Dallas Morning News article

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IRVING--Saturday night marked the first time in the Everman football players competed at Texas Stadium. And after Everman’s Class 3A Division I state semifinal game against Forney was over, the team celebrated on the big, blue star at midfield – even when the stadium lights were turned off.“The atmosphere is beautiful here. Everything here makes you want to work harder and run faster,” Everman fullack J.J. Jennings said.Everman earned its second consecutive trip to the Class 3A Division I championship game with a 21-14 victory over Forney.Everman (13-1) will play Region IV champion Burnet (14-0) for the Class 3A Division I state championship at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Saturday. Burnet beat Region III champion Jasper, 46-28, Saturday afternoon at Texas A&M.Forney, which lost to Everman, 21-17, last year in the second round of the playoffs, ended its season 12-2.Everman held Forney scoreless in the second half and bounced back from trailing at halftime. Forney held Everman to 126 yards in the first half.“We’ve had slow starts, but we knew if we came back and played the way we knew how, everything will be all right,” Everman running back Theo Miller, who finished with 170 yards and two touchdowns. “I’ve got to give Forney their props, though. They had a really good team.”Both teams traded first-possession touchdowns to open the game. While Forney’s Jordan Case capped a 15-play drive with a 1-yard run, Everman countered when Ed Sinclair scooped up teammate Theo Miller’s fumble and ran 8 yards for a touchdown. Forney used back-to-back runs of 15 and 43 yards by Baylen Laury to score [its second or its go-ahead] touchdown in the second quarter. Caleb Hanie crossed the goal line on a 1-yard plunge with 54 seconds remaining in the half to give Forney a 14-7 advantage.“We knew Forney had a good football team,” Everman coach Dale Keeling said. “In the first half, those guys took it to us, and we had to regroup at halftime.“We were able to gain some momentum in the second half. We were able to take advantage of some things they were giving us, and we got a win out of it.”Everman scored on its first possession of the second half, as Theo Miller capped a six-play, 52-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown run. The extra-point attempt by Roberto Martinez, however, was wide left.After forcing Forney to punt for the second time in the half and the fifth time for the game, Everman took the lead for good. Miller scored his second touchdown of the game with 9:58 in the fourth quarter. Jonathan Harrell’s 2-point conversion run gave Everman the 21-14 lead.Forney had one last chance to score with less than a minute left. However, a drive that started at its own 20-yard line ended with a 40-yard pass from Caleb Hanie to Julius Thomas, where Thomas was tackled at the Everman 10.“Coach [Keeling] told us if we play like we played at halftime, we wouldn’t be going [to the state championship],” said Jennings, who had 139 yards on the ground. “We needed to play our ball and not Forney ball. We came out, we hit hard and we kept it going.”Everman outgained Forney, 371-247. Everman has outscored its playoff opponents, 186-34, this season.

http://www.dallasnews.com/img/photo/12-02/3_NS_07EVERwinTD38979.JPGDMN photo

Theo Miller scores go ahead touchdown.