Northwest has no answer for Centennial rushing attack as Spartans lock up second seed

It wasn’t Burleson Centennial’s best start on Saturday and a loss might have meant a fourth seed when the playoffs start in two weeks.

But the Spartans erased a 14-0 lead as Aidan Hicks’ 4-yard touchdown run proved to be the game winner, 28-27 over Justin Northwest in District 3-5A Division 1.

The win secured the No. 2 seed for the Spartans, who improved to 8-1 and 6-1.

Northwest, meanwhile, drops to 6-3 and 5-2.

Northwest will play Denton Ryan in Denton next week to determine the third and fourth seeds.

The game was moved to Saturday afternoon after administrators postponed it Friday night due to inclement weather. The game was delayed roughly 45 minutes before a decision was made.

Tied at 21, Northwest, No. 9 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A rankings, marched down before facing a fourth-and-short. Running back Kyle Cummings took the direct snap, broke multiple tackles down the sideline to score on a 28-yard run.

But the extra point was missed, leaving Northwest’s at 27-21 with 1:19 left to play in the third quarter.

On the ensuing drive, Centennial quarterback Phillip Hamilton keep it on the option and raced 61 yards before being caught at the Northwest 7. Then Hicks punched in the game-tying touchdown and the extra point was good, giving the Spartans their first lead of the day.

Northwest couldn’t answer and after a punt back to Centennial, the Spartans would keep the ball for the remaining eight minutes during a 16-play drive.

Centennial picked up several first downs, including one on fourth down on its side of the field. Hamilton got enough to the Centennial 37 and followed it up with one to the Northwest 40. The Texans were tagged with a personal foul to push it to the 25.

Northwest was force to take all three timeouts, but couldn’t stop the Spartans, who rushed for 359 yards with 237 coming from Hamilton.

The Texans capped off their opening drive going 83 yards in 11 plays. 4-star Texas Tech commit Jake Strong threw a 27-yard TD to Kenan Reil with just under nine to play in the first quarter.

After Centennial punted, Strong found Logan Jeskevic on a 67-yard gain and Cummings scored from the 1 to extend the lead to 14-0 with 2:25 left in the period.

Centennial answered on the next drive with a 3-yard TD by Jahiem Ababio to cut the lead to 14-7 in the second. Elijah Zeh would score from the 2 to tie the game just before intermission.

Zeh had 64 yards on 20 carries.

Centennial punted on its first drive of the third after Northwest defenders Tyran Magee and Casen Foster got tackles behind the line. On the next Spartans drive, Holden Bodie jumped a screen route and picked off a pass and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown that give the Texans a 21-14 lead with 8:39 left in the third.

Zeh would score his second 2-yard TD to help the Spartans tie it at 21 midway through the quarter.

Cummings finished with 113 yards and two TDs on 17 carries for Northwest. Strong was 13 of 21 for 161 yards and one TD. Jeskevic had 77 yards on four catches and Reil added 52 on five catches plus the TD.