Grapevine rolls past Arlington Heights, secures home field advantage in playoffs

The Grapevine Mustangs and the Fort Worth Arlington Heights Yellowjackets came into Farrington Field to try to secure the number two seed in District 4 5A-2.

Grapevine secured a 35-14 victory, moving to second place. The Mustangs and Yellowjackets each had a district record of 4-1 coming into Friday night’s game. The only loss for both teams was to first-ranked Colleyville Heritage.

Knowing what was on the line, the Mustangs scored the first two touchdowns of the night. The first was scored by Demontrez Dunn with 8:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Dunn leads his team in rushing, averaging 90 yards per game. He was one of the standout players of the game.

“Just a hard week of practice and losing is not fun by any means,” Dunn said. “Come out here and just try to get that W.”

The second touchdown was made by Conner Bell as he ran from the 5-yard line right into the end zone. Grapevine was up 14-0 with 5:08 remaining in the first quarter.

The Yellowjackets responded with their first score of the night. Running back Latreal Brooks rushed for an 8-yard score with 6:48 left in the second quarter. The score was 14-7 with the Mustangs maintaining the lead.

The Mustangs didn’t let the Yellowjackets celebrate as Bell scored another touchdown at the end of the second quarter with 52 seconds remaining.

“I am really proud of our offense, this is the most complete game we have played offensively,” Grapevine head coach Bob DeBesse said.

The score was 21-7 going into the second half. After halftime, the momentum seemed to be in Heights’ favor.

“Deshawn Long made a really big play that got us going in the second half with a great catch that got us on the goal line ready to score and that was a big moment to turn things in our favor and give us a chance,” James said.

Carson James then took it into the end zone for the Yellowjackets with 9:22 left in the third quarter.

The Mustangs continued with their impressive offense. Dunn and Bell each scored another touchdown in the fourth quarter. Dunn had a four-yard rushing touchdown and Bell ran 29 yards into the end zone with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter, making the final score 35-14.

“We really wanted to get home-field advantage for the playoffs,” James said. “We are just going to have to figure out how to win a game on the road.”

Up next for Heights is North Side to close out the regular season on Friday, Nov. 3 at Farrington Field.

Grapevine will end their regular season playing Fort Worth Trimble Tech on Thursday, November 2 at Mustang-Panther Stadium.

“We need good health, and we need a good solid performance against Trimble Tech next week,” DeBesse said. “We need to minimize distractions on a short week and have another good ball game to go into playoffs with some momentum.”