North Crowley pulls away from Euless Trinity to stay unbeaten, keep Trojans winless

After a slow start, North Crowley prevailed over Euless Trinity, 42-20, in a penalty-marred match up of District 3-6A squads at Pennington Field on Friday night.

The Panthers (5-0, 2-0) came into the game No. 3 in the Class 6A area rankings.

Trinity (0-5, 0-2) missed a golden scoring opportunity early in the game. On a punt, the Panthers fumbled away at their 19. The Trojans got a first down at the 6, but four plays netted them only five yards to the 1.

D.C. Thompson was key on defense batting down a pass at the line of scrimmage on a roll out and assisting in stuffing Gary Maddox at the center of the line on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

The Panthers took over and drove the distance in five plays. Key was a 68-yard pass to Xavier Alexander on third-and-5 from the 6 to the Trinity 26. Two plays later and after a procedure penalty, Alexander’s number was called again and he caught a pass in the middle of the end zone on a crossing pattern from 33 yards out from quarterback Chris Jimerson.

North Crowley converted the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

North Crowley scored its second touchdown on its next possession on a long drive, 86 yards in nine plays. 4-star Texas commit S’Maje Burrell took a direct snap in the shotgun formation and went off guard from eight yards out for the score.

But Trinity, which had won the last two meetings 42-14 and 42-7, answered late in the first half. Quarterback Ethan Williams III, who had been one of seven for four yards to that point, threw three straight completions of 42, 9 and 21 yards. The first and third were to Jarvis Harmuli. The latter one set up first-and-goal at the 1 which Maddox converted to make it 14-6 with 1:32 left in the first half.

However, North Crowley quickly replied with a touchdown drive of its own and this was when things got ugly.

The Panthers drove 70 yards in three plays that were aided by a pair of personal foul penalties for 30 yards. On the touchdown, 3-star Vanderbilt commit Ka’Morreun Pimpton took a 17-yard pass from Jimerson with 51 seconds left.

After Trinity got the ball back with seconds to go in the half, a fight broke out and three players, two from North Crowley and the other from Trinity, were ejected from the game.

Overall, Trinity was flagged 15 times for 141 yards and North Crowley had eight for 55 yards, and there were several injuries.

In the second half after forcing a punt, North Crowley drove 71 yards in five plays culminated by a 10-yard pass from Jimerson to Alexander for a 28-6 lead.

However, Trinity again threatened to make a game of it when the Trojans scored the next two touchdowns. The first was on the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter when Josh Bell broke off-tackle and down the left sideline for 72-yard scoring run.

After forcing a three-and-out and an 18-yard punt, Trinity was in business again at the North Crowley 34-yard line. Six plays later, Williams scored from three yards out to make it 28-20 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

But that was as close as the Trojans would get as North Crowley scored the game’s remaining two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Pimpton took a 4-yard pass from Jimerson near the left front pylon for a 35-20 lead. It was the only throw of an 11-play 65-yard drive.

Cornelius Warren finished the scoring with a 13-yard run with 4:10 left.

Alexander and Pimpton each had a pair of receiving touchdowns. Alexander and Pimpton also each had three catches for 111 and 43 yards, respectively. Jimerson completed 8 of 13 attempts for 181 yards and four touchdowns. Dejuan Lacy rushed for 154 yards on 25 carries.

The Panther defense kept Maddox in check with 57 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. The Trojans were led by Williams with 75 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Heimuli finished with a game-high 131 yards on five receptions.