Lovejoy survives Colleyville Heritage 38-35 in OT

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (TXAN 24) — On last Friday night at the GCISD Mustang-Panther Stadium, Lovejoy won against Colleyville Heritage by a score of 38 to 35 in overtime, managing to hold on after a number of changes of leadership during the second half in the closely fought first match of the District 3-5A Division II tournament. Lovejoy's record is now 5-0 and 1-0 in district games, whereas Colleyville Heritage's record ended at 2-3 and 0-1.

Lovejoy started the game with a long scoring attack, with Nixon Slaughter leading the offensive play and ending the drive with a quarterback dive to take a 7-0 lead. In reply, Colleyville Heritage had Lane Vargas pass the ball to both Lucas Sunwall and Trevi Preische before Andrew Roy kicked a field goal to bring the score to 7-3.

Colleyville Heritage took the lead when Ashton Ellis made Luke Gahan fumble, which allowed the Panthers to advance the ball all the way into Lovejoy's territory. They then capitalised on the short field by passing to Trevi Preische for a 35-yard touchdown, and the score was 10-7 to Colleyville Heritage with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Lovejoy again took the lead. Having halted Colleyville Heritage on fourth down, Nixon Slaughter passed the ball to a receiver on the team, Lovejoy, resulting in a 25-yard touchdown and thus putting the Leopards ahead by 14 to 10. The Leopards then scored another touchdown towards the end of the half when Slaughter threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Luke Gahan and so entered the break with a 21-10 lead.

The Colleyville Heritage team didn't let the game slip away. Having recovered the onside kick that started the third quarter, the Panthers advanced deep into Lovejoy territory. Vargas then scored with a one-yard touchdown run as quarterback, the attack making up 10 plays, and thus reduced the deficit to 21-16.

Although Lovejoy had the opportunity to reply, Colleyville Heritage's defence put in one of the best performances of the night. Isaiah Omar tackled Slaughter on third down and then blocked the field goal attempt on fourth down, after which Jerrod Wiley recovered the kick that had been blocked, thus ending a lengthy Lovejoy attack which had not led to a score.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Colleyville Heritage had Vargas carry out a screen pass to Trevi Preische, who then broke away for a 63-yard touchdown and thus gave the Panthers a 22-21 lead with four seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was very closely contested. As a response, Lovejoy made a field goal to take the lead with 24-22, before Vargas successfully passed to Preische for a 72-yard touchdown, which put Colleyville Heritage in the lead at 29-24 with six minutes and three seconds left. Lovejoy then carried out its own touchdown drive and had a 32-29 lead with two minutes and twenty-eight seconds still remaining.

There was still one opportunity for Colleyville Heritage to tie the score. After Gabriel Bess and the offside team had put Andrew Roy in a position where he could kick a field goal with nine seconds left, Vargas took the Panthers into Lovejoy territory. Roy succeeded with the kick, and the score was then 32-32, which caused the game to go to overtime.

The Colleyville Heritage side were the first to win the ball in overtime and had a 35-32 lead when Roy kicked a further field goal. During their own attack, Lovejoy then responded; after getting to the red zone, Slaughter kept the ball and scored the winning touchdown, which allowed the Leopards to win 38 to 35.

The Panthers are set for a matchup tonight against the undefeated The Colony Cougars in a Class 5A Division II Region I District 3 contest.

The Panthers will look to turn the page on their first five games of the season and pick up a key district victory against an undefeated Cougars squad.

The undefeated Leopards enter tonight’s matchup with a 5-0 record as they take on Community in a Class 5A Division II Region I District 3 contest.

Community comes into the matchup at 4-1 after defeating Eagle Mountain 35-25 in its most recent district game.

With both teams entering with winning records, tonight’s matchup gives the Leopards another opportunity to remain unbeaten while Community looks to hand them their first loss of the season.