Three weeks after losing to Pantego, Colleyville Covenant gets its revenge in playoffs

This time the result was different.

After losing three weeks ago to district rival Pantego Christian, 27-25, Colleyville Covenant came out on top, 28-20, in a rematch Friday night at Farrington Field in a TAPPS Division III state quarterfinal.

Covenant (5-6) advances to face Lubbock Christian in the state semifinals.

The Cougars had to withstand a furious second-half rally by Pantego (9-2). After Covenant jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead, Pantego scored the first two touchdowns of the second half and outscored Covenant 20-7.

After Pantego’s last touchdown with 4:17 left, Covenant took over at its 24-yard line and drove to the Pantego 36 in five plays. From there, facing fourth-and-2, quarterback Caleb Stith dove behind the blocks of his right guard and tackle, Mason Totten and Eric Reed for the necessary two yards and the third first down of the drive.

Then Stith took two kneel downs to run out the clock.

“He puts the guys on his back and wills us to win,” said Covenant head coach Phil Towe.

“In the first meeting, we couldn’t get our momentum going in the first half,” Towe said of the game in Week 10. “We got things going in the second half, and we thought we could carry that momentum into this game and that enabled us to shut them out in the first half.”

Covenant scored the last 13 points in the Nov. 2 meeting in a losing cause.

“We have a lot of heart. We put in a lot of effort,” Towe said. “We’re not very big. We’re undersized defensively. But we’re very well coached especially with out defensive coordinator (Scot Whaley). They believe in what they’re doing. We fly to the ball and do what we can.

“I’m super proud. It’s been a tough season especially in the early going, but we were in every game. It’s an accumulation of all our effort coming together at the right time.”

Pantego had not lost since the season opener.

In the second half, the Panthers moved 48 yards in nine plays with quarterback Kaden Paladini getting the last two. The scoring drive began after the Panthers stopped Covenant on fourth-and-1. Pantego then pulled to within a score, 21-14, early in the fourth quarter scoring quickly on 4-play, 53-yard drive with Myion Hicks running in the last eight yards.

But Covenant got some of its cushion back when Hooper O’Neal caught a 37-yard pass over the middle from Stith minutes later. The key play was a 23-yard pass to Daniel Calabrese to the Pantego 40 on third-and-11.

The Cougars took the opening kickoff 75 yards in 11 plays. Stith kept behind Totten and Reed for the final yard.

It looked as though the Panthers would reply with a touchdown drive of their own. They drove from their 33 to the Covenant 15 in 12 plays, all on the ground. But on fourth-and-1, there was a fumbled exchange in the backfield, and the Panthers lost 10 yards.

In the second quarter, Covenant added another touchdown with another long scoring drive. The Cougars drove 86 yards in 12 plays again mixing it up with half of the plays in the air and the other on the ground. The scoring play was an 8-yard pass from Stith to O’Neal.

The Cougars got their third touchdown with only 3.5 seconds left on a short field after a fumbled punt return. Covenant took over at the Pantego 38 with 32.7 seconds left. Five plays later, Austin Scheets made a leaping catch over two defenders near the goal line for the 22-yard TD.

This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 12:57 AM.