Midlothian Heritage stops late two-point conversion try by Everman to take district title

It was all on the line on Thursday night at Marr Stadium.

The District 5-5A Division 2 title with Midlothian Heritage, ranked No. 6 in the state in 5A D2, and No. 10 Everman facing off. Both undefeated in district. Both with one loss on the season, oddly enough to Stephenville for each team.

The game lived up to expectations as Heritage stopped a two-point conversion try by Everman with 1:32 left in the game to hold off the Bulldogs 35-34 in the regular season finale on Thursday.

“I’m so proud for these guys,” said Heritage coach Eric Edwards. “This is kind of what they expect. To come out here against a great Everman team and battle.

“We told the kids, ‘four quarters and then some’ so if we have to go a little extra, then we go the extra and it pretty much did that down to the wire.”

Heritage (9-1 overall, 7-0 district), No. 7 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A Area Rankings, takes the district crown and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs that start next week. The Jaguars will face Dallas Kimball (4-6), who lost to Seagoville 34-32. No. 2 seed Everman (8-2, 6-1), No 8 in the S-T 5A poll, will get Seagoville (6-4).

Everman rallied from 28-14 down and 35-21 down to get the chance to take the lead late, despite the loss of power running back Errick Mills who left the game with 2:15 left before halftime with a right leg injury.

Mills had 54 yards rushing on 11 carries and two touchdowns before his exit.

Mason O’Neal’s three-yard TD run put the Jaguars up 28-14, but on the first play of Everman’s next series Kayden Brooks raced 64 yards to cut the lead to 28-21 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

Both teams feature dynamic quarterbacks in Kaden Brown for Heritage and Jarion Basped for Everman. Brown’s 17-yard pass to Stetson Sarratt set up another three yard scoring run by O’Neal giving the Jags a 35-21 lead with 9:29 left.

“We knew that this was going to be a tough game coming in with Everman,” said Brown, No. 57 in the Star-Telegram ranking of the Top 100 area players and a South Dakota State commit. “Early we established the running game so we knew that’s what we were going to do from then on, a bunch of RPOs (run pass options).”

But Basped used his arm and his legs to counter for Everman. Basped picked up five first downs in five plays and his 23-yard run down the the Heritage one, set up Brooks for another TD cutting the lead to 35-28 with 8:00 left.

Brown finished with 246 yards passing completing 18 of 25 and rushed 17 times for 65 yards. Basped had 97 rushing yards on seven carries and hit 12 of 22 passes for 145 yards.

The teams traded punts with Everman taking over at its own 49 with 3:52 remaining. Five plays later, facing a fourth and 12 from the Heritage 28, Basped scrambled then darted through the Jaguars’ defense to set up the two-point try.

Brooks, running out of the Wildcat formation that he had scored on earlier, took the snap, but the middle of the Heritage defensive line met him two yards short of the goal line to preserve the win.

“It was a really good football game and it came down to me trusting those guys right there to get in the end zone,” said Everman coach Michael Boone. “We did what we thought that we should do and they just came out on top.

“I told them that I trusted them before the game started and I still trust them right now. It’s just really, really simple. We’re moving on to next week and we’ll get ready to play a game.”

“They got scored on and they still went up there and stopped them without pouting or anything like that,” said Brown about his Heritage teammates on the defensive side. “It just shows that we never quit.”

Brooks led all rushers with 128 yards on 14 carries. O’Neal had 66 rushing yards on 16 carries.

It started out as the heavyweight match it was billed as.

Heritage took the opening kick and marched 58 yards in four plays to take a 7-0 lead. Brown hit Tae Jackson for 26 yards down to the Everman 19.

Following a holding penalty on the Jags, Brown tossed a forward pitch to Jackson on a jet sweep and Jackson weaved his way to the end zone with 10:15 left in the first quarter. Jackson led Heritage with 93 receiving yards on four catches.

Everman answered right away with a 60-yard drive of its own. Mills capped the drive with a seven-yard scoring run off right tackle to tie the game at the 8:21 mark of the opening frame.

Any stop in the game looked to be big the way the offenses were moving the ball and the Bulldogs got one on Heritage’s next possession. Two dropped passes on the drive turned the ball over Everman at the Bulldogs’ 21.

Everman took advantage when Mills ran up the middle for 14 yards and a score to put the Bulldogs up 14-7 with 59 seconds left in the first.

Heritage took over from that point. A 12-play drive took almost six minutes off the clock and Brown tied the game at 14 on a perfect zone read up the middle from three yards out.

Everman lost the ball on downs on its next drive leading to a 22-yard field goal by Dylan Riggins. A blocked punt by Heritage’s John Olusanya at the Everman 27 led to another Riggins field goal, this time from 42 yards, to give the Jaguars a 20-14 lead with 21 seconds left before the intermission.

“I’m going to try to just soak up every moment, especially with these seniors,” said Edwards. “December 15th or 16th, whenever the dang (state championship) game is, will be the last time that we get to suit up and play and I’m just going to enjoy every moment with these guys. Take it one step at a time and get ready to play ball.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 12:09 AM.