Red 29, Blue 24

 Blue 10 0 0 14

                 Red 0 23 6 0                

First Quarter

Blue — James Green 3 run (Scott Newberry kick), 6:06

Blue — Newberry 50 field goal, 1:12

Second Quarter

Red — De'Veon Mayberry 24 run (Chris Winkler kick), 6:45

Red — R.J. Allen fumble recovery in end zone (Winkler kick), 3:27

Red — Winkler 40 field goal, 1:23

Red — Jeremy Conrad 22 pass from Weston Popham (kick failed), 0:40

Third Quarter

Red — Rashad Hardy 26 pass from Popham (kick failed), 8:40

Fourth Quarter

Blue — Blake Brimer 1 run (Newberry kick), 9:08

Blue — Tyler Coker 15 pass from Xavier Shaw (Newberry kick), 5:17

First downs: 19 --  9

Rushes-Yards: 39-198 -- 32-83

Completions-Attempts-Interceptions: 14-22-0 -- 6-13-0

Passing Yards: 133 -- 104

Total Yards: 331 -- 187

Fumbles-Lost: 3-3 -- 2-0

Penalties-Yards: 5-30 -- 5-40

Punts-Avg: 4-44.5 -- 1-53 

Individual Leaders

Rushing

Blue: Xavier Shaw 11-36; James Green 11-56, 1 TD; Jordan Richardson 13-80; Blake Brimer 3-16, 1 TD; Torrence Allen 1-10

Red: Weston Popham 16-36; De'Veon Mayberry 4-27, 1 TD; Tommy Seigman 4-(-10); Jeremy Conrad 4-13; Colton Albrecht 1-1; Rashad Hardy 1-1; Larry Smith 2-15

Passing

Blue: Xavier Shaw 8-13-0, 84 yards, 1 TD; Blake Brimer 6-9-0, 49 yards

Red: Weston Popham 6-9-0, 104 yards, 2 TDs; Tommy Seigman 0-4-0

Receiving

Blue: Dane Beasley 2-24; Torrence Allen 1-12; Vencent Finley 7-62; Clint Dowdle 1-6; Nathan Gandy 1-4; Brandon Faubion 1-10; Tyler Coker 1-15, 1 TD

Red: De'Veon Mayberry 1-8; Larry Smith 2-41; Colton Albrecht 1-7; Jeremy Conrad 1-22, 1 TD; Rashad Hardy 1-26, 1 TD

Defensive Summary

BLUE: (Tackles UA/A)

Ronald Bogan 7 / 0 Richard Villarreal 3 / 0 Terrence Holloman 3 / 0

Kevin Harris 2 / 1 Jordan Sebek 2 / 0 Dalton Piske 2 / 0

Cameron Johnson 2 / 0 William Samford 1 / 1 Xavier Shaw 1 / 0

Jordan Richardson 1 / 0 Patrick Prince 1 / 0 David Hines 1 / 0

Terrence Gude Jr. 1 / 0 Nathan Gandy 1 / 0 Keith Daniels 1 / 0

Jacob Bishop 1 / 0 Norris Alexander 1 / 0

RED: (Tackles UA/A)

Kyle Voss 8 / 0 RJ Allen 6 / 0 Nick Hall 4 / 0

Harvey Lee Jr 3 / 2 Derrick Vasta 2 / 0 Phillip Tedder 2 / 0

David Orange 2 / 0 Andrew Johnston 2 / 0 Nate Carlisle 2 / 0

Josh Beims 2 / 0 Nathan Adams 2 / 0 Kyle Crawford 1 / 3

Hector Rodriguez 1 / 1 Matthew Zindle 1 / 0 Jonathan Player 1 / 0

Dion Everett 1 / 0 Jeremy Conrad 1 / 0 Henry Sklar 0 / 1

Red shakes off early deficit to win inaugural Victory Bowl, 29-24

By Brice Cherry Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer

Chilton’s Xavier Shaw danced left. He danced right. He eluded a couple of tacklers on an exciting downfield jaunt. Ultimately, two defenders dragged Shaw down on the final play of the game, leaving his Blue team a touchdown short. But after giving fans 48 minutes of hard-hitting, often-capitvating football, even the losers felt like winners in the Victory Bowl. Fueled by 29 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, the Red squad rallied past the Blue, 29-24, to claim the win in the inaugural Heart of Texas Fellowship of Christian Athletes Super Centex Victory Bowl before a crowd of around 3,000 Saturday night at Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium.

“That was awesome, just a great football game,” said victorious Red coach Mark Bell of China Spring. “We knew (the Blue) had a great team, we knew they were well-coached. The guys just hung in there, and we couldn’t have asked for much more.” For longtime Waco High coach Johnny Tusa, the head coach for the Blue team, the game might have been his farewell to coaching after resigning from his post overseeing the Lions in February. And though he didn’t go out a winner, he said that wasn’t the point. “That was all about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and giving God the glory,” Tusa said. “I think we accomplished that goal tonight. . . . It’s a good start (to the Victory Bowl). I hope it’s something that will catch on. It certainly piqued people’s interest tonight.”

Early on, the Blue team appeared poised to dominate, building a 10-0 lead in typical Tusa style — behind facemask-bending defense and a straightforward, rugged running game. Teague’s James Green scored the first points of the game on a three-yard TD run up the middle six minutes into the game. Then Midway kicker Scott Newberry drilled a 50-yard field goal with 1:12 remaining in the first quarter to extend the gap to 10 points. But the Red team burst to life in the second quarter, sparked by their nimble quarterback Weston Popham of Axtell. On the Red’s initial scoring drive of the second quarter, Popham sidestepped his way out of a couple of tackles with a pair of 360-spins on an 18-yard gain, and connected all three of his passing attempts as well. That helped set up a 24-yard TD scamper from Itasca’s De’Veon Mayberry that cut the lead to 10-7.

Popham, who finished 6-of-9 passing for 104 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 36 yards, was selected as the Bob McQueen Offensive MVP — something he never would have imagined prior to the game. “I’ve got to admit, I was pretty nervous going in,” Popham said. “But once I got into the game, I warmed up, and then it was just like a normal game again.” The Red also produced some dynamic defensive plays en route to the comeback, including a fumble recovery in the end zone by Shoemaker defensive end R.J. Allen with 3:27 left in the half that pushed the Red in front, 14-10. “I don’t think I’ve ever jumped that high,” said Allen of his celebratory leap after the score. “That was my first touchdown of my life. I felt like I was on a video game.” Following a 40-yard field goal from Temple’s Chris Winkler, the Red struck again when Popham floated a 22-yard touchdown pass between two Blue defenders to Troy’s Jeremy Conrad, sending the Red to a 23-10 halftime lead. Midway’s relentless pass rusher Terrence Holloman kept the pressure on the Red, racking up three sacks for the Blue squad. But the Red still managed to threaten to blow the game open by building a 29-10 lead when Popham connected with University’s Vencent Finley on a 26-yard scoring strike just over three minutes into the third quarter. However, the Blue team didn’t hang their helmets and sing the blues. They pulled to within 29-17 on a QB sneak from Florence’s Blake Brimer with 9:08 left in the game, then nearly scored again when Marlin’s Jordan Richardson broke into the secondary on a 46-yard run before being tripped up from behind by the hard-pursuing Allen. Allen was named the game’s Defensive MVP, living up to a prediction he’d made earlier in the week. “He told us he was going to win the MVP award, and he was right,” Bell said. “My coach (Shoemaker’s Ken Gray) told me to show them what we’ve got and take it home,” said Allen, who is bound for Midwestern State. The Blue still didn’t quit, coming up with a huge fourth-down touchdown when Shaw launched a 15-yard missile over the middle to Salado tight end Tyler Coker, closing to within 29-24 with 5:17 to play. The Red “took the air out of the ball,” on its final possession, said Bell, hoping to milk the clock and seize the win. Yet the Blue regained possession at its own 38 with 1:32 to play in hopes of mounting a last-ditch scoring drive. But after three positive gains, the Red came up with a sack by — who else? — Allen to push the Blue backwards, and Shaw’s final open-field scamper came up 32 yards short of paydirt. “We’re glad we hung in there and played the whole 48 minutes,” Tusa said. “We got behind the eight-ball at halftime with those three fumbles and let them get a little bit of momentum. But we fought back and I’m proud of that effort.” Chilton’s Shaw completed 8 of 13 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, while University’s Finley was his favorite target, snagging seven balls for 62 yards.