Cayuga 41, Ganado 19
Traylon Shead and Cayuga will have another chance to secure the state championship that eluded them last season after prevailing over Ganado. As is so often the case, Cayuga won by running the football, with Shead and quarterback Malcome Kennedy combining for over 400 yards rushing. Shead rolled up 218 on 25 carries and four touchdowns, including matching 48-yard runs and a 57-yarder, putting him over 10,000 yards for his career, a mark only two other Texas running backs have reached. Shead also completed the first pass of his career.
Cayuga will take on Albany in Mansfield on Saturday for the Class A state title.
Graham 27, Pittsburg 20
A week following an easy win over Wimberley, the Graham Steers had to work hard for this victory -- Pittsburg cut into an early Graham lead before the Steers capitalized on a poor punt snap by Pittsburg to score the go-ahead touchdown with only minutes left in the game. A Case McCoy two-point conversion helped push the lead to seven. McCoy did not have his sharpest performance, completing only 10 of 25 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown and interception, while adding 30 yards on the ground on six carries.
Graham will make the school's first appearance in a state championship game on Saturday in Dallas against Carthage.
Daingerfield 35, Refugio 10
Despite a strong passing game that helped Daingerfield steamroll virtually every opponent other than Class 3A Division I state champion Gilmer, quarterback Tyler Boyd completed only one pass for a loss of one yard against Refugio. Instead, the focus was on the running game, as KoKo Smith gained 167 yards on only 15 carries and the Boyd added 77 yards on his own. Longhorn commit Chris Jones also added a touchdown on four carries, picking up 24 yards in the process. Ultimately, it was the ball-sharking defense of Daingerfield that set up the quick-strike offense to blow the game open, as the Tigers forced four turnovers on the day, including an interception by possible Texas target Steve Edmond.
Daingerfield will face Bushland for the state championship on Saturday.
Longview 49, Denton Guyer 28
Once again, the Lobos thwarted Guyer's bid for a berth in the state championship game. It was a ground-bound demolition of Guyer, as Longview gained more than 500 yards on the ground and had three players top 100 yards rushing. The Guyer offense was slowed by a touchdown and a big run by quarterback JW Walsh being called back by penalties and the Longview held the Guyer running game mostly in check, as Walsh gained only 50 yards on 11 carries, while completing 12 of 25 passes for 210 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The loss ends the high school career of Taylor Bible.
Longivew will face Lake Travis for the state championship.
Lake Travis 57, Pearland Dawson 12
One team acted like they had been there before. One team didn't. The Cavaliers, riding a winning streak stretching back to 2007, earned a third-straight berth in the state championship game by forcing five turnovers (intercepting Utah commit Darian Lazard three times) and scoring on eight of 10 offensive possessions over the first three quarters. Quarterback Michael Brewer accounted for seven touchdowns, two through the air and five on the ground.
Lake Travis will meet Longview on Saturday in Waco in a re-match of last season's state championship game.
Abilene 29, Klein 21
It's a popular football cliche that it is a game on inches. On Saturday in Waco, that proved to be the absolute truth, as the Eagle defense stopped Klein just inches short of the Abilene end zone to preserve the victory and a berth in the state championship game, the first appearance since 1956. On the first scoring drive for Abilene, Herschel Sims did much of the work himself, starting the drive with a 67-yard kickoff return, then scoring on an eight-yard touchdown run. Sims added another touchdown later and finished with 24 carries for 120 yards and one reception for eight yards.
Abilene will face Katy in San Antonio on Saturday for the state championship.
Euless Trinity 35, Stony Point 28
Once again, Stony Point fell just short of the state championship game. Last season, late penalties contributed to the close loss. Once again, it was a penalty that did in Stony Point, all season the most likely cause of a crucial loss, a false start on fourth down from the Trinity two yardline. Moved back, quarterback Aaryn Sharp missed Stephen Williams open over the middle to end the Stony Point threat. It was not a strong performance from the normally accurate Sharp, as he misfired on five of eight passes and carried 11 times for 20 yards. The Stony Point defense was uncharacteristically leaky, allowing 422 total yards to Trinity quarterback Willie Hubbard, including 219 on the ground. Wide receiver Brandon Carter caused most of the damage in the passing game, gashing the talented Stony Point secondary for 168 yards on four catches and three touchdowns.
Trinity will play Westlake for the state championship.
Aledo 40, Denison 28
In the early going, this game looked like it would be a blowout. Denison's DJ Jones scored two touchdowns to help forge a 21-7 lead. Aledo rallied before halftime and the defense stepped up in the second half to limit Jones and Denison offense, with star 2012 running back Johnathan Gray adding to his growing legend with a late 55- yard touchdown run to seal the game, finishing with 185 yards and four touchdowns.