Big second quarter sparks Keller past Timber Creek, Indians clinch playoff berth
The aerial attack was on point for the Keller Indians Thursday night, but if that wasn’t enough, so was the run game against Keller Timber Creek in a pivotal District 4-6A contest at Keller ISD Stadium.
Keller quarterback Tre Guerra tossed three touchdowns passes in the second quarter and Jayden Hart rushed for 186 yards as the Indians blew past the Falcons, 39-17, to secure the third playoff berth in district.
Keller, No. 5 in this week’s Class 6A area rankings, moves to 4-2 in district and 7-2 overall.
“We played complimentary football. We told them, don’t come back to the locker room with anything left. They had an opportunity to qualify for the playoffs, win every game in Keller ISD and all those opportunities can’t be wasted,” Keller coach Carl Stralow said.
Timber Creek needed a win to stay alive. The Falcons drop to 2-4 and 3-6. They entered the night in a three-way tie for fourth place along with Fossil Ridge and Eaton.
Ridge (2-3) plays Central on Friday. Eaton (3-3) beat Haltom on Thursday.
It was a scoreless first quarter, but both teams did a good job moving the ball. Timber Creek took the opening drive 66 yards on 10 plays while killing three minutes before a 26-yard field goal was blocked by the Indians.
Then Keller ran 16 plays for 43 yards in just under five minutes, but a 42-yard field goal was wide right.
The Indians converted three third downs and one fourth down on the drive.
Timber Creek quarterback Lior-jire Mendji and Jahrid Hughes connected for 70 yards for a first down to the Keller 10. Three plays later, Mendji’s throw was caught in the end zone, but the Falcons were flagged for an offensive pass interference to put the ball back to the 24.
Back-to-back incomplete passes turned it over on downs.
On the next play, Guerra threw a 76-yard touchdown to Amarion Henry, with Henry getting most of the yards after the catch. Keller led 7-0 with 11:35 left in the second quarter.
Matthew Anderson picked off a Timber Creek pass two plays later. Drew Roberts gained 26 yards on the next play and Guerra and Henry connected for 27 to the Falcons 22.
Guerra and Henry capped off the drive with a 16-yard touchdown and 13-0 lead with 8:17 left in the quarter.
“We’re on a revenge tour. We were cut short last year. We lost in the first round,” Guerra said. “So we want to make a run. We took it personally and made some big changes. Look out for us.”
After a three-and-out from Timber Creek, Keller scored on its third straight drive. On a third-and-5, Guerra threw a pass just over a leaping defender and Tre’ Griffiths ran about 35 yards to complete the 64-yard touchdown that gave the Indians a 20-0 lead with 4:57 remaining in the half.
Guerra completed nine of 15 passes for 227 yards in the first half.
Henry had four catches for 123 yards by intermission.
“We just stuck to it. We knew our game plan we going to work,” Henry said about the second quarter surge. “We overcame our adversities and fixed what we needed to fix and then it ended up clicking.”
Timber Creek scored just before the break after a 14-play drive going from its own 19 to the Keller 8. Mendji completed three straight to Hughes, Dozie Ezukanma and Max Allbritton to put the Falcons in the red zone.
However, the Falcons would settle for a 25-yard field goal by Kyle Gallegos with nine seconds left.
Keller tacked on two more touchdowns in the third quarter thanks to 44 and 69-yard runs from Hart, who finished with 186 yards on 18 carries. He was coming off a career night last week with 242 yards and four touchdowns against Fossil Ridge. The Indians ended with over 250 yards rushing against Timber Creek.
“It’s really all the line. I owe everything to my line,” Hart said. “The line is amazing. Great chemistry, we’re all friends, all brothers, all family. Last few weeks we’ve been working our butts off.
“It feels great to clinch playoffs, but we have more business we need to finish.”
Guerra would throw his fourth touchdown pass, a 35-yard toss to Griffiths early in the fourth that extended the lead to 39-3. Guerra threw for 287 yards while Henry and Griffiths combined for eight catches and 246 yards receiving.
“Good team win. We played really well together. The O-line blocked well, Jayden ran hard and the defense always does their part,” Guerra said. “I would argue that we have the best chemistry than any other team in our district or in the state. We’re a brotherhood and we play for each other. When you play for something bigger than yourself, that’s when you find something special.”
Defensively, Taylor Brannan made several key stops while the Indians had three interceptions. Along with Anderson’s first-half pick, Keller got two after halftime from Eli Brinton and Ryan Ventura.
Timber Creek did score two late touchdowns from 6 and 9 yards by Emmanuel James, who ran for 61 yards on nine carries. Mendji did throw for 208 yards while his favorite target was Hughes, who had 188 yards on seven receptions.
“We made some big plays on offense. We couldn’t run the ball early, but it opened up in the second half. We took advantage at what they gave us,” Stralow said. “Defensively, we gave up some big plays, but they played really well once we got in the red zone. I couldn’t be more proud of their effort.
“Last year we started 5-0 and finished 6-5. We led in every game last year and still ended up 6-5. So it was about how we dealt with adversity and the kids are buying into that. They’ve created this environment and play hard. This is a group that will fight you down to the tooth and nail.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 9:44 PM.
