Presidential campaign slogans are fun. Especially when you can tie them to football games. I mean, there are winners and losers in both, so why not have catchy phrases?
Look at all the talent Denison has. “You can’t beat somebody with nobody.”
I mean this is the playoffs now. “The stakes are too high for you to stay at home.”
And with all the fans making the trip to the game, this must have been the refrain in homes across the city: “Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa? Gone to the playoffs. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
You can go with this twist: ‘We Polked ’em with Crisco, we’ll Pierce ’em in Frisco.” Sticking with the same president you can have “61-28 or fight.”
If you are a fan of defensive linemen, what better for a Denisonian to declare but “I like Arps.”
For a potent 1-2 scoring punch: “Jones flew and Taylor too.”
With a seemingly endless stream of touchdowns: “A ball in every end zone and a touchdown in every quarter.”
And for a head coach who is 22-2 and counting in the past two years: “In your heart you know he’s right.”
Or if you’re the Mustangs: “In Lewis we trusted, now we are busted.”
It was over when -- Cody Reeves made the second of his great catches, this one a 28-yard touchdown with 7.6 seconds left in the first half. Reeves opened the scoring with a one-on-one deep ball and the Jackets went back to the play again. But this time Pearce had an inkling it was coming. Safety help was too late but enough to try and mess with Reeves’ ability to make the catch. The senior held on over two Mustangs on third-and-seven to put Denison up 41-14 at half-time and the Jackets getting the ball at the start of the third quarter.
It was really over when -- Reeves returned an interception 51 yards on Pearce’s second play of the third quarter. If the Mustangs had any hope about their chances before the play, Reeves ended it quickly. He stepped in front of a receiver as Caleb Lewis was pressured and went untouched down the left sideline to make it a 54-14 game.
Player of the Game -- If you couldn’t tell by the first two notes, it’s Cody Reeves. He made two great catches for long touchdowns. He had two interceptions, the first returned for a score. And he was charged with covering another dangerous receiver and passed with flying colors. The previous week Blake Jumonville had a state-record 386 yards on 19 catches. Against Denison, Jumonville had 21 yards on four catches, including losing a fumble, and his only touchdown came late in the third with the score already 61-14.
Play of the Game -- The moment before this play happened, I knew Pearce head coach Randy Robertson made a huge mistake. Jordan Taylor had just scrambled to set up fourth and about three at midfield. But as Pat Summerall would say: “Flag on the play.” The call was against Denison and about to back them up 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, the Jacket 43. Holding a 21-7 lead late in the first quarter, I think Denison would have punted. Logic says that’s probably what happens. Robertson didn’t feel that way and wanted Denison to deal with third and 25, trying to gain better field position on what he thought would be an ensuing punt. You know what happened — the perfectly executed screen pass to D.J. Jones picks up 30 yards and keeps the drive alive. Five plays later Denison scores to go up 27-7. I know it’s crazy to think this way, but if I’m an opponent I like my chances better of Denison on fourth down and any distance than third and very long. I’ve seen them convert too many of the latter to know it’s not the give-up situation many assume it will be.
The good -- No Ax hangover. For the second straight year the Jackets were able to put behind the emotion of winning against their biggest rival, and claiming the 9-4A title in the process, to come out and smoke an opponent in the first round. Denison was all business from the outset, building a 14-0 lead and never looking back. That balanced offense rolling along: 41 points (196 rushing, 186 passing) in the first 24 minutes on the way to the best team offensive performance in DHS playoff history. Forcing turnovers. Denison has been okay at taking the ball away but the Jackets took it to another level against Pearce. Seven turnovers, six on interceptions, and a crazy plus six in that category. Also, a lot of them came early in possessions so the Mustangs had stretches where they never got in a rhythm and one of the best ways to stop Pearce’s offense is keep them off the field. Giving the ball back to this offense is never a bad thing either. There was only one sack by the front four but defensive coordinator Zack Smith was happy with the hits his unit got on Lewis. The Jackets got caught in bad situations a couple of times but were able to make Lewis uncomfortable enough to worry him about impending hits. Converting fourth downs is something Denison hasn’t had to do a whole lot this season, but the Jackets did it twice in the second quarter on two separate drives. This first was the gutsier of the decisions, facing fourth and one at its own 29 with a 27-14 lead in the middle of the quarter. The second was a classic go-for-it call on fourth and one right at midfield on Denison’s next possession. Both times Jordan Taylor kept the ball, got the first down and the Jackets picked up touchdowns on both series.
The bad -- Dalton Hestand missed two extra points. It didn’t turn out to be a sticky situation because the game wasn’t close but as the playoffs wear on, it could be huge. Outside of that it was almost a perfect an execution as you could have. The requisite long kickoff return never happened and there were only six penalties, none of which were crucial.
Region rewind -- There are eight teams left in the region and of the seven future opponents, those three re-match games still exist. On the top of the bracket, Dallas Conrad is Denison’s next opponent — this week at Hanby Stadium in Mesquite — after defeating Dallas Pinkston, 24-19. Conrad has the worst record of the remaining teams at 5-5. In the other pod, Marshall defeated Kilgore, 44-7, and Corsicana defeated West Mesquite, 32-21. The winner between Marshall (8-2) and Corsicana (6-5) plays the Denison-Conrad winner. On the bottom half of the bracket, or the Jacket revenge tour, Frisco Liberty earned its first-ever playoff win with a 49-35 victory over Rockwall-Heath. That’s a bit of a surprise since Heath was a region finalist last season. The Redhawks will play Dallas Lincoln, which held off Dallas Adamson, 28-20, on Thursday. Defending state champ Sulphur Springs took down Lindale, 47-19, and will play Waco University, which slipped by Terrell 13-12. If Denison reaches the region final, there is a 75 percent chance it will against a team it has played in the last calendar year.
Stinging stats of the week -- When Taylor went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season in the game against Pearce, it marked the first time in school history that Denison has had a pair of 1,000 rushers in a season...The victory was the 10th of the season, the 10th time Denison has won at least 10 games in a season and all have come since 1984...It was the fourth straight game the Jackets scored at least 43 points and the fifth time in seven games to score at least 41 in the first half...The 61 points was a Denison playoff game record (56 against SOC in 1990 was the old mark), as were the 621 yards (559 against Madison in 1989)...The yardage was only seven behind the single-game mark set against Paris in 2003...The Jackets now have 22 wins over the last two seasons, the fifth time that has happened in school history. The others are 1984-85, 1995-96 and 1996-97 (29) and 1994-95 (25)...Mundine had his 10-game streak of at least three catches snapped, getting only two for 77 yards. His 64-yard touchdown tied the single-season mark of Warren Dade, who had 13 TD grabs in 1990. The 13 touchdowns are tied with Cody Reeves, after his two scores, for second in a career (Dade had 23). His 844 yards this season is the third-best season total, his 42 catches is the second-most in a season, two from tying Leslie DeHorney’s 44 in 1982...Jones now has 4,911 yards, which is 308 yards from surpassing Corey Robertson for the top spot...It was Jones’ 24nd 100-yard game, which is three from passing Corey Robertson’s school mark and ties Chris Robertson for second all-time...Reeves needs 12 catches to pass Dade as the school’s all-time leader in receptions...Jordan Taylor passed Stanley Morrison for career completions. Taylor now has 211...Denison went 223 plays over four games between turnovers before losing a fumble in the fourth quarter...Jacob Marshall recovered a fumble...Reeves had a pair of interceptions; Hayden Chapman, Darian Springfield, Trey Marrable and Christian Herd each had one...Stacy Golston led the team with six tackles (five solo) while Reeves was second with five solo tackles...In addition to the six interceptions, the Jackets had six pass break-ups, three by Reeves...Denison went into the game with eight interceptions in 10 games.