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Lions comeback not enough for season's first win
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@acnpapers.com
McKinney (0-6 overall, 0-3 in District 10-4A) continued its season-long winless streak with a 31-22 Homecoming loss to Rockwall (3-3, 2-1).
“Rockwall's a great football team, and we've talked about that all week long,” said Jeff Smith, McKinney head coach. “They just beat Wylie by two touchdowns. This district is full of great teams and (Rockwall head coach) Scott Smith and his staff do a great job and we give them a lot of credit.”
But while the end result wasn't what the Lions wanted, Friday night's performance ranks as their best of the season.
The game looked out of reach early on when Rockwall put up a trio of quick scores to jump to a 21-6 lead, but Shannon helped power a Lions comeback that gave them a chance to win late in the fourth quarter.
“Jonathan for sure had a great night,” Smith said. “But he'll also tell you that we had some great blocking tonight. We were more physical up front tonight than we've been all year long. That's what we've been trying to get and we got it tonight. We're excited about that, but there's a lot of guys out there making that happen.
“But Jonathan, we're real proud of what he did tonight and how he battled.”
The loss of quarterback Robert Somborn, who was out with an injury, kept the Lions an almost exclusive rushing team. Brooks Johnston and Buck Shaw filled in for Somborn and together attempted just five passes on the night. That was to McKinney's advantage, as the only time it tried to throw on consecutive downs, the second pass was intercepted.
The Yellowjackets followed suit and attempted just eight passes on the night.
Despite a one-dimensional offense, Rockwall looked poised to dominate from the start. It took just one play to score, as after forcing a Lions three-and-out on the game's opening drive, running back Alex Ntchobo took off on a 54-yard touchdown run.
The best the McKinney defense could hope for early on was to add a play or two to Rockwall scoring drives. The Yellowjackets second first-quarter score took three plays, with quarterback Wesley Davis taking the ball in this time on a 50-yard touchdown carry. Just like Ntchobo, it was his first carry of the game.
Davis ended the night with 187 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
The Lions responded to that score with a successful all-rushing drive of their own that served the dual purpose of getting them on the board and running ample time off the clock. Jimmy Benton, Chuck Schober, Johnston and Shannon all had a hand in the drive, which culminated in a 28-yard touchdown rush for Shannon and a slightly diminished the Rockwall lead, 14-6, after a blocked extra-point attempt.
Scoring didn't do the Lions much good at that point, though, as Rowlett got most of the way to another touchdown on its first play from scrimmage via a 54-yard run from Davis. Once again the Lions made them work a bit harder to score, as this time it took the Yellowjackets four plays to reach the end zone on a 10-yard rush from Baylor Black.
After ending the Lions' ensuing drive with an interception, Rockwall was sitting with a 21-6 lead three minutes into the second quarter and facing its first fourth down of the night. A foot away from a conversion they could very likely make, the Yellowjackets decided to keep it safe and punted the ball.
Whatever the case, McKinney took advantage with a 64-yard rush from Johnston that set up an 8-yard scoring rush for Matt Reynolds. The Lions went for two and failed, but things got even more interesting when Rockwall fumbled the ensuing kickoff and they recovered it 17 yards from the end zone.
McKinney failed to get a touchdown, but a 20-yard field goal from Schober made the score 21-15, Rockwall.
The Yellowjackets drove downfield to try and establish a bigger lead before the half, but Lions defensive back J.J. Johnson paid them back by ending the drive with an interception. McKinney didn't get any points from it but the turnover, plus a 30-yard rush from Shannon that ended the second quarter, did give it a big momentum boost heading into the break.
“Coming out they popped some big runs on us up the middle, and we just needed to make some adjustments” Smith said. “That's part of the process of a football game. Obviously, you don't want to give up one-play touchdowns. That's not on the plan, but you go down and you talk about and you talk to the guys and you make adjustments.”
A scoreless third quarter kept the game close, but Rockwall looked poised to put the game out of reach at the start of the fourth when it drove into the red zone and took advantage of a holding call against McKinney to end up with first-and-goal from the 3 yard line. The Lions defense came up big again, though, and held the Yellowjackets to a field goal and a 24-15 lead.
“That's the kind of thing that keeps you in a ball game, the kind of things that are the difference” Smith said. “So, I was real proud of how the defense played, especially after we made those adjustments early on.”
Then it was the Lions turn to bust a big play. On the opening play of their responding drive, Shannon took the ball 62 yards to set up an 8-yard touchdown run for Reynolds, his second of the night. Just under 20 seconds after Rockwall's field goal and its lead had been cut to 24-22.
To make their situation worse, the Yellowjackets were forced to punt a few plays later, giving McKinney the chance to come up with the game's final score. The Lions comeback didn't come far enough, though, and after McKinney fumbled the ball two plays into its drive, Rockwall punched in one final touchdown with just under two minutes remaining on a 6-yard rush from Davis.
McKinney didn't get its first win of the season Friday night, but Smith considered the game a step in the right direction.
“Tonight we faced a challenging, tough situation down against a very good football team and then battled and gave ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “To me that's the most important thing.
“Just the determination and the perseverance that they showed tells me they’re ready to win some football games down the stretch.”
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