Mansfield Summit holds off Ennis to take the second playoff seed in 5-5A Division 2

After Mansfield Summit got the fourth seed in the state playoffs last season and had to face defending champion Dallas South Oak Cliff in the first round, one would think that keeping the second seed heading into the playoffs this year would be a big deal.

Turns out it doesn’t really matter to the Jaguars who stands in their way. Summit just wanted to defeat an Ennis team that beat them in overtime a year ago and have momentum heading into the playoffs.

The Jaguars accomplished just that after defeating Ennis 28-21 in the District 5-5A Division 2 finale on Friday night at Newsom Stadium.

“We don’t care who we have to play against,” said Summit running back Amare Burgess, who led a stout Jaguars’ rushing attack with 158 yards on 24 carries. “Who ever comes in front of us we’re going to hit them in the mouth. Yes there was some bad blood against SOC (South Oak Cliff) last year, but we’ll be ready for them whenever the time comes.”

The Jaguars lost to SOC 12-7 on a punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Golden Bears went on to win the 5A D2 state championship in 2022.

Summit (7-3 overall, 6-1 district) will face Seagoville (7-3), the third seed out of District 6-5A D2, at 7 p.m. on Friday at Anderson Stadium in the first round. Ennis (4-6, 4-3) will meet Dallas Kimball (8-2) in the bi-district round next week.

Summit, No. 6 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A rankings, looked like it might turn the game into a rout early, building a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Jaguars forced the Lions to punt to start then proceeded to march 75 yards in eight plays to take a 7-0 lead. Burgess converted a third down on the drive with a 30-yard run off left tackle.

Burgess picked up 21 more yards on a fourth down later in the possession to give the Jags a first down at the Ennis 12 then ran it in from there.

The score was 14-0 Summit 37 seconds later when Maruio White Jr. picked off an Ennis pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown at the 6:46 mark of the first quarter.

“I came off the ball and I saw number four (Jeremy Brown Jr.) leap out for a bubble and watching film I knew that they liked to throw that,” said White. “So as soon as I saw the quarterback turn his shoulders I got right in the passing lane. It just turns out that he threw it low enough where I could get it.”

Summit played well on defense all night, but especially well early on. The Jaguars forced three punts, held the Lions on downs twice and picked off two passes before Ennis finally got on the board.

“Coach said that if we came in and punched them in the mouth from the first play that they wouldn’t want to play anymore and that’s exactly what we did,” said Summit defensive lineman Legend Journey, who was frequently seen in the Lions offensive backfield. “We definitely came in with the mindset of team work.

“We wanted to play together and tonight it definitely showed on the field. As you can see from the score we handled business tonight.”

The Jags upped the lead to 21-0 with 10:27 left in the second quarter when Burgess ran it in from a yard out to cap an 11-play, 78-yard drive.

Summit could have poured it on if not for three interceptions by Ennis in the first half with two coming in the end zone to thwart scoring chances for the Jaguars.

Wondame Davis Jr. got his second pick of the game for Ennis with 4:36 left before the intermission in the end zone. Lions defensive back Jeremy Brown Jr. repeated the feat with 1:32 left in the half.

Brown’s pick sparked Ennis who marched from its own 20 to score on a 38-yard pass from Gracen Harris to Taurean Bell with 11 seconds left in the second quarter. Bell made a terrific catch right on the end line in the back of the end zone for the score.

Ennis came out on fire in the second half, taking advantage of a short Summit punt to score on a 26-yard touchdown run by Davis to cut the lead to 21-14 with 9:26 left in the third quarter.

The teams traded possessions until late in the third quarter when Summit finally put together another drive after a 27-yard punt return by Michael Freeman gave the Jaguars the ball at the Ennis 42.

Six plays later Demarus Bird found Dorian McDade in the left, front corner of the end zone for a 26-yard score to give Summit some breathing room at 28-14 with 11:50 left in the game.

Ennis made it interesting late when Davis picked his way through the line and scored on a 55-yard run, cutting the lead to 28-21 with 2:40 left in the game. Davis finished with 86 yards rushing on just four carries.

But the Lions never got the ball back as Burgess carried the final nine times of the game to run out the clock.

“We came into the game and we knew we had to punish them,” said Burgess, who actually didn’t have a carry from around the seven-minute mark of the second quarter until there was about nine minutes left in the game. “We wanted to get a good seeding into the playoffs so we had to punish them. Our offensive line played terrific pushing those boys and we got the win.”

The Summit offensive line of Aiden Lopez-Delacruz, Xavier Polnitz, Jaden Coburn, Carlos Betancourt II and Jaden Ferdinand opened holes all night for six different Jaguar rushers. Summit had 399 yards of total offense with 327 of it coming on the ground on 56 carries.

“Amare (Burgess) got banged up a little bit, but we have confidence in all of our guys so we let them eat a little bit,” said Summit coach Channon Hall. “They took care of it and Amare came in and closed it out like he should being a senior.”

Da’Vonte Johnson had 95 yards rushing for Summit on 12 carries.

The Summit defense was more than solid outside of Ennis’ three big scoring plays. The Lions ran 50 plays and gained 119 yards on the three plays where they scored and picked up 112 yards on the 47 plays where they didn’t.

“It wasn’t really as much about the seeding as it was about having momentum going into the playoffs,” said Hall. “There’s no ducking anybody so we wanted to play good, solid defense, run the football.

“It was a good tune up and now it’s real. It’s win or go home and our kids felt that, I believe, and we just have to keep it going.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2023 at 1:24 AM.