(Seguin) – On a night when both offenses moved the ball and lit up the scoreboard with little resistance, two great defensive plays in the closing seconds proved the difference as Pflugerville-Hendrickson handed Seguin a 74-70 loss in the 5A Division I bi-district playoffs Friday at Matador Stadium
After the Hawks took the lead on a Jasiya Demps touchdown run with 1:02 to play, the Mats drove from their own 30-yard line to the Hendrickson 16 and faced third-and-one with just 14 seconds left.
Defensive end Aiden Keith sacked Seguin quarterback Micah Rodriguez for a 12-yard loss at the 28, and linebacker Josh Alvarado did the same on the next play to turn the Matadors over on downs with just three seconds remaining.
That was the first possession Seguin failed to score on in the second half. Aside from a punt on the opening drive of the game and the final possesion of each half, the Matadors produced 10 touchdowns to hit the 70-point mark for the second straight week.
Seguin was unable to end the drought of playoff wins dating back to 1988, but head coach Travis Bush says the 2020 team did everything in its power to have a chance to kick down that door.
“This was the most close-knit team I’ve been around in 21 years of coaching, and that showed tonight,” Bush said. “I can’t be more proud of the way they fought, blow for blow again like last week. It boiled down to one more play, and hats off to Hendrickson – they made one more play than we did.”
Rodriguez went 31-40 through the air for 378 yards and threw four touchdown passes, lifting his single-season school record to 35. Three of those scoring strikes went to Tristan Moreno, for six, 41, and 18 yards. Moreno pulled in 14 receptions for 208 yards, and also broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run with 7:27 left in the fourth quarter.
Senior tailback Marques Washington ran for 193 yards on 21 carries and found the end zone five times. He scored four rushing touchdowns, including a 47-yarder two plays after Allen Martinez recovered a fumble that was forced by Evrin Contreras. Washington also pulled in a 22-yard touchdown catch on a throw from Rodriguez in the third period.
Fullback Michael Martinez jumped over the pile for a one-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. Alex Concepcion made a spectacular one-hand catch for a two-point conversion on a Rodriguez throw after Moreno’s long touchdown run and finished the night with seven receptions for 86 yards. Garrett Stiles went 8-9 on PAT kicks.
The Matadors piled up 661 yards of total offense on the night. Hendrickson topped that mark with 765.
In addition to Rodriguez breaking the single-season program record for touchdown passes, Moreno established new marks with 1,185 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches, and Washington totaled the most rushing yards in a season this century with 1,324. Washington scored 20 total touchdowns in 2020, 15 rushing and five receiving.
With 14 catches for 208 yards and three touchdowns against Hendrickson in Friday’s bi-district game against Hendrickson, Tristan Moreno established new single-season Seguin records for receiving yards (1,185) and touchdown receptions (15). Photo by Andie Rangel.
Hendrickson quarteback Jordan Oldoerp threw touchdown passes of 89 and 53 yards to Jaden Williams, and fired a 21-yarder to Xavier Lucio. Williams also caught a 21-yard TD pass from Lucio on a trick play late in the second quarter. Lucio, Williams, and Oldoerp each ran for a score as well, and Demps found the end zone twice.
John Michael Mata and Ian Box led the Seguin defense with 15 tackles apiece, Michael Cornelius added 13, and Martinez ended up wi th 10.
Friday marked the final game in the varsity football careers of 24 Seguin seniors, 12 of whom were starters on a team that secured the program’s third straight playoff birth and second district title in that span.
“We didn’t want to end, I don’t want to end, but all good things do come to an end,” Bush said. “You take the lessons you learn from the seniors, what we’ve learned about being men, and the character and accountability, taking that into the next step of the senior year and after high school. And the young guys, now it’s their turn, and now they’ve got to step up.”
Seguin’s final season record is 7-3. Hendrickson (7-3) advances to face Fort Bend-Hightower in the area round of the playoffs.