By Michael Adams
michael@otssports.com
LEANDER – It was win or stay home for both Elgin and Rouse heading into Thursday’s game at A.C. Bible Stadium
The Raiders found themselves in this situation after last week’s loss to Pflugerville but responded in a big way. Rouse defeated the Elgin Wildcats 42-21 at A.C. Bible Memorial Stadium in Leander.
The victory clinched Rouse’s fourth-straight playoff appearance and ended Elgin’s season.
“They didn’t give up,” said Rouse head coach Josh Mann. “We had our backs against the wall, we haven’t played very well the last two weeks, we had turnovers and adversity, it was nice to see them come out and play like where we were at the beginning of the season.”
The Raiders got a big night from senior wide receiver Keller Rogers, who had 228 yards on 4 catches with one touchdown.
Sophomore quarterback London Morgan had a near perfect night, completing 17 of 25 pass attempts without an interception for 394 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“We’ve been talking about it the whole week, it was win or go home,” Rogers said. “We came out firing on all cylinders and made some great plays on offense and defense and got the win.”
It didn’t start out well for the Raiders.
Rouse (7-3, 4-2 District 11-5A) fumbled the opening kickoff and it was recovered by the Wildcats (4-6, 2-4) on the Elgin 34-yard-line.
Elgin took three plays before senior quarterback Nathen Lewis found the endzone on a 2-yard run to give Elgin an early 8-0 lead after converting the 2-point try.
But that was the last time the Wildcats held a lead.
The Raiders scored 27-straight points in the first quarter alone. It started with a 5-yard touchdown catch by sophomore Anthony Reyes. Elgin fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Raiders capitalized with the first of two touchdown runs from Jacob Caruthers.
Noah Fabila rounded out the scoring barrage with a 44-yard reception to put Rouse up 27-8 going into the second quarter.
The Wildcats tacked on six more points from a 22-yard touchdown pass from Lewis to Zaire Nuells, but the two-point conversion failed, and the score stayed 27-14 at halftime.
The Raiders got a pick-6 from senior Amarie Haywood in the third quarter and the two-point conversion put Rouse ahead 35-14.
Rouse opened the fourth quarter with a 65-yard touchdown catch by Rogers, which put the game out of reach for the Wildcats, who got a late touchdown run by Lewis.
The Raiders now must wait and see to find out their seeding for the playoffs. If University beats Belton tonight, the Raiders will move into the No. 2 spot and face Crockett next week in the first round of the playoffs. If Belton wins, Rouse falls to the No. 3 seed and will face McCallum.