By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
Victory could not have tasted any sweeter for the Austin High Maroons.
In front of a packed, maroon-colored House Park Stadium, Austin High (5-4, 3-2 District 26-6A) defeated rival Bowie 35-32, clinching the school’s first playoff berth in four years.
“I’m so proud of these kids,” said Austin High head coach Bernard Riley. “Three years ago, there were 17 sophomores that I started with, and there were a lot of growing pains, but they stuck this thing out and the small victories ended up being a big one. They’ll remember this forever.”
It wasn’t the only win for the Maroons Friday night.
The cherry on top of Austin High’s playoff-clinching win is that it impacted their longtime rival’s path to a state championship.
With the Maroons going to the playoffs, it will shift Westlake to the Class 6A Division I bracket, which will feature state powerhouses Lake Travis, two-time state champion Duncanville, and Galena Park North Shore. Had Bowie (6-4, 2-4) won Friday, the Chaparrals would have been in the Class 6A Division II bracket where they would have been a favorite.
Needless to say, it made Westlake’s path to another state championship a little more difficult., and that may have been the cherry on top of a fantastic night for Austin High.
See more photos from Friday’s game.
The Maroons set the tone early as it appeared to it was going to be their night.
Austin High turned back-to-back turnovers on Bowie’s first two offensive possessions into 14 points in the first quarter. Junior running back Ried Childers and senior Bryson Betts each scored on 4-yard runs.
“This means so much for all of us,” Betts said. “We’ve all been working toward this since we were in eighth grade. “We put in the hours, we sweat it out in the summer, and it all paid off. Everybody played so great (Friday).”
However, Bowie quarterback Cruz Tello didn’t make it easy for the Maroons.
After the Bulldogs regained their composure, Tello capped of a long scoring drive with a 3-yard touchdown run in the opening moments of the second quarter to cut Austin High’s lead to seven.
But it didn’t take long for Betts and the Maroons to respond. On the ensuing drive, Betts broke free on a 29-yard touchdown run to extend the lead back to 14.
Both teams traded touchdowns as Tello connected with Owen Langdon late in the quarter, only to have Austin High respond with a 23-yard touchdown pass by John Latham to Betts.
The Bulldogs were able to avoid going into halftime down 14 points with a 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the half.
Tello kept the Bulldogs in the game and cut the Maroons’ lead to three with a 39-yard touchdown toss to Rowen Wells and then converted the two-point try to open the fourth quarter.
That’s where the score would stay until Childers ran in the game-clinching touchdown with 2:10 left on the clock.
Tello added a late touchdown run. However, Austin High recovered the onside kick attempt and ran out the clock on Bowie’s playoff hopes.
Austin High closes out the regular season next week at Lake Travis and will likely face Vandegrift in the first round of the playoffs.