Denton RC High School

Here's a little story I'd like to tell about a sports writer and some football coaches.

I hear someone shout my name and walk into the Guyer football coaches' office on Wednesday afternoon to be greeted with the always-awkward question, "So Adam, who'd you pick this week? (talking about the Guyer-Stephenville game, of course"

Guyer had won two games in a little more than two seasons. Stephenville has four state championships in the last 15 years and has some ridiculous playoff streak. But it wasn't all just tradition. Just two weeks ago, the Yellow Jackets were ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Class 4A poll. And the game was at Stephenville, a tough place to play.

The answer was easy. "Stephenville," I said with nervous laughter.

Yep, finally ...

Senior Nick Dame is being carted off the field after a rough collision on the sideline. They are being very cautious. He's moved his feet, but not much else ...

Ryan and Pearce traded touchdowns and the Raiders now lead 61-37.

Catlin popped off runs of 25 and 29 on the last drive, and he finished it with a 4-yard touchdown run.

With many backups in on Ryan's defense, Pearce drove the field and scored on a 9-yard pass from Caleb Lewis to Josh Gold, his second of the night. The extra point was blocked, and Ryan leads 54-29.

A Jake Strickland fumble recovery gave Ryan's offense a short field. Scotty Young and D.J. Beshears connected to convert on fourth-and-long, and Jay Catlin scored from a yard out.

The extra point was blocked and returned for two points. Ryan leads 54-23 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

The Raider defense has been great in the second half so far.

The senior receiver just caught a 24-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass from Franklin to give the Falcons a 35-21 lead in what suddenly is a high-scoring affair. He went for 170-something last week and has 120-something right now. After some investigative work, I found he played last year but of course was overshadowed by Alvin Blackmon.

Scotty Young just threw his fifth touchdown of the game -- a 9-yarder to Bud Sasser, his fourth of the game. The score was set up by a beautiful bomb down the sideline to D.J. Beshears for 47 yards. This one is getting ugly.

Ryan leads 48-21.

Ryan's defense forced a three-and-out and D.J. Beshears took a punt 32 yards for a touchdown to make it 41-21 Ryan. Beshears hit one of his teammates hard on the return, but bounced outside for the score.

After an onside kick was recovered by Lake Dallas at the 50, Jared Beggs took the first play 50 yards up the middle to give the Falcons a 28-14 lead with 7:02 left in the third. Before that run, Beggs had four carries for zero yards.

Nic Boyd just took the third play of the drive 68 yards to answer Lake Dallas laying the hammer down and taking a two-score lead. Now, Lake Dallas leads 21-14 with 7:17 remaining in the third quarter and it's a ball game again, just like that.

James Franklin just capped a 10-play scoring drive to open the second half with a 14-yard quarterback draw for his first rushing touchdown of the night, after throwing for two.

The Falcons now lead 21-7 with 8:35 remaining in the third quarter. The next possession for the Lake Dallas defense is huge to see if they can stop Red Oak and possibly put this game away.

Ryan leads 35-21 over Richardson Pearce at halftime despite some sloppy play on defense that includes 50 penalty yards and four first downs handed to the Mustangs on penalties.

Each of Pearce's scoring drives were sparked by big pass plays, but Ryan's been able to take the lead on turnovers. Ryan ended Pearce's first two drives on interceptions and the Raiders got the punt block at the end. Ryan has 21 points off turnovers.

Here are some halftime stats:

Ryan
Scotty Young 12-for-21 for 231 yards and four touchdowns
Bud Sasser 4 receptions, 101 yards and three touchdowns
Jay Catlin 94 total yards
D.J. Beshears 3 receptions, 55 yards and a touchdown

Pearce
Caleb Lewis 14-for-19 for 190 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown
Madison Kvapil 85 total yards and a touchdown
Josh Gold 3 receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown

A host of Raiders just blocked a Pearce punt that Jeremy Hall took into the end zone to give Ryan a 35-21 lead with just 20 seconds left in the half. Peyton Whitlock and Will Clark looked to be in on the punt block.

Ryan went for it on 4th-and-10 from the Pearce 29 and it paid off. Scotty Young threw a fade down the left sideline to Bud Sasser, who wrestled it away from the Mustang defender.

Ryan leads 28-21 with a minute left in the half. Young has thrown four touchdowns, three of them to Sasser.

More blown coverages and more penalties for the Ryan Raiders. The drive was sparked by a 48-yard bomb thrown on a free play because of a Raiders offsides call.

This could be a shocker. We're tied at 21 with four minutes left in the half.

Lake Dallas' defense came through after giving up a first-play 24-yard gain on a shovel pass to Nic Boyd when Ashton Allen intercepted Grady Latimer's pass. James Franklin took a knee to end the half. The Falcons are up 14-7. Franklin has completed 13 of 15 of his first-half pass attempts for 159 yards, two scores and no picks.

It might be a two-person race between Franklin and Ryan quarterback Scotty Young for our postseason player of the year.

The Falcons just took a 14-7 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the half after Franklin found Tyler McGee on a sweetly thrown fade route for a 5-yard touchdown pass, Franklin's second of the game. Let's see if they can hold Nic Boyd and the Hawks for 51 seconds.

Just like that -- Scotty Young strikes.

On a great play-action fake, Young went deep to Bud Sasser for a 45-yard touchdown bomb. Sasser looked like he made a little contact with the Pearce DB, but no call was made.

Ryan leads 21-14 with seven minutes left in the half.

Richardson Peare used a 32-yard screen pass from Caleb Lewis to Josh Gold to jump start another scoring drive that ended in a 7-yard run by Madison Kvapil. It's tied at 14 midway through the second

Ryan has to cut down on the penalties. They are killing the Raiders right now. They look unfocused, overconfident and sloppy right now.