Ohio State commit’s big night, late 2-point conversion sends Rockwall past Allen

Caden Marshall nicknamed the game-winning 2-point conversion pass to J.J. Williams as “Scotty” with 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter of Rockwall’s 60-59 win over Allen in a Class 6A Division 1 area championship at AT&T Stadium on Friday night.

Marshall took the hand-off from quarterback Braedyn Locke and passed to Williams in the left side of the end zone after Locke, who threw for 425 yards on 31-of-43 passing and six touchdowns, completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kade Klinkovsky to bring the Yellow Jackets to within one point.

“I really didn’t want to go to overtime with these guys,” Rockwall coach Rodney Webb said. “We were gassed. Our best player (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) was cramping. And I didn’t want to prolong this situation into overtime. So, I was trying to win it right here.”

Webb said Smith-Njigba, an Ohio State commit who finished with six total touchdowns and 248 receiving yards, was supposed to run the play, but Marshall was summoned to take his place due to Smith-Njigba cramping.

“I was confident in myself and my teammates to make a play out there,” Marshall said. “It’s a play that we’ve been working on for a while. I just had to step up.”

Rockwall (10-2) advances to face the winner of Cypress Ranch and Klein Oak in the regional championship next week at a time and location to be determined. Allen finishes the season at 11-1 and will miss playing in the state semifinals for the first time in eight years.

The Eagles had one last attempt to keep their season alive.

Senior quarterback Raylen Sharpe, an SMU commit, threw for 463 yards and six total touchdowns, and rushed for 108 more, drove the Eagles inside Rockwall territory. But facing fourth-and-4 at the Rockwall 40, Sharpe was stopped two yards short of a first down.

Darrion Sherfield caught seven passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

It was the end of a tough week for the Eagles.

Allen wore decals with the letters ‘ME’ printed on its helmets to honor the life of teammate Marquel Ellis, Jr., who was shot and killed at a party on Nov. 16 in Plano. The memory of Ellis continued this week at AT&T Stadium. Arnold Young-Harry and Jaylen Jenkins held onto his number 37 jersey as the Eagles walked from their locker room to the field.

Once the game kicked off, it was an offensive showcase.

Allen and Rockwall came into the game averaging 494.4 yards per game. Both teams came close to meeting that average in the first half, as the Eagles racked up 411 yards to 381 for the Yellow Jackets. That led to a 38-all tie at the half.

Smith-Njibga had the Rockwall offense in sync from the opening snap as he caught five TDs in the first two quarters of play — two of the one-handed variety — to propel the Yellow Jackets to a 38-24 lead after he caught his fifth TD on a 61-yard bomb from Locke.

“I feel like we’re the best offense in Texas,” Smith-Njigba said. “Our numbers speak for themselves. We don’t have to really speak on ourselves. Whatever we have to put up, we have one of the best coaching staffs in the state. I just wanted to win this one so bad for our coaches. They deserve it.”

Smith-Njiba’s fourth TD reception was set up by a fumble recovery by Joseph Schaefer, a play in which Allen fumbled on a 9-yard run for one of three Eagles fumbles in the first half.

Those miscues didn’t deter Allen.

The Eagles kept plugging away on offense and the Allen defense forced three punts in the second quarter after giving up four touchdowns on all four Rockwall drives in the first quarter.

Sharpe led the Eagles on five first-half scoring drives, the last two of which came on 56-yard bombs to Blaine Green and Sherfield to rally Allen, ranked No. 3 according to Dave Campbell’s, into a 38-all halftime tie.

The second half was just as entertaining.

After Allen was forced to punt on the initial possession of the third quarter, Rockwall’s Zach Henry ran six yards up the middle for a 45-38 lead.

The Yellow Jackets bumped their lead to 14 points when Smith-Njigba ran from the wildcat formation from the Eagle 1 and into the end zone to put Rockwall on top of Allen, 52-38.

It was the sixth and final touchdown of the night for Smith-Njigba. Henry rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.

Allen rallied with three straight touchdowns to take the lead.

Jordan Johnson took the short pass from Sharpe in the backfield and ran 75 yards for a score, and on the ensuing kickoff, Cusiah Ward recovered the ball on a play in which Rockwall didn’t cover. On the next play, Sharpe ran around the right end for a 7-yard TD and a 52-all tie.

Johnson had two catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

After a strip sack caused by Allen’s Elijah Fisher on the seventh play of the next Rockwall drive, Justin Hall ran up the middle for a 2-yard TD on his first and only carry of the game, putting the Eagles on top 59-52 with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.

But Rockwall had the final answer.

The victory comes one year after Allen defeated Rockwall, 52-40, in the same round of the playoffs.

“We compared ourselves to early, early years of Mike Tyson,” Webb said. “We want to throw a knockout punch. Tonight, it was body blows. It was body blows for three quarters, knockout punch in the fourth quarter. We knew it was going to be that kind of game.

“(The loss to Allen) was something that stuck with us for a year. It was a game last year that they certainly won. We felt like it was a game that we could have won. We kept it close. It’s just taking that next step as a program. It’s something that we hoped since the end of last season that we would get another shot at these guys.”

This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 1:12 AM.