Summit comeback falls short against Colleyville Heritage

By Bob Kowalski

Mansfield Record

Summit’s second-half comeback ended 8 yards short in a 28-21 loss to Colleyville Heritage on Friday evening at Vernon Newsom Stadium.

In a game that was moved to a 5 p.m. kickoff because of pending storms, the Jaguars (5-3, 4-2 District 3-5A Division II) tied the game early in the fourth quarter with a touchdown and two-point conversion, but the Panthers (5-3, 4-2 3-5A II) regained the lead 4 ½ minutes later and would not relinquish it.

Summit, which was shut out in the second and third quarters, began its game-tying drive on its 3-yard line after Colleyville Heritage lined up in formation on fourth down, then quick-kicked to a vacant spot downfield. On the first play of the drive, Summit quarterback Ian Gebhardt raced 19 yards to get the Jaguars away from their own goal line.

The 15-play drive included a 12-yard pass from Gebhardt to Sebastian Pena to put the Jags into Panthers territory, and a 15-yard run by Gebhardt to put the ball on the 1, setting up Adarion Nettles’ touchdown run. Gebhardt ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 21-21 with 8 ½ minutes left in the game.

The teams traded three-and-outs, but field position favored Colleyville Heritage. The Panthers started their winning drive in Summit territory. A 26-yard run by Colin Bennett put Colleyville Heritage in the red zone, and three plays later, quarterback Bodey Weaver leaned in from a yard out to take a 28-21 lead.

After forcing a punt on Colleyville Heritage’s game-opening drive, the Jaguars moved the ball to midfield before a fumble gave the ball back to the Panthers, who capitalized with a 35-yard TD pass from Weaver to Trevi Preische and a 7-0 lead with just over 3 minutes gone.

Four minutes later, Summit took advantage of field position when Domonique Young returned a punt 16 yards to Colleyville Heritage’s 36-yard line. Gebhardt then bolted through the middle on a 16-yard run that set up Young’s 10-yard scoring run. The extra-point attempt was blocked, leaving the Jaguars trailing 7-6.

Weaver expanded the Panthers’ lead to 14-6 on a 1-yard run with 1 ½ minutes left in the first quarter, but Summit marched down the field, aided by Gebhardt’s 26-yard pass to Nettles, who outleaped a defender for the catch, followed by a 22-yard scoring sprint by Omogbalaha Daudu to end the first quarter at 14-13.

Weaver’s 19-yard scoring pass to Connor Souphankhalsy midway through the third quarter gave Colleyville Heritage a 21-13 lead, leading to Summit’s late comeback effort. The Jaguars started their final drive on their own 25-yard line with 3:46 to play and all three timeouts in hand. Nettles had consecutive carries totaling 17 yards to put the Jags near midfield. A 14-yard pass from Gebhardt to Jamil McCowan moved the ball to Colleyville Heritage’s 22. Gebhardt’s 13-yard pass to Gabe Evans put the ball at the 8-yard line with 10 seconds to play, but back-to-back incompletions under heavy defensive pressure ended the game.

On Thursday night, Legacy (4-5, 2-3 3-6A) fell to Crowley, 30-21; Timberview (6-3, 5-2 3-5A II) topped Grapevine, 35-20; and Lake Ridge (6-2, 3-1 3-6A) defeated Weatherford, 63-46. Mansfield was idle.

Next week, Mansfield plays host to North Crowley at 7 p.m. Thursday at Newsom Stadium; Timberview faces The Colony at 7 p.m. Friday at R.L. Anderson Stadium; Legacy and Lake Ridge square off at 7 p.m. Friday at Newsom; and Summit travels to Everman at 7 p.m Friday.