Prairie rolls to district title

LPR staff

KNIPPA – Prairie Lea not only qualified for the playoffs, ending Texas’ longest postseason drought of 80 years (1944), but the Indians also won the district by beating Knippa, 51-6, at RockCrusher Field Friday night.

The Indians received the District 16 Championship trophy after the game.

“The kids were so happy,” Prairie Lea Head Coach Steven Brown said. “I’ve never seen them this happy in five years here. It’s probably one of the biggest achievements some of these kids have had in their life. They played so hard. This is a special group of kids.”

Prairie Lea will meet the Medina Bobcats (4-6) in the first round of the 6-man playoffs Friday at San Marcos Academy’s Ingram Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

The winner of the Prairie Lea (8-2) vs. Medina game will play the winner of the Jonesboro-Baird contest in the second round. Benavides will represent District 16 as the No. 2 seed following a 48-6 victory over Runge. Benavides will play Menard on Thursday in its first-round game.

Prairie Lea scored twice in the first quarter, first on a 15-yard TD run by Jimmy Soberanes and the second time on a 20-yard fumble return for a 12-0 lead by Lane Fiscus.

Lane Fiscus made it 18-0 when he hauled in a 12-yard pass from Gabriel Garcia early in the second period.

Knippa got its one score to make it 18-6, but the Indians responded with tree more scores before halftime.

Lane Fiscus again hauled in a 7-yard TD pass from Garcia, Soberanes scored on a 55-yard jaunt, and Joe Zapata returned an interception 20 yards for a TD. Lane Fiscus added an extra-point run for a 37-6 lead at intermission.

Soberanes got his third touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a 45-yard pass from Garcia, then followed with an extra-point run for a 44-6 lead.

Prairie Lea reached the game-ending 45-point rule in 6-man football when Zapata scored yet another defensive touchdown on a 13-yard fumble return, followed by Soberanes’ extra-point run and a final margin of 51-6.

Soberanes finished with 112 yards rushing and the three TDs. Lane Fiscus had 32 yards on three carries and scored twice. Garcia was 3-of-6 passing for 64 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Defensively, Zapata recorded 8 tackles along with his two scores. Edwin Canepa had 6 tackles along with a fumble recovery. Lane Fiscus, Brayden Fiscus (including an interception), and Jesus Perez had 3 tackles each.

“I told the kids we had to climb the mountain,” Brown said. “In climbing that mountain, there were going to be some obstacles to get to the top. We used the losses we had to pull over to the side and get back on track for our journey. The closer we got to the top, the closer we got to the reward. On Friday night, they let everybody know that we were in arms reach of the mountain top.”