Waxahachie defense outmuscles Grand Prairie, Sullivan scores 3 TDs in final 11-6A tune-up

Travis M. Smith September 9, 2023 Football, Waxahachie High School 1,079 Views

By Travis M. Smith | Ellis County Sports

WAXAHACHIE — For an undefeated Class 6A high school football team, it almost feels a little too greedy to label Waxahachie’s Friday home win against Grand Prairie as anything other than stellar.

The Indian offense scored on every drive except for two — and one ended in the victory formation in the 41-10 non-district win at Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium. On the opposite side of the ball, the (3-0) Waxahachie defense forced two turnovers and recorded a pair of goal-line stands while also holding the Gophers to 55 total rushing yards.

Waxahachie feasted on the big play, highlighted by a double-reverse flea flicker that ended in a 71-yard touchdown pass from Ramon McKinney Jr. (9-157, TD) to Trenton Kidd (3-70, TD) on the Indians’ first snap.

A 31-yard Elijah Thompson interception return later set up a 1-yard Beck Sullivan quarterback sneak for a 21-3 Waxahachie lead with 10:08 to play in the second quarter.

A terrible punt capped the ensuing Gopher drive and led to a 22-yard Beckham Atkins field goal to extend the Indian advantage to 24-3 with just over 4 minutes remaining on the first-half clock.

The Gophers ran out of time on the goal line to end the first half — the second big play (or stand, really) by the Indian defense.

The Grand Prairie offense then fumbled inside the Waxahachie 10-yard line on the Gophers’ first drive of the second half.

Waxahachie running back Wade Lemons (3-82) promptly took the first snap 65 yards into Gopher territory. McKinney Jr. then connected with Michael Esparza for a 35-yard completion along the sideline to the 1.

Sullivan pushed forward on the next snap for his second touchdown by way of the “heavy package” and quarterback sneak. The scoring drive had the Indians comfortably on top, 31-3, with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter.

Atkins capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 36-yard field goal roughly 7 minutes of game time later.

Sullivan added a third rushing touchdown (11 yards) to cap the Waxahachie scoring at 41 with 4:48 to play in the fourth quarter.

The Grand Prairie offense eventually found the end zone following a myriad of in-game substitutions and timeouts for the 41-10 final.

Waxahachie outpaced Grand Prairie 320 total yards to 251. The two teams also combined for 21 accepted penalties for 157 yards (12-85 WHS and 9-72 GPHS).

The Indian defense has allowed just 23 points and 585 total yards through the first two weeks — that’s a per-game total of 7.7 points and 195 yards.

Waxahachie has outscored its three non-district opponents 77-32. The program outscored the same three opponents (Ennis, Arlington Lamar, Grand Prairie) 141-16 one season ago.

Waxahachie continued that run by defeating Cedar Hill, 52-21, at home to open District 11-6A action en route to a third-place finish against the state’s toughest competition.

Waxahachie has now won 6 consecutive contests in front of its home crowd.

The last loss came against Desoto, 31-25, on Nov. 4, 2021. The Indians also fell to Ennis, 22-21, in overtime on Sept. 9 of that same season but had home wins against Mansfield Lake Ridge, Mansfield and Waco sandwiched in between.

The Indians have ultimately won 11-of-their-15 games at Lumpkins since the 2020 season. The two additional losses came against Cedar Hill (30-6, Oct. 10, 2020) and Arlington Lamar (19-7, Oct. 2, 2020).

It’s unequivocally clear that the Tribe feeds off the energy of the green-and-white-clad faithful under the Lumpkins lights.

The glass half-full perspective will tell us that Friday night against Grand Prairie served as the “get right” game for the Tribe. The Indians will now switch gears to the grueling 11-6A schedule, which starts with (1-2) Cedar Hill, followed by defending state champions(!) DeSoto and Duncanville.

Yes, that plural is a plural for anyone new to just how much talent lies ahead in the District of Doom. Duncanville and DeSoto won the 6A Division I and 6A Division II state titles, respectively, in 2022.