All Saints comes from behind to defeat Fort Worth Christian in TAPPS regional

Fort Worth All Saints head coach Aaron Beck was not concerned when his team fell behind 14-3 in the first minute of the second quarter.

“That has been our season,” Beck said. “We start out slowly, fall behind early. But our guys keep fighting and never give up.”

Beck’s faith was warranted, as his team rallied past the Fort Worth Christian Cardinals for a 38-21 triumph in a TAPPS Division II regional playoff Friday at Mustang-Panther Stadium.

Senior quarterback Gavin Beard threw five touchdown passes — three in the second quarter and another pair in the third quarter — to keep the Saints unbeaten (12-0) and headed to the state semifinals next week. All Saints will meet Austin Regents (12-0) at 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at McGregor High School. Austin Regents rolled past Midland Christian 48-15.

On Friday, Fort Worth Christian (9-3) struck quickly with a 45-yard scoring pass from Landon Gigliotta to Jack Garza on the game’s initial possession.

A 23-yard field goal by All Saints kicker Carver Johnston on the first play of the second quarter put the Saints on the board.

On the first snap of the ensuing series, Cardinals running back Kason Anding scampered 60 yards for a touchdown that left All Saints trailing 14-3.

Beard then ignited the Saints’ offense, hurling three touchdown passes — 26 yards to Gabe Starling, 28 to Ryder Wilson and a 43-yarder to Jaytn Briles — to forge a 24-14 lead at halftime.

The TD pass to Briles came on fourth-and-4, with Briles breaking a tackle and racing for the end zone, crossing the goal line 14 seconds before the half.

“That was a huge play for us,” Beck said. “Gave us a two-score lead and added momentum leading into the second half.”

Briles said that once he broke the tackle, he could see clear sailing to the end zone.

“Doing my job,” said Briles, the son of TCU offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and grandson of legendary coach Art Briles. “Gavin threw a great pass, and I knew I had enough time on the clock to make it to the end zone.”

Fort Worth Christian seemed to reclaim some control when Kade Kropholler hauled in a 10-yard scoring pass from Gugliotta with 9:15 left in the third quarter, narrowing All Saints’ lead to 24-21. The TD was set up by a Braxton Becker interception, which he returned 28 yards to the All Saints 25-yard line.

Beard answered on the next offensive series for All Saints, hitting Hattan French on a 61-yard scoring strike with seven minutes left in the third period.

Following an All Saints defensive stand, the Beard-to-French connection struck again with a 9-yard TD with just 58 seconds left in the third quarter to push the lead to 38-21.

Beard, who finished 24 of 32 for 359 yards and five TDs with one interception, said the offense came alive in the second period.

“We did not panic early in the game,” said Beard, an Aledo transfer. “We kept our poise and got our offense going.”

Beck had high praise for Beard, a Georgetown pledge. “He does a tremendous job leading this team,” Beck said. “He does a great job spreading the ball around and finding the open receivers.”

And All Saints is loaded at the receiver position.

“We go six deep at the receiver position,” said Beck, in his 19th season leading the program. “They are all talented. They are all interchangeable.”

Beck singled out one of those wideouts, Starling, who tallied a game-high nine receptions for 106 yards and a TD.

“Gabe Starling made some unbelievable catches in this game,” Beck said. “He had just a fantastic performance.”

Starling, who had a highlight-reel one-handed grab in the third quarter that earned a first down, said: “We have so many great receivers. We do that in practice, but in games it is usually two hands all the way. But I was able to get one hand on that catch and able to come down in bounds.”

Briles totaled 85 receiving yards on four catches, while French chipped in with 81 yards on four receptions. Bourke Toler had a game-leading 115 rushing yards on 23 carries.

The Saints’ offense racked up 561 yards of total offense — 359 passing and 202 rushing.

Gigliotta threw for 177 yards on 15-of-27 passing with two TDs and one interception, to lead the Fort Worth Christian attack. Anding had a team-high 88 rushing yards on 15 carries.

It was the 26th consecutive victory for All Saints, which captured the Division II title a year ago en route to its first unbeaten season in TAPPS. It finished 14-0 — the most wins ever in program history — defeating Houston Second Baptist 21-3 in the title game.

All Saints was the only TAPPS 11-man football team across four divisions to finish with a perfect record a year ago.

All Saints, the top-ranked private school in the state according to the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football final regular-season poll, has now defeated Fort Worth Christian in all eight meetings, dating to 2008.

All Saints now faces a big challenge in No. 2-ranked Regents.

“It will be a great battle between two unbeaten teams,” Beck said. “We look forward to the challenge.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM.