Everman takes a leg up in the race for a playoff spot with win over Arlington Seguin

Thursday night’s football game between Everman and Arlington Seguin was extremely important as far as who would have a leg up to make the playoffs out of District 5-5A Division 2.

Both teams came in at 1-1 in district play and would have been hard pressed to emerge with a loss and have a strong shot at making the post season.

Everman spotted the Cougars a score, but controlled the game from that point posting a 35-19 win at Wilemon Field.

“This one was important,” said Everman coach Michael Boone, Sr. “They’re in the hunt and they’re going to be in the hunt. We’re in the hunt and we’re going to be in the hunt so you’ve gotta go win those games.

“It’s still early in the district run, but if you get down two then you’re really in an uphill battle. We want to control what we can control and what we did today was to keep everything in our control.”

Everman (4-2 overall, 2-1 in district), No. 7 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A area rankings, looked like it would run away with this one early. The Bulldogs took the opening kick and were driving when a fumble was picked up by Seguin’s Josiah Carelock and returned 70 yards to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 9:27 left in the first quarter.

But Everman scored three unanswered touchdowns from that point. Quarterback Jarion Basped scored on runs of 32 and four yards sandwiched around a 33-yard scoring run by running back Kay’den Brooks.

“We knew the game plan going into this week and that this was a game that really counted,” said Brooks who led Everman with 207 yards rushing on 29 carries and two touchdowns. “I talked to my o-line guys and told them let’s go out here and do what we have to do and we did. And when we do what we have to do then we put big numbers up.”

Basped’s four-yard TD came five plays after Antwain Maroney picked off a Seguin pass at the Everman 45 and returned it to the Cougars’ 27. The touchdown gave Everman a 21-7 lead with 6:42 left before halftime.

The Bulldogs dominated the first half out gaining Seguin 272 to 98 in total yards, but struggled with untimely penalties. If not for a 42-yard scoring run by Chase Ramirez for Seguin, the Cougars would have only picked up 56 total yards in the first half.

Ramirez’ run followed a fumble recovery by Adrian Contreras and cut the lead to 21-13 with 1:57 left in the second quarter.

Boone said that he was extremely concerned with the penalties his team has committed. The Bulldogs were penalized 15 times for 129 yards against Seguin and 14 times for 117 yards two weeks ago in a loss to Ennis.

“We talked about how God puts us in certain situations to teach us certain lessons and if we learn those lessons then we don’t have to repeat them, but if we don’t learn those lessons then He’s going to hit us over the head again,” said Boone. “I’m going to keep preaching it and keep telling it to them and hopefully they learn a lesson in an atmosphere where they can be successful like this week versus last week where they made too many mistakes to be successful.

“We’re going to keep preaching it and I’m going to expect those guys to get better and we’re going to continue to grow.”

Everman added to its lead with touchdowns on each of its first two possessions of the third quarter. Bulldog’s linebacker Jamarcus Canada recovered a fumble by Seguin (2-3, 1-2) at the Cougars’ 26, but Everman was pushed back to the 41 on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Basped carried it in from six yards out seven plays later to up the Everman lead to 28-13.

“Our offensive line was the main key today,” said Basped, who rushed for 101 yards on nine carries and was eight of 18 passing for 112 yards. “Really all the props go to the o-line and not me and KB (Kay’den Brooks) or anyone else.”

The Cougars gambled, but lost the ball on downs at its own 42 on its next series and Brooks made them pay by taking the ensuing handoff off of right tackle to the house.

Seguin made some noise in the fourth quarter. After Cougars’ linebacker Lacorian Hodge blocked an Everman field goal attempt, quarterback Sirawn Evans hit speedy Mikail Matthews across the middle and Matthews did the rest out-racing the Bulldogs’ secondary to the end zone to cut the lead to 35-19 with 6:16 left in the game.

After holding Everman on downs on the Bulldogs’ next series, Evans connected with Carterrious Brown for 49 yards down to the Everman 19. But the Cougars lost the ball on downs four plays later and the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock.

“This game will definitely be the most important game of the season,” said Brooks. “ Knowing that for both of us if we got the win it would put us in a much better position toward the playoffs made it very important.”

“If we wouldn’t have won then we would have been the fourth or fifth seed still and would have had to play SOC (Dallas South Oak Cliff) in the first round,” said Basped. “So both of us were coming out here looking for a win and we came out victorious.”