Sudan and West Texas High had one of the more thrilling first round games to open the UIL Texas High School Football playoffs Thursday night at Happy State Bank State Bank Stadium in Canyon.
In the closing seconds, it was the Hornets escaping with a 27-26 exciting victory in a Class 2A Division II matchup with a dramatic final play that won’t be forgotten for some time to come.
The Comanches trailed 27-20 with 2:33 to play in the contest and the ball at their own 10-yard line.
WT High didn’t panic marching an impressive 90-yards in less than two minutes scoring on an 8-yard touchdown run from Zach Bryant cutting the lead at 27-26 with 38 seconds left.
Now came a difficult decision for first-year Comanche head coach Hunter Ashley.
Early in the third quarter, WT had erased a 21-0 deficit cutting the lead 21-20 to begin the third quarter.
However, kicker Liam Heeter missed the extra-point. So, with a decision to tie the game or go for the lead, Ashley rolled the dice and went for the go-ahead two-point conversion. That gamble didn’t pay off as Bryant was stuffed at the goal line on a direct snap out of the Wildcat formation.
“I think the decision came on I wanted to put the ball in our best players hands,” Ashley said. “I did that and if I had to do over 10 times, I’d do the same thing. Zach Bryant is a phenomenal player and a great young man. He’s done the work to earn that position.”
WT High had one more chance.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Comanches got the onside kick on the Sudan 46-yard line with 35 seconds left. WT High was able to get the ball to the Hornets 31-yard line on a pass interference call. WT High took a shot to the endzone with quarterback Brady Layne that was incomplete with two seconds left.
With one final play, Layne again took to the air. Rolling to his right, Layne launched a pass toward the back of the endzone looking for Bryant. Bryant came down with the catch over two Sudan defenders, but couldn’t come down with the ball inbounds with his feet hitting the out of bounds and the Hornets coming away with the victory.
“I’m proud of this team,” said John Cornelius, who is in his eighth season as the head coach at Sudan. “We were resilient. We had several moments to put this game away and didn’t but we never quit. I’m proud of how we responded when we needed to make a play.”
Sudan (7-4) earns its first playoff win since 2022 and will now take on Friday’s Roscoe-El Dorado winner in the area round. The Comanches, who reached the state semifinals in Class 2A Division I last season, see their year come to an end at 6-5.
The Hornets jumped all over WT High in the first half thanks to huge defensive plays.
Up 7-0, Sudan quickly made it 14-0 when Haden Provence intercepted a Layne pass and went 73 yards for a pick-six at the 7:15 mark of the second quarter. Moments later, Layne threw a second straight INT, this time to Ledbetter which resulted in a Provence touchdown toss Dustin Gray of 28 yards putting Sudan in total control up 21-0 at the 4:28 mark before half.
The Comanches made a move from that point forward. Coach Ashley moved tight end Bryant to running back and that changed the offense. Layne settled in after his two costly mistakes and went to work hitting back-to-back touchdown tosses to Bryant of 16 yards and then a 32-yard strike to Bryant and all of a sudden WT High was right back in it down 21-14 at the break.
“I was proud of how we fought back,” Ashley said. “This game is about a toughness mindset. We talk all the time about the physicality this game commands. We stood up and fought till the end.”
With momentum shifts flowing so quickly, the Comanches had cut the lead to 21-20 in the third quarter, until this time it was Sudan’s time to answer. With 6:25 left in the third and the tides turned, running back Kyler Edwards was able to get the Hornets back out with some breathing room on a 12-yard TD scoot. That was the kind of game this was from the second quarter going forward.
“I thought we did a good job of handling the momentum,” Cornelius said. “The message all week and in this game was focus on the next play. We did a great job of that.”
Provence and Edwards led a heavy ground attack for Sudan. Provence led the Hornets with 98 yards on 16 carries while Edwards had 56 yards on 17 carries and two scores.
WT High totaled 381 yards led by Bryant. The junior took matters into his own hand rushing the ball 32 times for 184 yards with a rushing TD and caught nine passes for 72 yards with two more TDs. Layne overcame his two early interceptions to go 18-of-32 for 197 yards with two touchdown passes.
Photos by Carter Pirtle:
