Cedar Hill rallies in second half and holds off Arlington behind QB Kaidon Salter

It was a slug fest between two of the top Class 6A teams in the state, but Arlington couldn’t find any magic late as Cedar Hill held off the Colts, 28-21, in a non-district game Friday night at Globe Life Park.

Cedar Hill (1-0), ranked No. 15 in Dave Campbell’s Class 6A state poll, was making its first start of the season behind 4-star, Tennessee commit Kaidon Salter at quarterback.

No. 22 Arlington (1-1) held Salter in check much of the first half with pressure up front and good secondary play, and led the Longhorns 14-7 at halftime, but the Colts fortunes changed after the break.

Salter, who completed seven passes in the first half, started the second half with short, high-percentage passes and completed his first six attempts.

The seventh completion of a 11-play, 66-yard drive, a 4-yard TD pass to Javien Clemmer, tied the game at 14 with 8:34 left in the third quarter.

Salter completed 20 of 36 passes for 248 yards on the night.

Disaster struck for the Colts when the ensuing kickoff was fumbled and recovered by Cedar Hill’s Joey Johnson at the Arlington 32.

It took only four plays before Longhorns’ running back Kevin Young Jr. rambled in from 10 yards out for a 21-14 Cedar Hill lead with 6:45 left in the third.

The teams traded punts before Arlington pulled even.

The Colts started at their own 43 and benefited from two key penalties on Cedar Hill, both on third down, to keep the drive alive. Rodney Talton, who led Arlington with 90 rushing yards on 21 carries, bulled in from a yard out to tie the game at 21 with 9:57 left in the game.

Cedar Hill used some magic of its own on its ensuing series to retake the lead. Brian Rainey made an incredible over-the-shoulder, diving catch for a 41-yard gain on third down. Salter converted a fourth-and-1 with a 1-yard run to set up a 14-yard TD run by Young to pull back ahead, 28-21, with 6:48 left.

The Colts had two more chances to tie, but lost the ball on downs both times.

The best chance Arlington had was a second-and-7 from the Cedar Hill 9, but a penalty and three incomplete passes ended the threat.

Arlington went three-and-out on its first two series of the game before Salter found a brief rhythm.

The senior hit Anthony Thomas IV with a 44-yard pass play down to the Colts’ 13. Three plays later Salter capped the 8-play, 81-yard drive with a 3-yard run to give Cedar Hill a 7-0 lead with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

Arlington answered immediately with its best drive of the night.

Quarterback Kris Sims scampered for gains of 20 and 18 yards to give the Colts a first down at the Cedar Hill 31. Sims ended the drive with a 9-yard TD pass to Joel Murray to tie the game at 7 with 1:45 left in the opening quarter.

Arlington scored again early in the second quarter off a Cedar Hill miscue.

A punt snap sailed over the Longhorn punter’s head resulting in a 29-yard loss to the Cedar Hill 34. Talton ran around right end for a 28-yard score three plays later to give Arlington a 14-7 lead.

The Colts’ defense played well the rest of the half and dodged a bullet late when Leslie Odimara tackled and stripped the ball from Salter just before reaching the end zone. The fumble went out of bounds in the end zone for a touchback as time expired in the second quarter.

This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 12:25 AM.