Late pick-six helps Haslet Eaton remain in playoff chase after win over Keller Central

Haslet Eaton defensive back Jayson McNabb’s pick-six with 3:55 left in the third quarter turned around a close game and allowed the Eagles to pull away from Keller Central 45-17 in a District 4-6A football game Thursday night at Keller ISD Stadium.

Central (1-5 overall, 1-2 district) opened the second half on offense just as hot as it was at the end of the opening two quarters. The Chargers went 70 yards in 10 plays to cut the lead to 24-17 on a 6-yard pass play from Kelden Ryan to Colorado commit Adrian Wilson.

Wilson, No. 37 in the Star-Telegram Top 100, recovered an Eaton fumble as a safety on defense on the Eagles next possession. Wilson picked up the loose ball at the Chargers’ 9 and returned it out to the 20.

But McNabb made the play of the game stepping in front of a Central pass in the right flat and racing 43 yards for the score. The play made it a 31-17 game instead of Central possibly moving down for a tying score.

“I just saw that ball and caught it up on my shoulder pad,” said McNabb. “I saw green ahead of me and said ‘I just have to go’.

“I’ve gotta go for the team and just make it there and I’ve always wanted to get a pick-six and make it back. I thought I got stopped at the one, but when I saw the referee signal touchdown it was a great feeling...amazing.”

From that point the Eaton offense rolled and the defense dominated.

The Chargers went three-and-out three times the rest of the way while Eagles’ quarterback Noah Lugo was scoring from 3 and 36 yards out in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“Normally we’re more of a pass first then run team, but today we had a really efficient run game,” said Lugo, who rushed for 125 yards on 12 carries and completed 7 of 18 passes for 68 yards, accounting for four scores. “The stat line won’t show that we were efficient in the passing game, but at the end of the day if we’re going to play smash mouth football then we’re going to go down and we’re going to score.”

Eagles’ running back Logan Wright joined Lugo in the 100-yard club with 111 yards on 16 carries.

Eaton (2-4, 1-2) looked dominant to start, building a 17-0 lead, behind three drives of 10 plays or more.

Andrew Smiley capped the first, 13-play drive, with a 30-yard field goal. Stanford commit Jaden Platt, No. 6 in the S-T Top 100, hauled in a 5-yard scoring pass from Lugo that ended an 11-play drive to up the lead to 10-0 with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

After the Eaton defense held Central to its second punt in as many possessions, the Eagles marched 67 yards in 10 plays. Talan Holmes made a terrific catch in the back, right corner of the end zone off an even better pass from Lugo to put the Eagles up 17-0 with 10:07 left before halftime.

The Eagles ran 46 plays to 29 for the Chargers in the opening two quarters.

“It’s been a rough season, but I feel that we’re starting to get it together and starting to play as a team,” said Platt, who led Eaton with five catches for 46 yards. “I think that’s the most important thing, playing as a team. I still have a lot of confidence in my team and I feel like we’re going to make the playoffs.”

The Chargers then found a spark of their own marching from their own 25 to the Eaton 8, before settling for a 25-yard field goal by Max Miranda.

Eaton answered right away with a 13-yard scoring run by Logan Wright and the Eagles actually recovered the ensuing kickoff and was looking for more. But Wilson picked off an Eaton pass in the end zone to end the threat.

Central only had 83 yards of total offense before its final drive of the half that was capped by Wilson with a 2-yard run that cut the lead to 24-10 with 30 seconds left before the intermission.

The Chargers finished the half with 149 total yards to Eaton’s 236. The final tally was about the same with the Eagles picking up 377 yards to 273 for Central.

Central quarterback Kelden Ryan passed for 182 yards completing 18 of 24 passes, but the Chargers were pushed back 120 yards on 14 penalties. Chase Garnett was 14 for 60 yards rushing for Central with Wilson hauling in five passes for 70 yards.

The game was extremely important for both squads as the loser would likely not be able to recover for a chance at a playoff berth in the extremely competitive District 4-6A.

“We told our kids after losing to Fossil Ridge that we don’t care about the playoffs,” said Eaton coach Ellis Miller. “Let’s win one game. Let’s go one play at a time and one game at a time and quit looking at the big picture and just go focus on Central and try to win that one.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 10:41 PM.