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Lions collect 5th trophy, advance to semifinal

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By Sam Waller

The No. 6 Albany Lions showed the No. 7 Collinsville Pirates that it takes more than a high-powered offense to win in the playoffs.

Despite giving up season highs for points and yards allowed, the Lions dominated the Pirates in a 66-34 victory Friday, Dec. 2, in their Class 2A Division II state quarterfinal at Ram Stadium in Mineral Wells.

The Lions (12-2) advance to the state semifinals for the second year in a row to take on a fast-rising New Home team at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 (tonight) at the Mustang Bowl in Sweetwater.

“It feels great,” Albany linebacker Jayden Lucas said of returning to the semifinals. “It’s good to be here, be with everybody I love and play with my teammates.”

Quarterback Cole Chapman said the team is ready to atone for last year’s season-ending loss to Stratford.

“I’m ready for it,” he said. “We don’t want what happened last year to happen again. We’ve got to work hard in practice.”

Against Collinsville (12-2), Albany scored touchdowns on its first six possessions and scored 10 times in 13 possessions. Meanwhile, the Lion defense stopped the Pirates on downs three times, forced three punts, and came up with one turnover in 12 possessions.

“This was a statement game,” Albany defensive lineman Tye Edgar said. “Everybody had been saying we were going to lose, and we came out and beat them.”

Lions head coach Denney Faith said Albany executed consistently on offense.

“The kids came out and played very well,” Faith said. “We were very efficient in what we did. We thought there were some things we could do against Collinsville with the type of defense they run, and our kids executed a really good game plan.”

Chapman set career highs with 314 yards and five touchdowns passing as Albany rolled up 659 total yards. The senior, who also rushed for 63 yards and two scores, completed his first 10 attempts and finished 15 of 19 in out­dueling Collinsville’s Logan Jenkins, who was 27 of 43 for 252 yards.

“Our line blocked well up front, our receivers found holes in the coverage, and our running backs hit the holes hard,” Chapman said. “We just got it done. The goal was to keep on putting it on them so they couldn’t catch up.”

Albany also outrushed the Pirates 345-156. Coy Lefevre had 94 yards and a TD on nine carries, Adam Hill added 86 yards, and a score on eight carries and Samuel Rosas rushed for 65 yards on six carries.

Lefevre made a big impact as a receiver, catching six passes for 123 yards and two scores. Cason Fairchild, who finished with five catches for 88 yard, had one touchdown receiving, as did London Fuentes and Hill.

“We ran the ball when we needed to and pick up some first downs,” Faith said. “The receivers had a good game, and Cole put the ball on them. All of that starts up front with protection and run blocking, so offensively, it was a very sound game.”

While the Pirates did damage offensively, gaining 464 total yards, it wasn’t enough as the Lions defense came up with key stops.

“We knew they were going to play fast, and we’d have to score,” Faith said. “A team like that is going to put points on the board. They’re too good not to.”

Lucas said being able to match Collinsville’s pace of play was a key factor.

“We practiced all week to be ready for them to rush us like they did,” he said.

Lefevre led Albany with 15 total tackles, followed by Lucas and Wyatt Windham with 11 each. The Lion secondary had 11 pass breakups with Fairchild making an interception.

The only time Collinsville scored on consecutive possessions was at the end of the first half and start of the second, cutting Albany’s lead to 49-28. The Lions responded by scoring the next 17 points to erase any possibility of a comeback.

Albany jumped out to a 14-0 lead as Lefevre scored on a 10-yard run on game’s fifth play and took a pass from Chapman 51 yards to cap the second drive.

“Our defense got a few stops there at the start,” Chapman said. “We just capitalized on them and went down and scored.”

Collinsville reached into its bag of tricks to get back in the game with Rylan Newman hitting Reed Patterson for a 56-yard score on a halfback pass. The Lions answered with a 38-yard TD pass to Fairchild and a 20-yarder to Lefevre to push the lead to 28-7 less than a minute into the second quarter.

Newman struck the next blow for the Pirates with a 65-yard TD run. On the play, Fuentes chased Newman down and punched the ball out inside the 10-yard line, but Newman was able to recover the fumble in the back of the end zone.

Hill scored the next two touchdowns on a 23-yard reception and a 59-yard wildcat keeper to lead 42-14. Fuentes added a 70-yard TD reception before Jenkins connected with Colin Barnes for an 11-yard score with 23 seconds left in the half.

The pace slowed considerably in the second half with each team getting four possessions. The Pirates took the kickoff 75 yards in 17 plays to cut Albany’s lead to 21 points as Jenkins scored on a 2-yard keeper. Chapman answered with scoring runs of 22 and 10 yards to put the Lions ahead 63-28 at the end of the third quarter.

“They hit a couple of big plays in the first half, and we talked at halftime about eliminating the big plays,” Faith said. “Make them earn everything they get, stay behind them, and come up and tackle. We were able to do that and made them use a lot of clock on that first drive in the third quarter, and then we were able to come back and answer it.”

Following a blocked punt that Lucas recovered at the Collinsville 26, the Lions settled for Fuentes’ 22-yard field goal with 9:54 to go in the game. Collinsville got in one last shot on Jenkins’ 3-yard pass to Carter Scott, but Albany ran out the last 5:13 of the game as Rosas carried on five of the first six plays.

Facing New Home

New Home (13-1) is in the semifinals for the first time in school history after moving up to 11-man in 2018 following 34 seasons as a six-man program. The Leopards were just 1-9 in 2018, but have made the playoffs three of the last four years.

The Leopards advanced last week with a 35-20 victory over No. 3 Wellington as backup quarterback Brazos Beck passed for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth.

“They’ve got a quarterback who’s accurate, four or five good receivers, and a running back who can run the ball,” Faith said. “On defense, they’re sound – they play well and play fast.”

The only common opponent for the teams is Roscoe. New Home beat the Plowboys 60-32 on Sept. 23, while Albany won 55-0 on Oct. 21.

While this is their first meeting in football, the schools do have recent playoff history. New Home swept Albany in the state quarterfinals of the baseball playoffs in June, winning 5-3 and 15-5.

Chapman said that offers the Lions a little extra motivation.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a little payback,” he said.