Ellis County football Friday roundup: Week 2 (Aug. 27)

By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports

Five Ellis County football teams picked up wins during week two of the high school football season. Stats, standout players and recaps will be added throughout the weekend.

As always, fans can catch a full recap of all things Ellis County athletics every Monday night from 6-7 p.m. on KBEC 1390AM/99.1FM and online at elliscosports.com during “The Press Box.”

6A

Waxahachie 14, Arlington Lamar 3

The Waxahachie Indians improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2016 behind a defensive effort that limited Arlington Lamar to a jaw-dropping yards-per-play total. Click here for the full recap, photo gallery and reaction! 

5A

Keller Fossil Ridge 29, No. 6 Ennis 36

A two-touchdown second quarter, stout defensive play and a touchdown run with under three minutes to play propelled the Ennis Lions over Keller Fossil Ridge on Friday.

The Ennis offense and quarterback Jackson Gilkey began the non-district game a bit shaky. The junior tossed an interception on the Lions’ first play from scrimmage, which resulted in a 12-yard Fossil Ridge touchdown run.

Gilkey (12-22, 172yds, 2TDs, 2INTs) bounced back and capped the ensuing 7-play, 64-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Gracen Harris (7-114, 2TD).

Ennis Running back Dee Johnson rushed a team-high 17 times for a game-high 153 yards and one touchdown. His lone score came with just under 2:30 to play in the fourth quarter to seal the Ennis victory and a 2-0 start to the season.

The Lion defense held the Panthers to 310 total yards of offense, with 195 of those yards coming on the ground. Ennis overcame three turnovers.

The Lions return to action Friday against the (2-0) Waxahachie Indians in the 100th* Battle of 287. According to Waxahachie ISD Athletics, the Lions lead the all-time series 49-48-2. Kickoff at Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium in Waxahachie is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Forney 13, Midlothian 42

The Midlothian Panthers picked up their first win of the 2021 football season behind a stellar defensive effort and balanced offensive attack Friday against Forney. Catch up on the game, stats, reaction and photo gallery in this link!

Sachse 64, Red Oak 42 

Red Oak and Sachse combined to score 51 points in the first quarter Friday night at Billy Goodloe Stadium. Unfortunately for the host (0-2) Hawks, 37 of those went to the (1-1) Mustangs in a 64-42 Sachse non-district win.

Red Oak tallied 14 points in each of the first three quarters and amassed 396 total yards but could never overcome the Mustangs’ hot start. Sachse benefitted from a Red Oak safety, punt and turnover-on-downs in that opening quarter.

Sachse quarterback Alex Orji powered the Mustang offense en route to 701 total team yards.

Orji completed 14-of-his-23 passes for 270 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed nine times for 161 yards and three scores.
Luke Keefer led the Mustang ground game with 17 carries for 201 yards and three touchdowns.

Red Oak quarterback Jaylon Robinson finished 17-of-32 through the air for 257 yards and five touchdowns. Jace Wyatt (8-142, 3TD) and tight end La’Kelsey Johnson Jr (4-95, 2TD) both pulled in multiple Robinson touchdown passes.

Wyatt set a new career-high in receiving yards, besting the 136 yards he recorded in the Hawks’ week-one loss against No. 6 Ennis.

Robinson also added a rushing touchdown on his five carries for 56 yards.
The Red Oak defense has struggled to slow down two high-powered offenses during the Hawks’ 0-2 start. They’ve now allowed 120 points and 1,266 yards to Ennis and Sachse.

Their schedule does not get any easier, either, as Red Oak is scheduled to face 6A No. 10 (1-1) Rockwall-Heath at home on Friday, Sept. 10.

Heath defeated Fort Worth Timber Creek (56-49) in week one before narrowly falling to 6A No. 3 Southlake Carroll (36-35) this past Friday.

Kickoff from Billy Goodloe Stadium is slated for 7 p.m.

4A

Ferris 43, Fort Worth Benbrook 13 (Thurs)

The Ferris Yellowjackets throttled host Fort Worth Benbrook on Thursday evening, 43-13, behind over 450 yards of offense.

Junior quarterback Nathan Greek completed 18-of-his-22 passes for 292 yards and four touchdowns during the win. Once again, Greek spread the football around nicely, completing passes to eight different receivers. Anthony Lopez (3-79) and Wyatt Toomey (6-79) led the receiving corps. Tommy Dixson (3-56), Javarius Williams (2-28) and Tyriek Griffen (2-21) each caught touchdown passes.

Benbrook mustered just 224 total yards of offense.

During their undefeated start, the Yellowjackets outscored Maypearl (3A) and Benbrook 101-27. Ferris is now 3-1 all-time against the upstart Benbrook program, having won each of the past three meetings (20-17 in 2020 and 33-0 in 2019) after falling in the initial game, 33-14, in 2018.

The 2-0 start to the season is the first for the Ferris program since 2016, which included wins against Bonham (33-13) and Castleberry (69-0). The last time Ferris started 3-0? Well, that came during the 2013 campaign that saw the Yellowjackets open the season with seven consecutive wins. They ultimately bowed out of the playoffs in the bi-district round against Princeton (50-22) and with an 8-2 overall record.

Ferris returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday on the road against (2-0) Quinlan Ford. The Panthers opened their season with wins against 3A Whitney (47-33) and Blue Ridge (48-14).

No. 8 Midlothian Heritage 22, Kennedale 7

The state-ranked Midlothian Heritage Jaguars have taken care of business early in a season that will be led by a slew of underclassmen.

The Jaguars defeated unofficial non-district rival Kennedale 22-7 on the road Friday evening. Heritage scored twice in the second quarter, once in the second and shoutout the Wildcats until early in the fourth quarter.

The turning of the tide came in the second quarter.

Heritage defensive back Temerick Johnson first returned a Kennedale fumble 41 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 Jaguar lead. A little over eight minutes of game time later, Heritage quarterback Kaden Brown (11-20, 138yds, TD) connected with TJ Pride (4-82) for a 36-yard touchdown. Brown then hooked up with Xavier Moten for a two-point conversion on the ensuing snap.

Heritage led 15-0 at the half, and its defense never looked back on a night when Kennedale mustered just 180 total yards of offense.

Running back Jason Barela led the Jaguar ground attack with 23 carries for 92 yards and one touchdown.

Heritage opened the season with an impressive 50-23 victory against Everman. The state-ranked Jaguars will return to action at 7 p.m. Friday against (1-1) Decatur.

Life Waxahachie 7, Athens 40

The Life Waxahachie Mustangs were stifled by the Athens Hornets’ defense Friday in a 40-7 non-district road loss.

The ground game was the lone bright spot for the Mustangs during the loss. Senior running back Jeremy Brantley led the way with 12 carries for 96 yards, while sophomore Kordell Berry finished with 16 carries for 81 yards and the Mustangs’ lone score.

Life Waxahachie rushed 41 times for 173 yards as a team, which included three ball carriers going for a combined negative 39 yards.

The Mustangs are now 0-2 on the season and have been outscored 97-13 by Waco Connally and Athens.

Life Waxahachie looks to bounce back at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home against (2-0) North Dallas.

3A

Venus v. Maypearl (canceled)

Even if Venus ISD had returned to campuses this week, Maypearl would’ve been forced to cancel Friday’s scheduled non-district game after it closed campuses Thursday afternoon.

Venus ISD decided to close its schools and temporarily shutter extracurricular activities late last week due to a staff shortage and COVID-19 spread. Maypearl did the same on Thursday — in hopes of students and staff returning to full health over the three-day Labor Day weekend. 

According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, 43-out-of-the-530 11-man games have been canceled due to health-and-safety protocols through two weeks of the season.

The (0-1) Maypearl Panthers will look to return to action with a road game against the Clifton Cubs at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

2A

Italy 27, Chilton School 28

Chilton scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to steal a non-conference win from the visiting (1-1) Italy Gladiators, 28-27. Italy was unsuccessful on a point-after attempt in the fourth quarter.

Chilton is in District 10-2A that consists of Mart, Hubbard, Wortham, Frost and Bremond. The Pirates fell to the Gladiators in 2020, 46-09. They finished the season 8-3 after bowing out to Tenaha in the third round of the 2A playoffs.

Italy will look to bounce back at 7:30 p.m. Friday on the road against (0-1) Rice.

1A

Milford 0, No. 9 Abbott 48

***

Avalon 26, Hermleigh 71

***

____

Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith

tsmith@kbec.com