After giving up an early TD, Wildcats defense respond, while offense scored 20 unanswered second quarter points
Arlington – Three impressive steps, the first one started with Coach Willie Amendola. Convincing a group of teenagers, that the sky is the limit, even for new kids on the block and from there a new history.
Trey Williams ran for 203 yards on 25 carries and scored 3-TDs as Spring Dekaney rolled to its first state title with a 34-14 win over previously unbeaten and defending state champion Cibolo Steele in the Class 5A Division II Finals on Saturday night at Cowboy Stadium.
The victory is a milestone for the Wildcats (14-2) who are in its fourth varsity year and it marked the first Spring ISD School to win a state title. Dekaney, built to relieve sister school Westfield, has set the bar high for seasons to come.
Offensive MVP William’s game high 203 yards brought his season total to an astounding 3,890 yards and 48-TDs.
After suffering a turnover and rendering a TD at its own 19 with 9:14 to go in the first quarter, Dekaney scored 20 unanswered points to grab a 20-7 halftime lead. From that point, the Wildcats were never threatened.
Defense came to the Wildcats rescue, a part of its scheme that’s been solid all season. In fact, Dekaney’s defense was so efficient it stopped the Knights on its next four drives.
“Great team effort, offensively we got it done in the second half, defensively they got together in the second quarter after the turnover,” Willie Amendola Dekaney coach said. The kicking game picked up in the second half low and behold its 34-14.”
While the offense faced an early uphill battle from a stiff Steele defense and self inflicted penalties, the Wildcat defense kept the Knights at bay until the offense came around, which wasn’t the easiest thing to get going, facing one of the state’s top defenses. Dekaney was held to 15 first quarter yards and those were awarded when Knight’s DB John Burton was penalized for face masking Trey Williams.
The first of three-second quarter TDs erased four Dekaney false starts before WR Austin Garrett scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass from QB D’Juan Hines. Steele was three and out on its next possession. Meanwhile, the Wildcats staged a 59-yard drive to break up a 7-all tie, when Williams scored from a yard out and led 14-7 after sophomore kicker Kevyn Dimas PAT.
On Steele’s next possession, Wildcat’s safety Jarrett Irving intercepted QB Tommy Armstrong at the Dekaney 26-yard line, and returned it to the Steele’s 12 and a personal foul pushed the ball to 6-yard line to setup the Wildcats next TD. Williams then took a pitch left to conclude the first half scoring, when he out-ran Steele’s defense to the corner of the end zone, putting Dekaney up 20-7, after the extra point try fail.
Both teams battled to a scoreless third quarter.
The Wildcats built a 27-7 lead as backup RB Sean Horn scored on a 2-yard run to increase with 4:16 left in the fourth quarter.
Not long after, too little, too late, but the Knights (15-1) wouldn’t go quietly. On the first play from scrimmage, LB Cody Perdue broke through Steel’s line and stopped RB Justin Stockton in the backfield for a 2-yard loss before Nebraska commit Tommy Armstrong threw a 19-yard TD pass to WR Matthew Mayle.