quarterfinals to play Saturday night’s winner between Colleyville Heritage and Amarillo Tascosa.
“That’s a good football team, well coached and they do a great job year in and year out and give us problems every time,” Summit coach Channon Hall said. “They play together, but we play together too. We’re well coached too, we did the same thing and we ended up on top.”
Midlothian (8-5) trailed 14-6 at halftime, but dominated the third quarter to take the lead.
The Panthers executed a perfect onside kick to open the second half and scored nine plays later. Midlothian rushed all nine times spanning 41 yards capped off with a 2-yard scoring run from Deago Benson to pull the Panthers within 14-12 after a failed 2-point try with 7:26 to go in the period.
Midlothian got the ball back 90 seconds later and scored the go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-5 when quarterback Chad Ragle hit Xavionte Jackson from 19 yards. Ragle ran in for two to give the Panthers a 20-14 lead with 2:38 left in the third.
But that lead lasted all but 12 seconds when Smith Jr. took the ensuing kickoff near the far sideline and darted 83 yards to the end zone giving Summit a 21-20 lead.
The Jaguars stopped Midlothian’s 9-play drive when they held Ragle to two yards on a fourth-and 3.
Then Midlothian ran 14 plays, but Smith Jr. nearly got an interception that resulted in a pass deflection to halt that drive. Summit scored three plays later on an Orlando Scales’ 61-yard touchdown run with 1:32 remaining in the game.
Midlothian had one last chance down one possession and got to its own 38, but Moses picked off a pass and Summit ran the clock out.
The Jaguars only gained 245 yards on 34 plays from scrimmage. Scales led the way with 91 yards on eight carries while Midlothian rushed 52 times for 255 yards.
The Panthers gained 389 yards total. Ragle threw for 134 yards and rushed for 142.
“They wanted to keep our offense off the field and our defense got stops when we needed to,” Hall said. “Great game, great environment...it’s playoff football in Texas and you wouldn’t expect anything different.”
Midlothian struck first on the opening drive going 72 yards on five plays. Ragle rushed for 55 yards to the Summit 10 and one play later scored from the 8, but a bad snap on the extra point kept it 6-0 with 9:26 left in the first quarter.
Summit answered on its ensuing drive going 69 yards on nine plays highlighted by a 5-yard touchdown run from quarterback David Hopkins. Hopkins hit Bryan Spotwood for 25 on third-and-6 and also picked up 16 yards during the drive.
The teams traded punts and Moses would return one 32 yards to the Midlothian 34.
“We had to play to the final whistle. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game,” Moses said.
Four plays later and Summit upped its lead to 14-6 on a 26-yard pass from Hopkins to Kerya Powell midway through the third. Midlothian drove next and Kade Tompkins picked up 33 yards on a pass and catch, but fumbled and Justyn McDonald recovered in the end zone and returned it 29 yards for the Jaguars.
“Last year we lost to them and they said we didn’t deserve to make the playoffs so it’s nice to beat them during the season and then beat them in the playoffs,” Moses said.
This story was originally published November 26, 2021 at 11:25 PM.
