Ellis County Sports Your source for Ellis County Sports News
By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports
A two-touchdown halftime deficit was too much for Midlothian Heritage to overcome Friday night in a road loss against state-ranked Decatur.
The 41-28 defeat also marked the first time in program history that the Jaguars lost consecutive regular-season games. Heritage fell to Kennedale in week two, 35-28, to mark the program’s first regular-season loss since Sept. 28, 2018, leaving the Jaguars with a 29-4 regular-season record ahead of a week four home tilt against Stephenville.
The Heritage offense had its chances to take control early Friday night at Eagle Stadium in Decatur, only to have an interception inside the Eagles 10-yard line end the promising opening drive. Decatur scored on its ensuing drive when quarterback Roman Fuller connected with David Juarez for a 37-yard strike to go up 7-0 with 5:46 to play in the first quarter.
Heritage then quickly put together a three-play, 51-yard drive that was capped by Cade Sumbler connecting with Jay Wilkerson for a 47-yard touchdown to knot the score at seven.
A second Sumbler interception was sandwiched between a pair of Decatur touchdowns — Fuller to Juarez for 10 yards and a 1-yard Fuller run — to put the Eagles up two scores, 21-7, with 7:29 to play in the second quarter.
The Jaguars then pieced together a 10-play, 63-yard drive to cut the deficit in half, 21-14, when Brody Greeson rushed in for a 1-yard score with 3:15 to play in the first half.
Decatur then took advantage of the time afforded to its offense to end the first half with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Fuller to Harris. To make matters worse, the Eagles also took the opening possession of the second half 55 yards on six plays for a touchdown.
It was again a 23-yard Fuller-to-Harris connection that led to the score and put the Eagles on top 34-14.
Heritage sandwiched a pair of scores late — touchdown passes to Wilkerson (24 yards) and Haydon Wiginton (30 yards) — around a final Decatur score for the 41-28 final.
Decatur outpaced Heritage 449 total yards to 370, led by Fuller’s 20-of-26 passing for 294 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Juarez (8-128, 2 TDs) and Harris (8-119, 2 TDs) were his top targets.
Gunner Ragsdale also rushed 29 times for 107 yards and one touchdown.
For Heritage, Sumbler ended his night with 237 passing yards and three touchdowns on 12-of-26 through the air. He also threw two interceptions. Wilkerson caught three passes for a team-best 93 yards and two touchdowns, while Wiginton reeled in a team-high five passes for 62 yards and one score.
Cedric West led the Jaguars backfield with nine carries for 55 yards.
The Jaguars will look to rebound Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against Stephenville at MISD Multipurpose Stadium.
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Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith
tsmith@kbec.com
