Early takeaways send Stephenville past Austin LBJ for program’s sixth football title
Christmas came a week early for Stephenville as Austin LBJ gifted the Yellowjackets four fumbles in the first quarter during the Class 4A Division 1 state championship.
Only thing better would’ve been if Stephenville turned that into four touchdowns.
But a 17-0 lead wasn’t too bad.
On the heels of its star player Coy Eakin, Stephenville defeated Austin LBJ, 38-21, on Friday in front of 15,366 at AT&T Stadium for the program’s sixth state championship and first since 2012.
The title pulled the Yellowjackets (16-0) into a tie for 10th most in 11-man state history.
LBJ (15-1) was in the state final for the first time and was Austin ISD’s first football finalist since 1973.
“So proud of our football team and the way they prepared all season,” said Stephenville coach Sterling Doty, who brings a state title back to his alma mater. “In the first half, the war dogs went out and put a ton of pressure on the quarterback and their running attack. We were able to execute the game plan perfectly.”
Austin LBJ couldn’t have had a more atrocious start with the four fumbles. The Jaguars had an impressive opening drive as they converted two third downs and reached the red zone.
But on the 10th play of the drive, Camden McKinney forced the fumble and recovered. Stephenville couldn’t turn it into points, but LBJ fumbled on the next drive and Alex De Leon came up with the loose ball.
Eakin caught a one-handed 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryder Lambert to give the Yellowjackets a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Jaguars continued to shoot themselves in the foot with a third fumble on the read-option. McKinney knocked it out and Reese Young, who was voted defensive MVP, recovered. McKinney led all defenders with 10 1/2 tackles and seven solo tackles.
Eakin scored on 7-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 4:39 left in the period.
Austin Brown picked up the fourth recovery and Corbin Poston nailed a 24-yard field goal that gave the Yellowjackets a 17-0 lead just before the end of the first quarter.
LBJ turned the ball over on downs on its next possession after a 15-play drive at the Stephenville 1.
The Jaguars punted on their sixth drive.
Following the punt, the Yellowjackets upped their lead to 24-0 on Lambert’s 43-yard touchdown to Eakin, who leads the state in receiving yards with well over 2,000.
The Jaguars finally scored just before halftime on Oscar Gordon’s 33-yard pass to Noah Baker.
The play of the game came on the first drive of the third quarter when Stephenville scored in three plays. Lambert threw an interception near the end zone and on the return, Eakin, the intended receiver, chased down the LBJ defensive back and punched the ball out right into the hands of teammate Kallan Kimbrough who scored a touchdown to make it 31-7.
Eakin was voted offensive MVP with nine catches for 187 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 212 yards on offense and four scores plus an interception on defense, an onside recovery and one tackle on special teams.
Eakin’s fourth touchdown came early in the fourth on a 31-yard pass from Lambert, who finished with 258 yards on 16 of 29 passing and the three scoring tosses to his star receiver.
The Jaguars pulled within 38-21 on the second Gordon-to-Baker touchdown with 8:09 left in the game and intercepted a pass on the ensuing Stephenville drive, but LBJ got no closer after turning the ball over on downs.
Gordon led LBJ with 372 yards on 30 of 48 passing and three touchdowns.
“I don’t think I could relax until it was zero, zero, zero,” Doty said. “We’re here and we wanted to play so well and to be able to finish and bring back this sixth state title.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
