Cedar Hill knocks off Rockwall-Heath in overtime, faces Denton Guyer in state semis
Cedar Hill only led once during Saturday’s game with Rockwall-Heath, but it came at the biggest moment of the night.
Plus the Longhorns had the best athlete on the field.
Kaidon Salter, a 4-star Tennessee signee, hit Javien Clemmer on a 15-yard touchdown in overtime and Cedar Hill knocked off a rejuvenated Rockwall-Heath, 27-24, at Globe Life Park.
Cedar Hill (11-1), No. 8 in the Class 6A Division 2 state rankings, advances to the state semifinals for the first time since winning a state championship in 2014. The Longhorns face Denton Guyer, which beat Prosper in triple overtime, at 1 p.m. Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium.
The Longhorns won the toss to open the extra period and elected to start on defense.
The Hawks (11-3), in their deepest playoff run since 2008, picked up one first down before settling for a 38-yard field goal by Sam Spencer. It came after Cedar Hill’s Stefan Ingram sacked Heath quarterback Josh Hoover on third down.
Trailing 21-14 with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter, Cedar Hill began its game-tying drive at its own 41.
Three first downs and 12 plays later, Salter hit Clemmer on an 18-yard TD to make it 21-21 with 5:40 on the clock.
Salter went 20 of 37 for 268 yards and three TDs. He added a team-high 86 yards on 21 carries. Clemmer led all receivers with 10 catches for 163 yards and a pair of scores.
The Longhorns had a chance to win in regulation when they forced a Heath punt on the ensuing drive. They drove from their own 37 to the Heath 10, but Cedar Hill fumbled just before the goal line and Heath’s Jaylin Nwigwe recovered in the end zone for the touchback with 1:38 to play in regulation.
Heath’s next drive resulted in a punt that was blocked, but three straight passes from Salter were dropped in the end zone to run out the clock.
Cedar Hill marched down the field on the game’s opening drive, but missed a 32-yard field goal with 8:06 left in the first quarter. Heath took the ensuing possession 80 yards on 14 plays and led 7-0 on a 1-yard TD run by Preston Landis with 4:46 to go in the period.
Salter responded with a 46-yard scoring pass to Brian Rainey to tie the game at 7 at the 2:14 mark.
The teams traded punts on the next four drives before the Hawks scored on a 6-yard pass from Hoover to Corban Cleveland midway through the second quarter.
Cedar Hill answered again with a 15-play, 69-yard drive, capped off by a Kris Allen 1-yard run just before intermission.
Heath took a 21-14 lead on the first drive of the third quarter with a 10-yard run by Landis, who led all rushers with 38 carries and 203 yards. The Hawks gained 368 yards. Hoover threw for 170.
Cedar Hill finished with 456 yards of total offense. Rainey had three catches for 56 yards.
Kylon Ashton added 78 yards on 13 attempts for the Longhorns.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 7:25 PM.
