Mansfield shocks No. 6 Cedar Hill

Mansfield running back Kennedy Brooks rushed for 320 yards and four touchdowns as the Tigers upset Cedar Hill 49-34 in a District 8-6A game Friday at Longhorn Stadium.

Mansfield (6-3, 3-2 District 8-6A) clinches a playoff berth after knocking off the No. 6 team in The Associated Press Class 6A state poll. Last week, Cedar Hill (7-2, 4-1) routed undefeated DeSoto 65-42 before a national television audience on ESPN2.

It wasn’t so much that Cedar Hill had a letdown Friday as it was Mansfield’s rushing attack keeping the Longhorns off the field.

Brooks slashed his way through the Cedar Hill defense rushing 30 times and picking up all but seven of the Tigers’ 327 rushing yards on the night. Brooks scored on runs of 70, 18, 24 and 43 yards with the final two coming in the fourth quarter when Mansfield put up 21 points.

Mansfield quarterback Aaron Funk added 152 yards through the air, mainly on short, wide-open passes in the flat to either the fullback or tight end.

Funk had three TD passes on the night with two going to fullback Brian Williams in the flat that turned into scores from 2 yards and 38 yards. Zayne Johnson caught the third one from 20 yards out.

Williams led Mansfield with five receptions for 73 yards.

Damarkus Lodge scored the final three TDs for Cedar Hill on receptions of 43, 2, and 6 yards from quarterback Justin McMillan, but the Cedar Hill defense could not stop Brooks and the Mansfield offense.

After Lodge’s final TD pulled Cedar Hill to within 42-34, Brooks, fittingly, was the one who recovered the ensuing on-side kick, setting up his own 43-yard scoring run that iced the game with 52 seconds left.

Aca’Cedric Ware opened the scoring for Cedar Hill with touchdown runs of 56 and 44 yards. Ware finished with 152 yards on 11 carries and McMillan threw for 222 yards.

This story was originally published October 31, 2014 at 12:00 AM.