Midway clinches playoff berth with defeat of Bryan, 64-21

And it’s guaranteed to produce at least an 11th game.

Or as Midway head coach Joe Gillespie put it to his team during the postgame meeting: “Welcome to the playoffs!”

Midway left no doubt about clinching a playoff spot, edging past the Bryan Vikings 64-21 in a District 12-6A matchup Friday night at Merrill Green Stadium.

Bryan’s home court has been good for Midway (7-2, 4-1 in district) in recent seasons. Last year, Midway also earned a playoff spot against Bryan while securing the program’s 500th all-time win.

On this night, Midway’s fearsome offensive line did the monstrous mash-up, paving the way for eight rushing touchdowns, including three from Lathan Whisenton and Eduardo Longoria.

“We just came here with the goal of 1-0. We got the job done,” Midway senior offensive lineman Michael Collins said. “O-line played great, running backs carried the ball. Eight rushing touchdowns, that’s pretty cool.”

Midway has handled its share of trips to the training room this year, the latest last week when starting quarterback Cash Pullin went down with a knee injury. That brought junior Andrew McNair into action, and while McNair had his ups and downs, he certainly made his share of big plays and ultimately led his team to a playoff win.

McNair completed 9 of 16 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown that night, while throwing two interceptions and also rushing five times for 66 yards and another touchdown.

On the day after Halloween, the teams dug into their trick-or-treating bags and racked up four scores in the first six minutes of the game.

McNair’s first pass of the night didn’t go so well, as Bryan’s William Hilburn stepped in front of the snap and picked him up for the Vikings. Two plays later, the Vikings cashed in when Jevalen Wade broke loose on a 35-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes of action.

Midway didn’t panic, though. On the first play of the ensuing possession, McNair hit Jesse Satterfield on a hitch, and the receiver turned and charged into the open field from there, picking up 63 yards before Bryan’s Kayden McGrew ran into him from behind.

Three plays later, Whisenton plowed in for the 1-yard TD run, tying the score at 7 at 8:12 of the opening quarter.

“That’s kind of our M.O.,” Gillespie said. “We were talking about it a few weeks ago because we were a gritty, gritty team. Now we want to be a gritty and greedy team. They came out and wanted to be a little greedy about it, they wanted to get in the playoffs. Let’s go ahead and send a message. We’ve had a series of injuries and things like that, and it was the next man up every time. Adversity is always lurking around the corner, and these young men have done a great job of embracing it. We did not panic.”

Bryan’s first play of the next touch didn’t go as well as Midway’s. The Vikings hit the ball over Terrence Lewis’ head and he drove the ball into the end zone, where the Panthers eventually gobbled it up for good measure.

The best thing about a safety, for the team that scores of course, is that you get the ball back. Midway took advantage and drove to midfield to set up a fourth-and-1 from its own 44. Gillespie opted to go for it from there, and that proved to be a wise decision, as McNair not only got the first down grabbed, but also outdrew everyone for a 56-yard touchdown.

That score gave the Panthers a 16-7 lead at 5:43 of the first.

And before the fans could even catch their breath, it almost looked like they would be treated to a fifth score of the opening quarter. On Bryan’s first play of the next drive, Lewis dove down the left sideline and hit the afterburners on a 78-yard run to the end zone. But the Viking fans let out a collective groan — and the Midway fans cheered — when a flag against a Bryan receiver put the game back.

From that point on, Midway’s defense seemed to tighten up and close down the edges, and the Panthers began to build a comfortable lead. Longoria capped a pair of Midway scoring drives in the second quarter with runs of five and four yards, respectively, while Whisenton capped another with his second one-yard touchdown of the night.

“We lost focus on some things,” Gillespie said. “The speed is hard to recreate during practice week, so it took us a minute to get used to it. We have enough games under our belt at this point that you should know what that game speed will be like. But these kids are still learning.”

Consider this test passed.

Midway held a 36-7 lead after Longoria’s second score with 4:40 left in the half. Bryan responded with the most sustained offensive success of the first two quarters, with a 10-play, 73-yard march that ended with a gritty four-yard TD run from big QB Boone Turner, who committed to Lamar as a tight end . . That cut Midway’s lead to 36-14, which was also the halftime score.

The Panthers continued to roll downhill in the second half, outscoring the Vikings 28-7 after intermission. Longoria scored his third TD of the night less than a minute into the third quarter from three yards out on a Bryan fumble on the second half kickoff.

Another Midway takeaway shortly after completely took out the Vikings’ sails. The Panthers’ Lane Alexander recovered a Bryan fumble, and on the first play of Midway’s ensuing possession, Whisenton burst through the beaten Viking defense for a 36-yard TD run.

The Panthers scored again in the third, on a slick 13-yard throw from McNair to Miles Hunt in the back corner of the end zone. They reached the 60-point mark in the fourth quarter after a rumbling four-yard TD run from tight end Landry Bowden that ignited the entire Panther team.

Bryan (3-6, 1-4) scored his only points in the second half on a nice 75-yard jaunt by Titus Runnels with 7:27 to go, but the outcome had long been decided at that point.

One of Gillespie’s messages to his team in the aftermath was to maintain the same intensity for next week’s regular season finale against Copperas Cove. The Panthers could still work their way into the mix for a share of the 12-6A title, and perhaps more importantly, they want the district’s top seed in the 6A Div. I play-offs because that would mean a home game in the play-offs.

“I’ve never seen a perfect 48-minute game, but that’s what we always strive for,” Gillespie said. “Extremely proud of our kids and the way they approached this season. I come here with the opportunity to continue and reach the playoffs. They were ready. They were ready.”

“We are a tough football team. Gritty, that’s all I can say,” Collins said. “Hard work, we are a pair of dogs. We treat it like we’re the underdog. We don’t have the best guys, so just gritty.