‘Really proud’: Grapevine football falls to Frisco Emerson in bi-district playoff game
The Grapevine Mustangs’ season slipped away on a rainy, gloomy Thursday night at Mustang-Panther Stadium.
The Mustangs galloped into the contest with a five game winning streak, but the momentum didn’t carry over from the regular season. Grapevine lost to Frisco Emerson 34-24 in a bi-district playoff elimination game.
Emerson only completed one pass in the ball game, but Grapevine couldn’t stop the run. Emerson tallied 466 rushing yards, averaging 7.5 yards per carry.
Grapevine head coach Bob DeBesse gathered his team together after the season ending loss. A handful of players shed tears in an emotional moment, and DeBesse told his team that he loved them.
“There’s a lot of broken hearted seniors,” DeBesse said. “We need to love on them. There’s a finality here that nobody understands unless you’ve been in their shoes.”
DeBesse said he wouldn’t trade his team for “anything” regardless of the final score.
“They fought, clawed and scratched till the bitter end,” DeBesse said. “That’s all you can ask for.”
DeBesse said the team stumbled early in the year but gradually made progress. DeBesse, who was hired in April, had to scramble to put together a staff.
“Didn’t have much of an offseason,” DeBesse said. First time we saw our kids was August first. ... We knew it would be a slow process -- as far as development -- to try to find out what kind of team we could have.
Grapevine started the season without star wide receiver Rondale Carradine. The Mustangs dropped their first two games of the year and eventually ended with a second place finish in District 4-5A D2.
“I’m really proud,” DeBesse said. “They won five straight in the regular season. ... They came a long, long way and they’ll realize it down the road. They don’t realize it right now because they’re heartbroken.”
Emerson’s “three headed dragon”
The Mavericks took an early lead with an 11 play drive capped by a 30-yard touchdown rush by running back Kameron Lockhart. All plays in the drive were runs with the exception of a deep ball that was called back due to an illegal man downfield.
Grapevine couldn’t respond and punted away. The Mavericks capitalized with another long, run filled drive that was finished by a Lockhart 1 yard touchdown run.
Grapevine defensive lineman made a tackle in the backfield in the series that pushed the Mavericks back 4 yards. Solid runs from quarterback Michael Hawkins, an Oklahoma commit, and running back Ishaqq Bills kept the drive alive.
Down two scores, Grapevine quarterback Harrison Hackbarth went to work. First, he notched a near 50 yard gain but it was called back due to a penalty. He persisted and recorded a 25 yard run; this time, it counted.
Hackbarth took multiple hits in the drive and did enough to put his team in field goal range. Kicker Hayden Rhoades hit a 42 yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-3.
Prior to the half, Emerson had a golden opportunity in the red zone. Defensive back Major Heckt made a diving play to breakup a potential touchdown pass; the Mavericks sent the field goal unit out but the 37 yard field goal was no good.
“He’s one of the toughest kids that we’ve had in this program,” DeBesse said of Heckt. “ ... I think he’s had a really special career. He’s going to be hard to replace.”
After Grapevine’s first posession of the second half fizzled, Hawkins took over. He rushed for 43 yards on the opening play of the series.
In the red zone, Hawkins stepped back to pass and quickly decided to run, hitting the breaks 2 yards shy of the end zone to avoid a tackle. He then dove for the pylon and scored.
Grapevine responded with a 32 yard rush by Carradine. The drive ended with a 1 yard touchdown scamper from Connor Bell.
Lockhart, however, padded the Maverick lead with his third touchdown of the game. The Grapevine offense had a large deficit to overcome and not a lot of time to do it; they kept fighting.
Running back Demontrez Dunn broke free for a 42 yard rush and Carradine finished the series with a 6 yard touchdown.
“He’s by far our most explosive player on offense,” DeBesse said of Carradine. “We tried the best we could to get him the ball as many times as we could. He did a great job. He’s the greatest kid in the whole world. We’re going to miss him a lot.”
The Mustangs needed a stop but couldn’t manage one. Hawkins had several impressive gains and Bills ended the drive with a 5 yard touchdown run with 7:44 remaining.
Hawkins finished with 210 yards and a TD on 19 attempts. Lockhart recorded 144 yards and three TDs on 15 attempts and Bills had 108 yards and a score on 26 attempts.
There were a handful of times the Mustang defensive line was close to making drive altering plays, but the Maverick ground game kept finding ways to evade and slip away from tackles.
“Awfully impressive,” DeBesse said of the three man ground game. “Obviously, they’re as talanted as can be. They’ve got really good schemes. Those kids have a lot of help. They were blocking on the perimeter too. There’s no question that’s a three headed monster. ... People will have to come up with a way to contain them because I don’t think you stop them.”
Hackbarth, with the clock ticking, threw a 17 yard pass to Ian Hatton for a Grapevine touchdown. The Mustangs needed an onside kick but failed to recover; the defense got a stop but it was too little too late.
This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 12:38 AM.
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