Trophy Club Byron Nelson gets a must win over Keller Timber Creek to stay in playoff hunt
Trophy Club Byron Nelson got three takeaways in the second half that helped the Bobcats pull away from Keller Timber Creek 27-7 in a key District 4-6A football game on Thursday night at Keller ISD Stadium.
Nelson (3-2 overall, 1-2 district), No. 4 in the Star-Telegram Class 6A Area Rankings, opened district play with two of the top teams in Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity, but the Bobcats got back on track against No. 9 Timber Creek (4-2, 2-2) although it wasn’t easy.
Both defenses played exceptionally well, but Byron Nelson was able to take advantage of one of the three miscues by Timber Creek. The Falcons fumbled the ball away to BN on its first two possessions of the second half.
The first, recovered by Baylor commit Leo Almanza at the Byron Nelson 33, didn’t hurt. But the second one, recovered by Maddox Smith at midfield, did.
The Bobcats got rolling behind quarterback Grant Bizjack who capped a six-play drive following the second fumble with a 10-yard scoring pass to Joshua Engstrom to give Byron a 14-0 lead with 5:07 left in the third quarter.
A third consecutive turnover by Timber Creek, an interception by BN freshman Nolan Hawkins at the Byron 40, didn’t result in any points, but a couple of series later Bizjack got the offense moving again behind a spark from running back Anthony Sexton.
Sexton, who led Byron with 75 yards rushing on eight carries, had runs of two, 31, and eight yards on the 70-yard scoring drive. His 31-yard romp was highlighted by Sexton jumping over a defender five yards down the field before continuing down to the Falcons’ 28.
Three plays later Bizjack ran around left end and tight roped his way down the sideline for a 17-yard touchdown to put the Bobcats up 20-0 with 6:51 left in the game.
“We game plan every week and a lot of the stuff we wanted to do wasn’t there,” said Bizjack who completed 13 of 24 passes for 128 yards and rushed 14 times for 63 more. “We tried to take some shots, but once we figured out that the linebackers were dropping out then we found a lot, especially in the quarterback run. It’s something I used to do a lot last year, but kind of got away from it.”
Sexton and Sean Robinson did yeoman’s work in place of starting running back Tucker James who was out with an injury. Robinson added 59 yards on 15 touches.
Timber Creek was forced to go for it on fourth and eight from its own 29, but lost the ball on downs with 5:46 remaining. Byron Nelson backups came in and reached pay dirt on a six-yard run off left tackle by running back Franck Makong.
Timber Creek got its lone score on its final drive of the night. The Falcons moved 62 yards in five plays with Jorey Anderson carrying it in from five yards out to cut the lead to 27-7 with 1:04 left.
Anderson led the Falcons with 86 rushing yards on 19 tries. Timber Creek had only managed to gain 140 yards against the Byron Nelson defense before the final drive and only 37 total yards in the second half before the scoring drive.
“I feel really good about our defense,” said Byron Nelson coach Travis Pride. “Coach (Zach) Woodward and our defensive staff do a really good job and we knew that Timber Creek had a pretty solid defense. They kept a lot of guys around the box so it was giving our running game a little bit of trouble.”
Most of the the first half was a defensive stale mate. The teams traded punts on each of their first two possessions, but Timber Creek got the first break when Falcon’s defensive back Tyler Gowins picked off a pass at midfield and returned it to the Bobcat’s 32 yard line.
The Falcons were lined up for a fourth and one from the 23, but an illegal procedure penalty pushed the ball back to the 28 and Timber Creek lost the ball on downs when Porter’s pass fell incomplete with 2:44 left in the first quarter.
Byron finally got moving late in the first half following a Timber Creek punt. Xavier Lee returned the punt 16 yards down to the Falcons’ 44 yard line.
Sexton picked up 14 yards on three carries before Bizjack hit Ryan Ippolito for 15 yards down to the 15. Three plays later, Bizjack ran a perfect zone read, keeping for the first time in the game, and raced untouched to the left corner of the end zone to give Byron Nelson a 7-0 lead with 1:14 left in the first half.
Timber Creek came right back behind Carson Porter at quarterback who hit Xavier Lee for 21 yards up to midfield. Porter then scrambled for 18 more yards down to the Bobcats’ 32 with 35 seconds left before the intermission.
The Falcons’ drive stalled, however, and Landyn Hicks came on to attempt a 36-yard field goal. The kick looked good, but was ruled to be wide right as time expired in the second quarter.
“We know that we had four very hard games to start the season,” said Bizjack who’s team played Wolfforth Frenship, Lewisville, Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity to start the year. “They were all close and it’s just going to make us better. We all hate losing, but we know what we can do.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2024 at 11:06 PM.