By Cody Thorn
X – @codythorn
Photo: Cody Thorn
FLOWER MOUND – Argyle ISD debuted its $27 million football stadium Friday night in the 2026 opener.
Two plays into the game, the home crowd erupted when Hayes Hackney hit Logan Rexraot for an 85-yard touchdown.
Nearly three hours later, the Eagles left the new home field shocked after a 27-26 loss to Oak Ridge, from El Dorado Hills, California.
The Trojans scored twice in the final 3 1/2 minutes to overcome a two-score deficit and headed home from a long road — arriving in Texas Wednesday — with a win against a team ranked No. 2 in Class 5A Division II.
“They did some things that put pressure on us and it played into their hands,” Argyle coach Todd Rodgers said. “They ran the ball, they ate up clock and they shortened the game. That limits us on the number of drives, and then you got to execute on those drives.”
Argyle twice had two-score leads in this contest.
At halftime, the Eagles led 20-7 behind a pair of long touchdown passes from Hackney, a transfer from Prosper Walnut Grove. After connecting with Rexroat for an 85-yard score in the first quarter, Hackney tossed a 76-yard score to Ricky Moore with 2:34 left in the second quarter.
In between those touchdown passes, Hackney ran for a 3-yard touchdown. That drive was boosted by a fake punt run by Mateus Lafayette.
The Trojans’ lone touchdown was a 1-yard run by Dylan Esten on the second drive of the game. Oak Ridge ate nearly 5 minutes off the clock and converted a 4th-and-6 with a pass from Nick Johnson to Nate Anzelc. On a 3rd-and-13 later in the drive, Johnson delivered a first-down pass to Braxton Martinez. A roughing the passer on the same play made it 1st-and-goal from the 6.
Oak Ridge coach Casey Taylor said despite being down by two scores at halftime, his team felt confident getting the ball to open the second half.
The Eagles were on the field for nearly 7 minutes to open the third quarter.
A bevy of run plays, mixed in with a few passes, kept things rolling for the Trojans, donning grey camouflage New Balance jerseys.
Three plays into the third quarter, Argyle had put the Trojans in a 3rd-and-14 after a sack on Johnson on second down. Johnson connected with Martinez for a 26-yard gain and moved the ball to the Eagles’ side of the field.
On the next third-down attempt, the Eagles still couldn’t get off the field as Johnson hit Jack Grandrud for a 17-yard gain and moved the ball outside of the red zone. Five straight runs followed —the last was a 3-yard run by Esten for a score.
The PAT was good and the Californians pulled within a score, 20-14.
The Trojans forced the Eagles to punt and got the ball with a chance to take the lead for the first time all game with a little more than 9 minutes to play in the third.
Another long, sustained drive followed. Despite matriculating the ball down the newly christened turf, Oak Ridge came up without points.
At one point, Oak Ridge had a 1st-and-goal from the 8 and the ball was at the 3-yard line after a run by Sean Gasten.
A penalty for taunting on Gasten pushed the Trojans back and ultimately that drive ended with an incomplete pass in the end zone.
There was 7:54 left in the game at that point, a drive that spanned two quarters and took 13 minutes off the game clock.
On the heels of a big stop for the defense, the Eagles’ offense put more points on the board. After two first-down runs by Rexroat, he hauled in a 50-yard pass from Hackney that got the ball down to the 5-yard line.
Two plays later, a jump-ball pass to the corner of the end zone to Oklahoma State pledge Ake O’Neal extended Argyle’s lead to 26-14.
With just less than 5 minutes to play, the Eagles had another two-score lead.
Five plays later, the team from Cali — who spent early Friday touring The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas — answered— a 50-yard pass set up Gasten’s second touchdown.
A 3-and-out and a 24-yard punt gave Oak Ridge the ball at its own 46-yard line.
The Trojans were 54 yards away from the end zone with one timeout in their pocket –they didn’t even need it.
Oak Ridge went deep on the first play and drew a pass interference call. Johnson hit Jonathan Grosfeld for a 9-yard gain, but the senior was hurt on the play. A nearly 15-minute delay followed before he left for a local hospital for evaluation of a head injury via the Flower Mound Fire Department ambulance. Taylor said after the game he was moving his extremities.
Johnson hit Martinez on a drag route that gained 21 yards and made it 1st-and-goal from the 8.
Two runs by Ethan Quan — with the clock rolling — followed. His dive into the end zone from the 2-yard line with 28 seconds left made it 27-26. The 2-point conversion failed. “They took the air out of the ball and ran it real good,” Rodgers said. “We couldn’t stop them and get the ball back.”
Argyle ran only three plays and Hackney was sacked on the final two plays of the game.
Argyle travels to Terrell next week, before coming back home in search of the first win in the new digs, facing Somerset Academy from North Las Vegas.
“We’ll work towards more success and try to get more plays right than we got wrong and go down that road,” Rodgers said.
