Arlington Seguin defeats Mansfield Summit in thriller to earn playoff spot

The Cardiac Cougars are heading to the playoffs.

Arlington Seguin stood tall in the final moments against Mansfield Summit to secure a 23-22 win Thursday at Vernon Newsom Stadium.

The win secured the No. 4 seed out of District 3-5A Division II.

In the ultimate win-or-go-home situation, the Cougars secured back-to-back playoff berths for only the third time in school history and the first since the 2008-09 season.

Last week, Seguin pulled out a 22-21 win against Everman to set up the shot to move on against Summit. The week prior, Seguin was on the tough end of a one-point loss, falling 42-41 to Colleyville Heritage.

“It feels amazing to be going to the playoffs and especially to get it in the last game,” Seguin quarterback Chevy Andrews said. “I know we didn’t want to be in this situation. We fought, man. We fought our tails off, and we wanted it so bad. We wanted it more than anything.”

The series heavily favored the Jaguars in this game as they had beaten Seguin 8 out of 10 times, but Seguin won last year, 36-28.

Summit (6-3, 5-3) took command early on a 54-yard touchdown run by quarterback Ian Gebhardt on the fourth play from scrimmage for the Jaguars. A bad snap on the PAT led to Gebhardt picking it up and running in for two.

Then things got even tougher for Seguin (7-3, 5-3) after a fumble on the next drive.

Jamil McCown picked it up at the 27-yard line for the Jaguars, giving them a short field and a chance to take a two-score lead only 4 minutes into the game.

The Cougars buckled down and got the turnover on a fourth-and-goal situation at the 3-yard line.

“We just got to keep fighting, you know, when things are going good, keep working. When things are going bad, keep working,” Seguin coach Joe Gordon said. “When things don’t seem to be adding up, keep working. Just fight to be 1-0. That’s what it took tonight. That’s a good team. That was a huge stop. I’m proud of our defense and our kiddos playing in big moments and big situations and capitalizing.”

Even after the stop, the next drive for the Cougars ended with another turnover. Sebastian Pena had an interception to give the Jaguars the ball at midfield.

But the Cougars’ defense held again.

Then, the special teams came up with a big play.

Summit was facing fourth-and-31 from the Jaguars’ 48-yard line. Omogbolahan Daudu went back in punt formation, but it was a fake. He ran the ball and was stopped at the Cougars’ 48.

Nine plays later, Andrews hit G’manii Smith for a 21-yard touchdown. Down by two, Andrews hit Cam Anderson for the 2-point conversion in the corner of the end zone.

The game went into the break tied 8-8, but Smith had a punt return for a score called back due to an illegal block late in the second.

In the third quarter, Seguin scored twice to extend the scoring barrage to 23-0.

Johnaven Polk came in at quarterback in a Wildcat formation and scored on a 10-yard run. On the 2-point conversion, Andrews scored. With 7:39 left in the third, the Cougars were up 16-8.

On the next drive, Andrews accounted for 28 yards on back-to-back plays. A 14-yard pass to Anderson moved the chains and Andrews’ 14-yard run got the ball to the 4.

Polk came in and scored on the next play. Oscar Lopez’s PAT made it 23-8 with 3:25 to play in the third.

Summit kept battling behind Gebhardt, the running back turned quarterback. He had a 16-yard run on the final play of the third quarter.

The Jaguars went for two and Gebhardt came up short despite reaching for the white line.

A big play early in the fourth gave the Jaguars another life.

A fourth-down attempt was stopped at the 4-yard line, but a face mask penalty gave Summit a new set of downs. On the second play after the drive stayed alive, Adarion Nettles scored on a 2-yard run.

Down 23-20, the Jaguars went for the conversion again and Gebhardt converted.

With 6:50 to play, the Jaguars trailed by one.

Seguin converted a fake punt for a first down late in the fourth — Polk to Smith — to move the ball to the 25. Seguin ultimately turned the ball over, and Summit took over at the 17-yard line with 1:08 to play.

Without a timeout, the Jaguars got a 16-yard pass from Gebhardt to Domonique Young to move the ball. An offsides on the next play, with the ball live, led to a 5-yard loss and a 10-second runoff pushed the clock down to 41 seconds.

Gebhardt had a 25-yard run and then the Young-Gebhardt connection moved the ball to the Seguin 36-yard line after an 11-yard gain.

Gebhardt spiked the ball with 6 seconds left.

The next play was a Hail Mary to the end zone and it fell to the ground.

Summit players fell to the turf in dismay; Seguin players jubilantly sprinted around the visitor’s turf.

Andrews said probably not much was expected for this team despite the playoff run last year. After all, the Cougars graduated 22 players and many were three-year starters.

Less than half of the starting offense and half of the starting defense returned. Not exactly the recipe for a repeat playoff trip.

The difference to Gordon was how the players responded with the backs against the proverbial wall.

“Mentality over reality,” he said. “You know that’s what we talk about. What’s the mindset? The mindset was that they didn’t want to go home. The mindset is I can and I will. We speak affirmations; I’m not kidding. It works. These kids are willing their way. I don’t get to play. We put them in a position to will their way. These kids are playing hard, and they expect to win, that’s the No. 1 thing.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM.