By Brian Gosset
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
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ARLINGTON – The Bowie Volunteers took advantage of several South Grand Prairie miscues on their way to a 24-21 victory on Thursday night at UTA Mavericks Stadium for the District 8-6A championship.
Bowie (8-2, 7-0) wins district in back-to-back years for the FIRST TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY and denies SGP (8-1, 6-1) its first outright district title since 1992.
Both teams had already secured their playoff seeding with Bowie #1 in D2 and SGP #1 in D1. This week is the end of the regular season with the playoffs starting next Thursday Nov. 13. The Vols won last year’s game 48-28.
Both teams will host in the first round.
Bowie faced a third-and-11 early on the opening drive, but QB Jayden Bibbs ran for a first down. A few plays later, RB Denzel Ponder moved the chains with a run on fourth-and-1.
Bibbs also hit Keidric Osunde-Brown on a big gain and then a short pass to Maxwell Nichols in the flat turned into a touchdown for Bowie, 7-0 with just under seven minutes in the first quarter.
SGP had a third-and-5 on its first possession, but a pass attempt was deflected and landed in the hands of Bowie’s Kyle Smith for the interception – with his return to the SGP 36. The Vols got inside the 10, but had to settle for a field goal from Leo Espindola to make it 10-0 with 1:48 on the clock.
The Warriors drove downfield and got the ball inside the red zone, but Bowie picked off a second pass attempt in the end zone to stall that drive. Bowie didn’t score on that takeaway, but SGP was then backed up on its next drive and forced to punt. SGP’s punter dropped the snap and had to run – being stopped inside the 10 by the Vols.
That mishap turned into a touchdown for Bibbs to his tight end Brody Ferguson that extended the lead to 17-0 – which was the score at the intermission.The Warriors got life early in the third quarter when San Diego State commit Josiah Lucas scored on a 32-yard touchdown run.
Then on the ensuing kickoff, Bowie was forced to take it out and was tackled inside the 5.
But Bowie got out of the jam and turned around field position thanks to a 50-yard pass from Bibbs to Keidric Osunde-Brown. However, the drive ended when Bibbs gained 12 yards on fourth-and-13. The Vols got the ball back though, and Bibbs connected with Darion Carson for 21 yards to give Bowie a 24-7 lead with 3:57 left in the third.
Lucas added his second score on a 4-yard TD run to cut the deficit to 24-14 with 10:32 to play. SGP got the ball back shortly after and drove inside the 5, but didn’t score until fourth-and-goal at the 1 – with a TD keeper from QB Daylon Brooks, who is committed to UT-Arlington baseball.
Brooks’ score pulled SGP within 24-21 with 8 minutes left.
The Warriors forced another punt and got the ball back down 3 and 5:26 left to play. But they got pushed back to a third-and-long. On the play, Brooks nearly was sacked for a big loss, but was able to extend the play before getting a pass off that was almost completed. On fourth down, Brooks’ pass was deflected by senior linebacker Galatians Paogofie.
SGP had multiple chances to stop Bowie and get the ball back, but the Vols were able to get a couple of first downs. They went for it on fourth down near the red zone – didn’t get it – but SGP only had eight seconds left.
