Longhorns in the playoffs after Soldier City Classic win, 26-20

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Longhorns in the playoffs after Soldier City Classic win, 26-20

Sports

Thursday, 08 November 2012 08:04

Harmony110212

News Gazette Photo/Mary McIntee
Harmony’s Preston Jones (3) is upended by St . Cloud’s Daniel Rincon (10) as Jose Aquilar (6) blocks during their game at Longhorn field Friday. The Horns clinched a playoff berth with their 26-20 victory.

By J. Daniel Pearson
For the News-Gazette
Harmony’s turnaround from a struggling 0-5 football team at midseason to a 4-6 playoff squad may not be miraculous, but it is impressive.
The Longhorns beat rival St. Cloud, 26-20, in dramatic fashion Friday when junior quarterback Jeremiah Murray hit Preston Jones for a 69-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Harmony’s victory evened the series between the schools, dubbed the Soldier City Classic, at 4-4.
Harmony finished 3-2 in 7A District 6 and tied Gateway for second place, but the Horns got the playoff spot by virtue of their 15-13 win against the Panthers Oct. 26.

The Longhorns will travel to Davenport Ridge Community, the 7A-5 district champion, Nov. 16. The Bolts beat Lakeland, 7-0, last week. Lakeland will play at Osceola next week in the first round of the regional playoffs.
Harmony Coach Jerrad Butler said he told his team to approach the past two contests, against Gateway and St. Cloud, as playoff games.
“We told them Gateway was our first game of the playoffs, St. Cloud was the second,” Butler said. “It’s a tribute to these kids to battle back through the adversity the way that they did. We grew up a lot in the second half of the season.”
Friday’s game was typical of that resiliency. St. Cloud jumped to 20-12 halftime lead.
“We just told our kids to keep playing hard and we could turn the game around. I am so proud of the effort they gave,” Butler said.
St. Cloud, 3-6 and 2-3, used big plays to take the lead. On St. Cloud’s first possession, quarterback Matt Chavel hit a streaking Jordan Reus down the left sideline for a 92-yard touchdown play. Nick Askey’s PAT made it 7-0.
Harmony converted a turnover into a TD in the first quarter when Jose Aguilar ran over from the 4 to cut the lead to 7-6.
After a short Harmony punt, Dogs running back Eric Pfeifer bulled over from the 1 for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead.
Murray then directed a six-play, 75-yard drive to make it 14-12. Jones and Forrest Osborne started the drive by breaking off runs of 17 and 25 yards respectively. Two plays later Murray hit Tristan Reaves on a 22-yard post pattern, but the Horns’ 2-point conversion failed.
Momentum quickly shifted to the Bulldogs. Pfeifer took a delayed handoff from Chavel at the Dogs’ 34, broke one tackle, and then outran Harmony’s defenders for a 66-yard touchdown and a 20-12 halftime lead.
Harmony tied the game late in the third quarter. The Longhorns marched 54 yards on 11 plays. Murray completed 4-of-7 passes on the drive, including a 6-yard slant to Reaves on fourth-and-goal, then Murray hit Osborne on the conversion to knot the score at 20.
After the teams traded punts, the Longhorns regained possession on their 35 with 4 minutes to go. Three plays later, Murray hit Jones for the game winner.
“The play is called a follow,” Murray said. “Whenever we see the defensive back in press coverage, we go with the pump fake to draw the defensive backs up. Preston just ran by them and I knew all I had to do was throw it up and let him run underneath it. He was wide open. Our wide receivers have been really good this year; they deserve all the credit.”
Colton Keene’s interception stopped St. Cloud’s attempt to come back.
Murray (7-19-148, 3 TDs) had one of his best games.
Pfeifer (21-209, 2 TDs) pushed his season rushing total to 1,010 yards.
“He gets so low to the ground that it’s tough to tackle him,” Butler said. “We made some adjustments at halftime and were fortunate to slow him down in the second half.”
In addition to catching the game-winning touchdown pass, Jones also led the Horns in rushing with 90 yards on six carries. Osborne added 74 yards on 16 totes.
Butler said it is no coincidence that the team won four of five games after the offensive line of left tackle Andrew Davis, left guard Trey Schroeder, center Jacob Sammon, right guard Jason Hundley and right tackle Zach Gerrard got healthy and had a chance to work together.
“We were missing three guys for most of the first part of the season,” Butler said. “No doubt it’s made a huge difference for us. Like I said, all of these guys deserve credit for believing in what we are doing and sticking with it, even when things weren’t going well.”
Harmony turned the table on its rival. St. Cloud advanced to the playoffs last season by beating the Horns.
“We knew it would be tough because Coach (Brad) Lennox always prepares his teams well,” Butler said.
The Longhorns, who have an open date this week, will take Friday off.
St. Cloud hosts North Marion Friday at 7:30 p.m. for its season finale.
Rick Pedone contributed to this story.