By Todd Wills
CLEBURNE — The Tigers’ seniors that ended their high school careers here Friday night in Cleburne will wake up this morning knowing that they were a part of the first Corsicana teams to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons in three decades.
But at least they can say they found the resolve to fight through a bad start in Friday’s final game, and go out as winners in a 35-21 victory over the Yellow Jackets before 1,500 fans at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“We wanted to end our senior year with a ‘W,’” senior center and captain Tyler Wigfall said. “We wanted to go out with a good feeling.”
Friday didn’t start well. The Tigers (5-5, 3-4) had two negative running plays, a punt partially blocked and three penalties in the first 3 minutes, 10 seconds of the first quarter.
Cleburne, which came into Friday’s game with an 0-6 record in 16-4A, had a 21-7 lead with 2:10 left in the first half. The Tigers had little fan support, with maybe 250 fans including the Calicos and the band.
With all of that working against them, the Tigers turned the game at the end of the first half and early in the third quarter.
The Tigers, who have not been proficient in the passing game, came through in their two-minute offense with the help of a roughing the passer penalty and a tipped pass that wound up in Jonathon Neal’s hands for a 21-yard reception.
With first-and-goal and the Cleburne 1 with 10 seconds left in the first half, quarterback Andey Means lofted a pass to Matt Ward on a fade and Ward took advantage of his height advantage for his first touchdown catch in over a month, cutting Cleburne’s lead at halftime to 21-14.
“That play was extremely big,” Ward said.
The start of the third quarter also worked in the Tigers’ favor. Because the game started 15 minutes late, and then halftime went long, Tigers coach Dave Henigan asked the referees to call a delay of game penalty on Cleburne. The zebras obliged, and the Yellow Jackets seemed to get rattled.
Cleburne went three-and-out and the Tigers responded with a touchdown drive as Evans tied the score at 21-21 with a 12-yard run.
Cornerback Calvin Glover, who returned after missing five games with an injured hand, followed Evan’s second touchdown up with a momentum-turning interception on a tipped ball, returning it 35 yards to the Cleburne 8. Evans, who had 227 yards on 40 carries, scored on a 3-yard run for a 28-21 lead with 5:02 left in the third quarter.
“Calvin’s our best player back there,” Henigan said. “That was huge.”
Cleburne did come up with a 13-play drive on its ensuing possession, but the drive stalled on the Tigers 17, and a 35-yard field goal attempt with 11:20 left in the game was botched because of a bad snap.
That opened the door for the Tigers to close out the game, as they rode the running of Evans, who carried the ball eight times on a 11-play drive that ended with him piling driving Yellow Jacket defenders into the end zone on a 3-yard run for a 35-21 lead with 5:36 left.
“We put the game away,” Evans said. “It feels to go out that way.”
The Tigers, who couldn’t hit on two open post patterns on their first two possessions, struggled on offense in the first half, except for the one possession they relied on Evans, who had 64 yards on a 75-yard drive in the second quarter. Evans finished off the 6 minute, 14-second drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-7.
The Tigers also finally forced only their third turnover in four games as Martin Davis came up with an interception. But Evans fumbled on the next play, and Semaj Holderness made a leaping 13-yard touchdown catch for a 21-7 lead with 2:10 left in the first half.
Facing that hole, with every opportunity to call it a season, with the playoffs pretty much out of the picture, the Tigers played their best football of the season.
“I told the kids when we were down 21-7 and then 21-14, all we’ve done is fight,” Henigan said.
“We’ve shown heart, determination, character, toughness all season.”
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Todd Wills may be contacted via e-mail at twills@corsicanadailysun.com
Corsicana 35,
Cleburne 21
Corsicana 0 14 14 7 — 35
Cleburne 7 14 0 0 — 21
First quarter
CL — Ty Taylor 10 run (Omar Roa kick), 6:56
Second quarter
CL — Semaj Holderness 11 pass from Taylor (Roa kick), 11:54
CO — Cody Evans 3 run (Grant Gibson kick), 5:40
CL— Holderness 13 pass from Taylor (Roa kick), 2:10
CO — Matt Ward 1 pass from Andey Means (Gibson kick, :05
Third quarter
CO — Evans 12 run (Gibson kick), 6:53
CO — Evans 3 run (Gibson kick), 5:02
Fourth quarter
CO — Evans 3 run (Gibson kick), 5:36
CO CL
First downs 23 14
Rush-yards 40-252 26-135
Passing yards 78 80
C-A-I 8-14-0 13-20-2
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-0
Punts-avg. 1-21 1-27
Penalties-yards 10-70 12-117
Individual
Rushing — CO: Cody Evans 40-227, Andey Means 8-21, JaVonti Hines 2-4. CL: Ty Taylor 14-65, Micah McCoy 3-44, Justin Gauntt 3-34, D’Montre Davis 3-4, Cody Hicks 2-0, Taylor Callahan 1 - (12).
Passing — CO: Andey Means 8-14-0 78. CL: Ty Taylor 13-20-2 80.
Receiving — CO: Jonathon Neal 3-40, JaVonti Hines 2-27, Chris Humphries 1-7, Brian Gregory 1-3, Matt Ward, . CL: Semaj Holderness 5-45, D’Montre Davis 5-13, Justin Gauntt 1-10, Bubba Oakes 1-7, Ethan Anderson 1-5.
