Timber Creek falls short against Keller in season finale, but Falcons clinch berth
The Keller Timber Creek football team lost the battle, but won the war in its COVID-delayed Monday night high school football game against rival Keller.
The Indians needed to defeat Timber Creek by 10 points in order to win the tie-breaker in a three-way tie for fourth place in District 4-6A.
Keller did win the game, 38-35, but Timber Creek earned the playoff berth and will face Euless Trinity at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Pennington Field in Bedford.
“It hurts more to lose to Keller than it feels good to make the playoffs,” said Timber Creek running back Kaden Bess, who led all rushers with 153 yards on 34 carries. “This is my senior year and my last home game and we all went out and fought our butts off. It’s a disappointment, but we’re going to come out strong in the playoffs.”
Things looked good for Keller (3-6 overall, 2-4 district) after taking a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Bryce Dealey with 3:56 left in the first quarter.
But after Timber Creek (4-6, 2-4) tied the game on a 2-yard scoring pass from Jacob Porter to Lonnie Johnson with 4 seconds left in the half, the Falcons never seemed to be in danger of falling behind by 10 points until very late in the game.
Bess even gave Timber Creek a 28-16 lead on a 13-yard TD run with 6:11 left, but The Indians battled back.
Hayden Anderson hit Amarion Henry with a 64-yard scoring pass on the ensuing play. After a successful onside kick, Keller scored again on a 13-yard run by Anderson to take a 31-28 lead with 2:16 left.
Trailing by three, Timber Creek could have opted to pick up a couple of first downs while using up Keller’s time outs and run out the clock. That strategy would have avoided almost any chance of a turnover being returned for a score giving Keller a 10-point lead, but Falcons’ head coach Marshall Williams was having none of it.
Williams wanted to win and looked to have it in the bag when Porter found Isaiah Jenkins-Hooks over the middle for a 15-yard TD and a 35-31 lead with 37 seconds left.
“I really wanted to win the game, I did,” said Williams, in his first year as a head coach after 17 years in the profession. “I know that the points say whatever, but I know what this game meant to these kids. A lot of these kids have played against each other since KYA and there was a lot of kids playing hard and a lot of respect out there.”
The Falcons then made a mistake by kicking deep to Henry who found a seam up the middle and out raced Timber Creek defenders 88 yards for a touchdown to retake the lead 38-35.
“We were juiced and so excited after that kick return,” said Anderson, who threw for 170 yards and rushed for 99 more. “Everybody was ready to go and ready to get on the field and go score and get us another one to get us in the playoffs.”
Timber Creek’s C.J. Mayshaw was able to corral the Keller onside kick at the Falcons’ 49 with 20 seconds left.
“I can honestly say that I’ve never kicked an onside kick after going ahead by three with 25 seconds left in the game,” chuckled Keller coach Carl Stralow. “It’s a unique time of the year and 2020 is the craziest year that I’ve ever been a part of.”
But Williams still wanted the win and two pass plays gained 20 yards, before a 48-yard field goal try by Kyle Gallegos fell just short of the cross bar keeping the Falcons from a chance to win in overtime.
“In his first year, I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same thing because you want to win,” said Stralow. “I respect what he did because none of us do this for a living and try to lose on purpose.”
Stralow added that he also hoped that his team would have blocked the try and returned it for a score to propel his Indians into the playoffs.
“Maybe I should have been a little smarter,” said Williams. “I know it probably wasn’t the thing to do, but I also know that I wouldn’t have been ok with just taking a knee. I wanted to win and I don’t know if that was right or wrong, but I know that was how I felt.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 3:09 AM.