Hawley touchdown with 3 seconds to play provided madcap win over Cisco

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HAWLEY - The Hawley Bearcats led Friday's football game for 3 seconds.

That was enough to win a district championship and to finish the regular season 10-0.

Hawley stopped Cisco on fourth down with a sack, then drove 94 yards after a botched snap, scoring on Rodey Hooper's 2-yard pass to Will Scott to overcome Cisco 36-33 in front of a packed house at Forrest Field.

"Barely," smiling Hawley coach Mitch Ables said, asked if he had caught his breath after the game. "I can't tell you how proud I am of our kids. At a lot of points in time, they could've easily shut down but we kept our heads up and kept playing and kept playing.

"We got the ball in our hands with a little over a minute left and we were able to make some plays."

Across the field, Cisco coach Kevin Stennett saw an inspired effort hampered by a crucial fumble and a whopping 15 penalties. One negated a late touchdown that might have sealed the win, and another - an interference call in the end zone - gave Hawley a final throw for the win.

"Whether we committed them or not, they were called and killed some drives," Stennett said. "In the first half, we were able to overcome those penalties. We got into some 2nd-and-20s but were able to get first downs and find ways to get into the end zone.

"The same thing happened in the second half but we couldn't dig ourselves out of the hole. We had some drives stopped or stalled-out because of penalties.

Still, the Loboes led the entire game. It came down to not containing Hawley's pass-driven drive with no timeouts.

Hooper completed throws of 34, 25, 9 and 13 yards to move the Bearcats to the Cisco 2 with 22 seconds to play. He even ran 11 yards for a first down.

At the 2, he clocked the ball but the Bearcats were moved back 5 yards with a penalty,

Cisco returned the favor, flagged for pass interference on Hooper's fade to Diontay Ramon in the left corner of the end zone.

That put the ball back at the 2, and Hooper fired across the middle to Scott for the go-ahead TD. The conversion failed but Cisco then failed on a series of laterals on the kickoff.

"That was amazing. We set that up and it came together and we scored," Hooper said of the game-winning drive. "We overcame adversity tonight. It was all about stepping up."

Asked if the Bearcats would've played for the tie if injured Kason O'Shields, who is the team's kicker, were in the lineup. Ables said the strategy would've been the same to get quickly in field goal range. With Hooper hot on the mark, it worked out that a field goal was not needed.

It seemed as if Cisco would win this game when a snap to Hooper with the Bearcats backed up at their 6-yard line went over his head and into the end zone. Cisco's Broderick Morton beat Hooper to the loose ball for a Loboes touchdown that made it 33-22 with 9:21 to go.

Unfazed, Hooper led his team 78 yards in nine plays, the key play a 40-yard completion to Scott up the middle of the field to the Cisco. Scott caught six balls for 132 yards.

Hooper passed 13 yards to Scott on fourth down for the TD and then got the 2-point conversion on a pass to Chandlin Myers to cut it 33-30.

"Losing Kason, he's a big deal. He's our kicker, punter, returner, free safety and receiver. Big player. We just had to step up," Scott said. "We had players stepping who normally aren't used to stepping up and making big plays. They did a great job. They won that game for us tonight.

"We learned what it's like to win a true ballgame."

"I'm very pleased with the way we played. We just couldn't battle back from those penalties in the second half," Stennett said.

A key sequence in the game came at the end of the first half and the start of the second.

Cisco had scored first on Long's 24-yard run midway through the first quarter and made it 19-8 with 24 seconds to go in the first half.

Hawley, however, got a 15-yard completion from Hooper to Scott to the Cisco 49. On the final play, Hooper threw the ball toward the end zone and the 6-foor-2 Ramon leaped for the catch only to be tackled at the 1.

A touchdown could've tightened the game.

Cisco took the second-half kickoff and was marching again when Trenton Huston had the ball pop free and Hawley's Maddix Salazar caught it at the Bearcats 31. Another Cisco touchdown may have been too much for Hawley to overcome.

But using the turnover, Hawley then marched 69 yards for a touchdown of its own, with Hooper passing 53 yards to Scott to the Cisco 1. Austin Cumpton, who rushed for 106 yards, got the TD on the next play.

The Bearcats still could not get over the hump until the final offensive play of the game despite scoring on four of five possessions in the second half.

"I'm very pleased with the way we played. We just couldn't battle back from those penalties in the second half," Stennett said.

It was Hawley's second straight 3-point win over Cisco. the other was 17-14 in the Region I-2A Division I championship game last year.

Cisco slips to 8-2, both losses by three points. The other was to Class 3A Breckenridge.

Both teams are headed to the playoffs but were waiting on scores Friday to find out their opponents.

The loss spoiled a stellar effort by Cisco's quarterback. Long rushed 33 times for 224 yards and a touchdown. He threw three touchdown passes all to Carter Holton, the first going for 77 yards when Holton stepped out of Marc Salas' tackle attempt and raced untouched for the TD.

Hooper threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns. He had one interception, which set up Cisco's first touchdown.

In the second half, Hooper took deeper shots, finding Scott in the middle or throwing balls for Ramon and the 6-foot-3 Myers. Myers made a spectacular grab in the back of the end for Hawley's lone touchdown in the first half.

"They did some thing like better athletes going up and getting balls," Stennett said. "We have some youth in our secondary and I feel like it may have gotten exposed a little bit. We're going to regroup and going to get some more reps with those guys and find a way to get better.

"And, hopefully, get a rematch."

Hooper agreed.

"We'll see them again, no doubt," he said.

Ables said his team has played three "playoff" games in a row. beating good Stamford and Olney teams (15 wins between them), and now Cisco.

"Those were tough but we were able to pull away. This was a great game to get you going into the playoffs," he said. "My hat's off to those guys over there.:"

Breaking it down

∎ Turning point: Cisco had a chance to put the game away after Hawley cut the score to 33-30 with 5:27 to play. The Loboes recovered an onside kick at the Hawley 47 and began moving the ball as it had most of the game. But a penalty wiped out Hunter Long's 23-yard touchdown run with 2:47 to go. Needing 20 yards for the clinching first down, Cisco got to a 4th-and-5. Long was tackled behind the line, giving the Bearcats a final chance with 1:39 to play.

∎ Players of the game: Hunter Long, Cisco High, quarterback – He was a tireless force, rushing 33 times and throwing 13 passes to account for 408 yards. He had a hand in his team's four offensive touchdowns. Rodey Hooper, Hawley High, quarterback. Hooper did not come close to his counterpart's rushing totals but threw for four TDs and 332 yards. He had a key run for first down on the game-winning drive.

∎ Key stat: Hooper was 5-of-9 on Hawley's game-winning drive, three misses clocking the ball because the Bearcats had no time outs. After missing Chandlin Myers on a deep throw, he hit his last five attempts and also ran 11 yards for a first down. All this after the ball was snapped to Hooper while he and others were looking to the Hawley sideline, losing 17 yards on first down. Undaunted, Hawley drove 94 yards for the winning TD.

∎ Coach Ables said: “The first half, we were missing stuff we worked on all week. We were a half-second behind, and a lot of that is on (Cisco's) part. That's a good football team over there. We said, 'We've got to stick to the plans, guys. That's what got is here and that's what's going t get us back into the game."

∎ Coach Stennett said: "I am proud of our kids. They came to Hawley, Texas, to give everything they had to try to win a district championship. Coming off the field right now, I feel like we did. Before the game I said that whoever commits the fewest amount of penalties is going to win this, and to me that's what happened. Hawley's great. Hope we get to see them again."

∎ Impact: Hawley completes a 10-0 regular season and wins the District 4-2A Division I title. Cisco, with a pair of 3-point losses, goes into the playoffs as a No. 2 seed.

∎ Up next: Both teams enter the Class 2A Division I playoffs. Hawley plays Christoval at 6 p.m. Thursday at San Angelo Stadium. Hawley in 2021 edged Cisco 17-14 for the Region I championship and went on to finish as the state runner-up - the program's best finish ever.

DISTRICT 4-2A DIVISION 1

No. 2 Hawley 36, No. 8 Cisco 33

FIRST QUARTER

CIS - Hunter Long 24 run (kick failed), 6:23

SECOND QUARTER

CIS - Carter Holton 77 pass from Long (kick failed), 8:45

HAW - Chandlin Myers 15 pass from Rodey Hooper (Myers pass from Hooper), 2:50

CIS - Holton 15 pass from Long (Julius Proffitt kick), 0:24

THIRD QUARTER

HAW− Austin Cumpton 1 run (Diontay Ramon pass from Hooper), 7:51

CIS - Holton 38 pass from Long (Proffitt kick), 5:37

HAW - Myers 6 pass from Hooper (pass failed), 3:21

FOURTH QUARTER

CIS - Broderick Morton fumble recovery in end zone (Proffitt kick), 9:21

HAW - Will Scott 13 pass from Hooper (Myers pass from Hooper), 5:27

HAW - Scott 2 pass from Hooper (run failed), 0:03

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Cisco, Hunter Long 33-224, Trenton Huston 6-16, Gayle 2-7. Hawley, Austin Cumpton 24-106, Rodey Hooper 5-16, Diontay Ramon 1-0. Team 2-minus 23.

PASSING: Cisco, Long 9-13-0-174. Hawley, Hooper 16-25-1-332

RECEIVING: Cisco, Carter Holton 4-143, Cade Gayle 5-31. Hawley, Will Scott 6-132, Ramon 3-122, Chandlin Myers 7-78.

RECORDS: Cisco 8-2, 5-1; Hawley 10-0, 6-0

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Hawley touchdown with 3 seconds to play provided madcap win over Cisco