Birdville controls second half for 31-21 win over Grapevine

Birdville senior quarterback Stone Earle passed for four touchdowns to lead the Hawks to a 31-21 victory over Grapevine in a District 4-5A game at the Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletic Complex on Friday night.

Birdville running back Demarye Walker was the key in the second half as the Hawks controlled time of possession. Walker finished with 151 yards on 29 carries. Earle passed for 237 yards and threw TD passes to four receivers.

Birdville (3-2, 2-1) outgained the Mustangs by 222 yards. The Hawks held Grapevine (3-2, 2-1) to just 233 yards and 10 first downs, with six first downs coming in the last five minutes of the game.

Grapevine quarterback Austin Alexander accounted for all of the Mustangs’ touchdowns as he passed for two and ran for another. Alexander rushed for 56 yards and passed for 132.

Birdville dominated the third quarter but only outscored Grapevine, 3-0. The Hawks took almost a third of the second half with a 15-play opening drive, which ended in a 22-yard field goal by Ethan Ballentine. Then Grapevine ran three plays and punted. Birdville ran eight more offensive plays in the quarter, the last being a 55-yard run by Walker. Instead of a TD, the run ended in a turnover as Walker was stripped of the ball at the goal line and it bounced out of the end zone.

Birdville scored the game’s first points on the first play of the second quarter, which would see five touchdowns scored.

Cooper McCasland caught a 21-yard pass in the back center of the end zone for the Hawks first score. The Mustangs responded with a six-play, 50-yard drive that took 2:35 of the clock. It ended with a one-yard TD run by Alexander.

Birdville answered in eight plays, 75 yards and 2:42. Earle dropped a beautiful pass over the shoulder of Gage Haskin, who made a tough catch one yard into the end zone for a 30-yard TD. Grapevine quickly tied the game at 14, with the Mustangs’ big plays being a 52-yard kickoff return and an 11-yard TD pass from Alexander to Jacob Edwards.

Earle hit Hosea Armstrong for a 11-yard TD pass with six seconds in the second quarter left to give the Hawks a 21-14 halftime lead.

Birdville senior running back Laderrious Mixon, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards last season, missed his third consecutive game.

Thursday, Birdville will travel to Standridge Stadium in Carrollton to play Creekview. Grapevine will host Denton on Friday at Mustang-Panther Stadium. Both games start at 7 pm.