Colleyville Heritage edges Seguin in OT to strengthen playoff hopes
Quarterback Bodey Weaver threw a 16-yard TD pass to Connor Souphankhaisy, on fourth-and-one, in overtime and the defense swarmed Arlington Seguin’s two-point conversion attempt on its series, to propel Colleyville Heritage Panthers to a thrilling 42-41 victory Friday October 17th at Mustang-Panther Stadium.
Weaver, a UTEP commit, accounted for all six Colleyville Heritage touchdowns -- five passing and one rushing -- as the Panthers rallied from a 20-0 second-quarter deficit to claim a key 3-5A Division II victory over the Cougars.
Heritage forced overtime on a 40-yard Weaver TD strike to Souphankhaisy with 48 seconds left to deadlock the contest at 35-35. Seguin had the overtime option and chose to begin the extra time on defense.
Weaver’s TD pass to Souphankhaisy came on a free-play as the Seguin was offside on the fourth-and-one.
“The fourth down call was a design run for me,” said Weaver. “But when I saw the defense jump, I took advantage, and we connected on it.”
On Seguin’s overtime offensive possession, Smith — unstoppable all game — grabbed his fifth receiving TD, this one from 25 yards out. The Cougars chose to go for two, but the Panthers defense swarmed Johnaven Polk who was operating out of the wildcat that he had converted a similar two-point try in the third period, and held him short of the goal line.
“What a great game,” said Colleyville Heritage head coach Jerry Edwards. “Two teams battling to the end. I was hoping we would be able to start overtime on defense, but it all worked out for us. Just a great job of the guys battling back all game long.”
Arlington Seguin bolted to a 20-0 first-half lead thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Chevy Andrews to G’manii Smith covering five and 81 yards and a one-yard TD run by K’darrius Trotter. A 63-yard fumble return by Seguin’s Keith Hoffmann to the Heritage two-yard line set up Trotter’s rushing six-pointer.
The Heritage offense finally got untracked late in the second quarter. Bodey Weaver marched the Panthers 85 yards in 10 plays culminating in a 27-yard TD pass to Lucas Sumwall with 2:34 left before halftime.
“We started out so slowly offensively,” said Weaver. “But we kept saying just get one touchdown. We got one, and then the defense got the big stop and the turnover on the punt and that really gave us confidence scoring the TD just before halftime.”
Utilizing its timeouts, the Heritage defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Seguin series. Seguin fumbled the punt snap giving Heritage another opportunity with 1:33 remaining till intermission.
After a holding penalty set the Panthers back another 10 yards, Weaver found Trevi Preische on a 14-yard scoring pass on third-and-five, with 16 ticks left. That narrowed the Heritage deficit to 20-14 at the break.
“That score just before halftime was huge for us,” said Edwards. “Gave us some momentum, and we were getting the ball to start the second half.”
That gave the Panthers confidence as they received the second-half kickoff. And Weaver marched the Panthers downfield in 10 plays covering 95 yards that resulted in a 43-yard TD pass to Souphankhaisy that gave Heritage a brief 21-20 lead.
Seguin responded on its next series, with the Andrews-to-Smith duo hooking up on a 17-yard TD. Johnaven Polk added a two-point conversion run that gave Seguin a 28-21 edge. A six-yard Weaver TD run, set up by a De’Marius Logan blocked punt giving the Panthers possession at the Cougars 12-yard line, on the first play of the final period evened the score.
Smith, who was unstoppable all game, hauled in a 20-yard TD from Andrews to stake Seguin to a seven-point lead at 35-28. The two teams traded possessions before Weaver drove the Panthers 61 yards in five plays, and spinning out of a potential-sack, found a wide-open Souphankhaisy to send the game to overtime.
“A play is never over with Bodey,” said Souphankhaisy. “I went to an open space, the safety moved up, I saw Bodey get out of a possible sack, and we were able to make it happen.”
Weaver finished with 274 passing yards, completing 20 of 33 passes without an interception, and adding a game-high 102 rushing yards on 21 attempts. Souphankhaisy totaled 122 receiving yards on seven catches, and the three TDs for the Panthers, No. 4 in the Star-Telegram’s current 5A area rankings.
Smith had a monster game for Seguin, with 11 receptions for 270 yards and five TDs. Andrews completed 17 of 20 passes for 315 yards without a pick. Heritage’s win has major playoff implications in 3-5A Division II, with Argyle and Mansfield Summit pretty much locked in for two playoff spots.
Mansfield Timberview, which already owns wins over Heritage and Seguin, appears secure as the third district representative. That leaves Heritage and Seguin competing for the final post-season slot. Now, Heritage controls its own destiny to reach the playoffs. Colleyville Heritage (4-3, 3-2) squares off against Mansfield Summit Friday Oct. 24th, and finishes the regular season with a home game versus Burleson and then at Grapevine.
“Big game for us next week against Summit,” said coach Edwards. “Gotta clean up a few things and get ready for another great team.” Arlington Seguin (5-3, 3-3) has a pair of district contests remaining -- home against Everman on Thursday, Oct. 23rd, and the regular season finale at Mansfield Summit on Friday, Nov. 7th.