GARLAND, Texas-Even moral victories are hard to come by against a team like Paul Pewitt, but the Rio Vista Eagles scored one Saturday night at Homer B. Johnson Stadium.
Rio Vista became only the second team this season to score twice against the Brahmas defense, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep the state's top-ranked team from rolling into the Class 2A, Division I regional finals on the wheels of a 54-15 victory over the Eagles.
The Brahmas move on to a rematch of last year's Region II finals against 12-0 Boyd. That game will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at Pennington Field in Bedford.
Kenny Boyd ran for 147 yards and three touchdowns-all in the first half-and Jimmy Wilkeron passed for 169 yards and two TDs and ran for another as the Brahmas extended their two-year winning streak to 22 games.
Leading 26-8 at halftime, the Brahmas put the spunky Eagles away with a 21-point third quarter. Mitch Gibson's 12-yard TD run was followed by a fumble recovery by Wilkerson at the 22. Wilkerson then hit Kedrick Wright with a 9-yard scoring pass.
Blake Dagley's second TD pass of the game, a 6-yarder to Kane Kelly, seemed only to anger the Bulls, who answered on Wilkerson's perfect spiral to a wide open James Gilmore for a 67-yard touchdown.
The only score of the fourth quarter came on Terriance Shepherd's 22-yard dash around the left side with 5:57 left and Kris Munn's interception in the end zone on the game's final play prevented the Eagles from scoring again.
Sam Doty became the first runner to rush for 100 yards against the Bulls this season, but it took him 27 carries to get exactly that number.
Paul Pewitt started earlier than last week, scoring three times in the first quarter and the Bulls had to travel a total of only 105 yards to do it.
Boyd got the first of his three first-half touchdowns on his first carry, dancing through right tackle and going 30 yards virtually untouched. The two-play, 37-yard drive was set up by a 19-yard Eagle punt.
A personal foul face mask penalty on Rio Vista's second punt gave the Brahmas the ball at the Eagle 33 and three plays
later Boyd duplicated his first TD run from 29 yards out. But the PAT kick was blocked and RV's Mickey Stevens sprinted 89 yards with the recovery to put the Eagles on the board.
Wilkerson set up the next score with a 37-yard heave to Kedrick Wright, then sneaked over from the one himself with 1:26 left in the first quarter.
Down 20-2, the scrappy Eagles put together a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Blake Dagley converted a 3rd and 11 play with a 26-yard pass to tight end Miles Cobb, then nailed Cobb again for the touchdown on fourth and goal from the 5-yard line.
Pewitt got that score back by driving 59 yards in just seven plays with Boyd doing the honors again, this time from 33 yards. Again it was the same play as his first two TDs, and he managed to break a tackle five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Boyd finished the first half with 114 yards on just 10 carries.
Paul Pewitt 20 6 21 7 - 54
Rio Vista 2 6 7 0 - 15
PP-Kenny Boyd 30 run (Tramond Hawkins kick)
PP-Boyd 29 run (kick blocked)
RV-Mickey Stevens returned blocked PAT kick 89 yards
PP-Jimmy Wilkerson 1 run (Hawkins kick)
RV-Miles Cobb 5 pass from Blake Dagley (pass failed)
PP-Boyd 33 run (run failed)
PP-Mitch Gibson 12 run (Hawkins kick)
PP-Kedrick Wright 9 pass from Wilkerson (Adam Johnson kick)
RV-Kane Kelly 6 pass from Dagley (Will Tipping kick)
PP-James Gilmore 67 pass from Wilkerson (Johnson kick)
PP-Terriance Shepherd 22 run (Johnson kick)
Pewitt R.Vista
First Downs 18 18
Yards Rushing 31-249 48-173
Yards Passing 169 62
Passes: A-C-I 9-5-0 18-6-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 5-50 8-60
Punts-Avg. 1-31 4-21
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Paul Pewitt, Boyd 14-147; Wilkerson 5-29; Desmon Jones 9-38, Gibson 2-13, Shepherd 1-22. Rio Vista, Doty 27-100, Johnny Trevino 9-28, Dagley 10-34, Brandon Cantu 2-11.
PASSING: Paul Pewitt, Wilkerson 5-9-0-169. Rio Vista, Dagley 6-18-1-63.
RECEIVING: Paul Pewitt, Wright 2-46, Hercules Tarver 2-19, Gilmore 2-104 Rio Vista, Cobb 4-52, Cantu 1-5, Kelly 1-6.
