Crowley football’s playoff run ends in regional semifinals with loss to Denton Guyer

One of the best high school football seasons ever for Crowley came to a halt on Saturday, Nov. 30.

The Eagles fell behind early and never could recover in a 44-7 loss to Denton Guyer in a Class 6A Division II regional game at Mustang-Panther Stadium.

Crowley was playing in a third-round game for only the second time in school history, and the last time came back in 1971.

“There’s been a lot of football played in 50 years, you know what I’m saying?” Crowley coach Carlos Lynn said. “For these kids to break through that glass ceiling and accomplish that is a big accomplishment. We are definitely training our kids, all they know is hard work.

“In order to beat the best, you got to play better, better teams, better competition. We didn’t lose today. We learned from today. So we’ll see where we grow from here.”

Over the previous two weeks, the Eagles beat Justin Northwest and Midland to advance this far. The win against Northwest was the first playoff win for the Fort Worth school since 2013.

The postseason trail in 1971 featured wins against Valley Mills and Wylie before falling in the quarterfinals — then the third round — to Sonora. To put that in perspective of growth Valley Mills and Sonora are currently 2A schools, while Wylie is a 6A.

Crowley finished the year 8-5, and two of the losses came against nationally ranked teams: North Crowley and Galena Park North Shore.

“I was telling staff there are levels to this,” Lynn said. “You are playing a blue blood team in the third round is a great accomplishment, but to beat them, we have to continue to go to the lab and find a way to get better. You don’t do it until you get here, and you have to get here first. That is the first step.”

Guyer (10-3) advances to play Southlake Carroll, a team that bested Hebron, in the quarterfinals next week at North Texas.

The Wildcats built a 30-0 lead in the first half being a pair of touchdown runs by running back Sterling Schneider and another by quarterback Kevin Sperry, a Florida State pledge. Ford Stinson booted a field goal, while the defense why Jaylon Sterling recovered a fumble in the end zone.

That came on a play where Crowley didn’t have quarterback Caleb Williams on the play. He had to come off the field for losing his helmet on a carry. A bad snap followed, and Jonathan Blake picked it up. He tried to scramble but was hit, and the ball rolled into the end zone.

Williams led the Eagles on a potential scoring drive late in the second quarter. He ran for 23 yards but it was called back for a holding. On the next play, he ran for 34 yards. A 13-yard run followed to get the ball to the Guyer 9-yard line.

Caleb Fowler intercepted a Williams pass and returned it to midfield on the final play of the half.

Crowley snuffed out a fake punt early in the third, and the offense took advantage of it.

Williams threw to Derrick Tasby three times for gains of 5, 16 and 15 — the latter was a touchdown with 7:41 left in the third.

Williams accounted for 200 yards of offense in his final game for the Eagles.

In his three years as a starter, the Eagles won 4, 7 and 8 games. In his freshman year, Crowley went 2-8 for the second straight season.

“Each year we have grown and grown, and this year we finally hit that peak in the playoffs,” he said. “We got to the third round, but we couldn’t get it done. We set the foundation and I know because we set the foundation, Crowley is going to come bigger, better, faster, stronger next year.

“The whole thing is family, it is brotherhood. And we couldn’t do anything without keeping God in it. We keep God in it all the time. It is family … it’s a closer bond than we have had.”

Lynn, in his second year at Crowley, tested his team this year. In week 2, they played Galena Park North Shore, the No. 6-ranked team by MaxPreps. Crowley lost 28-13 — in a game where it threw five interceptions.

North Shore is currently 13-0 and has had only one other game that was as close as the Crowley game — a 27-23 win over Humble Atascocita, ranked No. 20 in the country.

“It means that we belong, we can play with anybody if you put your mind to it but you don’t know it until you go out there and test the waters,” Lynn said. “I had zero expectations. The thing I wanted was to go out and play with no fear because we didn’t have anything to lose. We had a chance to win it. They’re still North Shore but we learned from that too.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 7:30 PM.