By Mike Waters
Jesuit Dallas saw its once-promising gridiron season come to an abrupt end following a 45-28 loss to the Prosper Rock Hill Thursday as the two teams battled for the final playoff spot in District 6-6A at Children’s Health Stadium.
Jesuit (4-6, 3-4) dropped its fourth consecutive district contest since its 50-49 overtime triumph over Prosper Walnut Grove, and the defeat snapped a seven-year Rangers streak of qualifying for the postseason.
The Rangers put themselves in an early hole against the Blue Hawks.
An interception at the Rock Hill 7-yard line stymied an impressive opening-game drive. The Blue Hawks took advantage, marching 93 yards on 14 plays while chewing up 4:55 off the clock, with Michael Alfred punching it across from 7 yards out that left Jesuit with a 7-0 deficit.
Jesuit responded, moving from its own 25 to the Rock Hill 9-yard line, where it faced a fourth-and-4. However, quarterback J.P. Livingstone was stopped one yard shy of a first down on a flea-flicker pass from wideout Max Smith.
The Rangers defense held, forcing what turned out to be the lone Rock Hill punt in nine possessions in the game. Livingstone connected with Joseph Konings on a 39-yard scoring strike that deadlocked the score at 7-7 just over a minute into the second quarter.
But Rock Hill answered right back when quarterback Austin Farris hit Courtney Lawson Jr. with a 12-yard TD aerial, and the Blue Hawks added a 25-yard Liam Spencer field goal as time expired that left Jesuit with a 17-7 deficit at intermission.
“We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half with mistakes,” said Brandon Hickman, Jesuit head coach.
The Rangers seemed to gain some momentum coming out of the break, recovering an onside kick that led to Livingstone scoring on a 4-yard keeper that narrowed the margin to 17-14.
“We decided at halftime on the onside kick,” explained Hickman. “We weren’t getting any stops and were trying to maximize our chances.”
That would be as close as the Rangers would get.
Consecutive Rock Hill touchdowns – a Farris 8-yard scoring toss to Leo Williams and a Malachi Thompson 10-yard touchdown burst – left Jesuit with a 31-14 deficit entering the final stanza.
The two teams alternated a pair of fourth-period touchdowns apiece. Smith grabbed Livingstone scoring passes of 6 and 23 yards, while Williams countered with TD receptions from 35 and 12 yards from Farris.
Hickman gave credit to Rock Hill.
“They had an excellent game plan, and executed it very well,” he said. “We just could not make the plays when we needed to.”
Livingstone finished with 252 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 22-of-32 passes with one interception while adding a rushing score.
Konings and Smith, along with running back Ty Daboub, wrapped up their Jesuit gridiron careers in the loss.
Konings finished with eight catches for 96 yards and a score, Smith recorded five catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns, and Daboub churned out 89 rushing yards on 25 carries.
“Great seasons by each of those guys,” Hickman said. “Unfortunately for them and the team, the season ended sooner than we would like.”
It was a balanced Rock Hill offensive showing, amassing 512 total offense (257 passing and 255 rushing) that derailed Jesuit.
Farris, a junior, completed 22-of-26 passes without an interception for 257 yards and four touchdowns, including three second-half throws to senior Leo Williams, who nabbed seven catches for a game-high 104 yards. Senior wideout Alijah Adefunmi added nine receptions for 87 yards and junior running back Michael Alfred racked up 170 rushing yards on 24 attempts.
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