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Football: Brown helps lead Farmers past Gophers
By Chris Roark, croark@acnpapers.com
DeAndre Brown didn't like the fact that he fumbled during the third quarter of Lewisville's game against Grand Prairie on Friday.
So he simply made up for it in the fourth quarter.
Brown squashed a potential comeback attempt by Grand Prairie (0-1) with a 74-yard touchdown run, propelling the Farmers (1-0) past the Gophers, 32-14, in the season opener at Max Goldsmith Stadium.
Grand Prairie was threatening for more until Farmer defensive back Malik Davis recovered a fumble. Brown broke free for his long score the next possession.
"I was pretty mad about my fumble earlier," said Brown, who also had a third-quarter score to put Lewisville ahead, 25-0. "So [the touchdown] was one of those things where I had to do this. I put the fumble behind me and just kept playing. I'm trying to be a leader on this team by playing well on the field."
Lewisville head coach Dick Olin said the play came at a great time.
"We made a couple of mistakes, and they got back in it," he said. "Then we didn't move the ball. Fortunately, DeAndre broke free on that long run. That helped me breathe better."
Lewisville's first-half play was a little easier to watch than the team's second-half performance. The Farmers jumped out to a 12-0 first-quarter lead with a 13-yard touchdown run from quarterback Corey Duran and a 61-yard touchdown pass from Duran to Roderick Williams. Duran's 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave the Farmers an 18-0 halftime lead, though Lewisville had yet to put the finishing touches on a score at that point, missing an extra point, having a kick blocked and failing on a two-point conversion.
Still, its offense had shining moments in the first half. Before halftime, Williams ran for 36 yards and caught two passes for 96 yards, and Duran completed 11-of-16 passes for 169 yards. Quay Bradford caught three passes for 60 yards, including a key 12-yard catch on fourth down in the second quarter to prolong a drive that eventually led to Duran's second touchdown run.
Lewisville's defense, meanwhile, got the job done in the first two quarters. In three drives, the Farmers kept Grand Prairie out of Lewisville's side of the field.
In two others, the Gophers threatened but were stopped short. Midway through the first quarter, Grand Prairie got to Lewisville's 23-yard line but suffered consecutive sacks to kill the drive. Late in the second quarter, the Gophers got to the Farmers' 6-yard line but lost yards on a fumble. Still 10 yards away, Grand Prairie lost its chance to score when D.J. Johnson sacked quarterback Brandon Fichter.
"We had made a mistake and had a 15-yard penalty but still kept them out of the end zone," Olin said. "That was big."
Lewisville sacked Fichter eight times in the game; five times in the first half.
"When we got there, we brought the pressure," Olin said.
Things got interesting late in the third quarter, though. Following an interception of Duran, Grand Prairie got on the board when DeVante Lacy scored on a 26-yard touchdown catch.
Lacy scored on a short run early in the fourth quarter to make it 25-14.
Lewisville knows it still has some things to work on. For example, it was penalized eight times for 70 yards. But the team is happy to begin the season at 1-0, something it wasn't able to say this time last year. Lewisville lost to Grand Prairie last season, 42-41, on the last play of the game.
Brown said the practices leading up to Friday's game were up-tempo.
"Coach talked to us about playing fast, and we did that," he said. "We still have to work on our third-and-long situations and penalties. But that's normal for the first week."
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