Birdville finally opens the season as sophomore back leads Hawks to win over Crowley
Playing in its first game of the season, you’d think that the Birdville football team would have been rusty.
The Hawks’ first play from scrimmage was intercepted by Crowley’s Keon Long, but Birdville recovered from there to post a 21-14 win over the Eagles in a non-district game Friday night at the Birdville Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.
Birdville (1-0), which had to cancel its first two games due to COVID-19, committed only two penalties, had the one turnover, and only punted once in its season opener.
Crowley (0-3) turned the interception into six points when Antwuan Polk capped a 9-play, 52-yard drive with a 15-yard scoring run to put the Eagles up 7-0 at the 6:48 mark of the first quarter.
Gracien Anto answered for Birdville with a 44-yard kickoff return that set up his 21-yard scoring run to tie the game at 7 with 4:31 left in the opening period.
“It felt really good to get on the field, especially since we’ve been waiting since June,” said Anto, a sophomore, who led the Hawks with 122 yards rushing on 13 carries. “Through all this stuff that’s been going on we we’re excited to get on the field and show everybody what we can do. It felt really good to be outside today.”
Crowley kept the ball much of the first half, running 31 plays to 13 for Birdville. But a Crowley drive was halted early in the second quarter when Birdville linebacker Bynum Martinez recovered an Eagle fumble at the Hawks’ 37-yard line.
Anto scored again on a 16-yard run seven plays later to put Birdville up 14-7 with 6:36 left before halftime.
The Hawks then dodged a bullet when Crowley drove from its own 25 down to the Birdville 4, but time expired in the half on the Eagles before they could run another play.
Crowley opened the second half with another long drive for a score.
Duante Blake carried seven times on an 11-play, 75-yard drive and tied the game at 14 when he ran a zone read around right end from 30 yards out with 6:41 left in the third quarter.
Blake started at quarterback for Crowley after Jacobe Robinson broke his wrist last week against Weatherford. Blake, who piled up 156 yards on 28 carries, also lined up as a running back at times with Polk taking the snaps.
Crowley attempted one pass in the game. Polk added 96 yards rushing on 19 attempts.
The teams traded punts before Birdville took the lead for good.
Starting at their own 43, the Hawks got a 20-yard run from Anto down to the Crowley 37. Two plays later, quarterback Aiden Dollar hit Connor Welsh over the middle for a 24-yard gain to the Eagles’ 9.
Two plays after that, Dollar followed Anto around left end for a 3-yard score and a 21-14 lead with 10:06 left in the game.
Crowley took over at its own 8-yard line after an illegal block on the kickoff return and drove to its own 49 before the drive stalled and the Eagles were forced to punt.
Birdville took over at its own 9 with 3:59 left and Dollar sealed the game with runs of 13 and 17 yards to convert first downs. The 17-yard run looked like a rugby scrum with the Hawks’ offensive line holding Dollar up and pushing the huge pile 10 yards down the field after Dollar had gained seven on his own.
“It feels incredible to just be able to get out and play,” said Birdville coach Lon Holbrook. “I’m so proud for these kids and these coaches. They’ve carried a lot of weight through this whole deal with everything going on and they did a great job.”
“We’ve been working hard for a long time so we had to come out here and win,” added Anto. “It felt really good.”
Birdville is off next week before starting district vs. Midlothian Oct. 22. Crowley starts district with Granbury Oct. 16.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 12:31 AM.