BEDFORD
- Birdville proved Thursday night in its first-ever
playoff game that it doesn't have to win with its offense.
The Hawks made the big plays on defense when they needed to
and held off the Yellow Jackets 21-13 at Pennington Field in a
Class 4A Division I Region I bi-district game.
Birdville (9-2) will play next on Nov. 19 against the winner
of tonight's Sherman-Brewer game Nov. 19. Arlington Heights ends
its season 7-4.
"We came out here really aggressive," said junior defensive
end Alex Martinez, who teamed with Andrew Burger for a key sack
on the Yellow Jackets' last drive. "We were firing off the ball
real well. We felt like we'd be able to get some pressure on
them."
The Hawks limited the Yellow Jackets to 191 yards of offense,
had three sacks and forced three turnovers.
Birdville's offense needed the boost. While the Hawks rolled
up 333 yards of offense, three turnovers left the game in doubt
until the final minutes. Birdville led 21-6 early in the fourth
quarter after a 10-yard touchdown run by Kyle Talley. But a
52-yard run by Arlington Heights' Manuel Williams made it 21-13
with 6:09 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets then forced a punt, and they got the ball
back at their 35 with 3:57 remaining. But two sacks on the drive
hurt the Yellow Jackets, and the drive stalled at the 50 on a
Jeff Jones incompletion with 1:10 remaining.
"We just didn't execute," said Jones, the Yellow Jackets'
junior quarterback who had 82 passing yards but was intercepted
twice. "I didn't handle the ball well, and we had too many
turnovers."
Birdville led 7-6 at halftime as Andy Braly (172 rushing
yards, 70 passing) scored on a 35-yard run only to have a long
kickoff return by Dominic Franco set up a 5-yard run by Dino
Walker. But a missed extra point enabled the Hawks to take the
lead at the break.
Braly and Devin Kelly connected on a 36-yard scoring play
early in the third quarter to put the Hawks up 14-6, and
Birdville got into scoring position on its next drive before
Braly was intercepted in the end zone.
