Kelley advances, but gets another scare by Coweta

BY MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Saturday, November 10, 2012
11/11/12 at 9:17 AM

Things looked easy for the Bishop Kelley football team at halftime Friday night. It got a little tougher in the second half.

The Coweta Tigers almost erased a monster deficit and made the sixth-ranked Comets sweat. The Tigers almost always do that when the Class 5A rivals meet.

But Austin Morris' 12-yard touchdown run with 6:27 left allowed the Comets to breathe easier and Ryan Martin's pass interception with 54 seconds left sealed the deal.

Kelley escaped with a 40-28 first-round playoff win at Angelo Prassa Field and will host fourth-ranked OKC McGuinness (10-1) in a quarterfinal game next Friday. McGuinness advanced with a 34-20 win over Duncan.

"We made some mistakes tonight and Coweta took it to us in the second half," said Morris, who scored his 13th rushing TD of the season.

"We need to look at the film and get some things fixed, but we're moving on. That's the main thing in the playoffs - win and move on," Morris said.

Senior quarterback Brady Goforth threw for 240 yards and accounted for four scores - three rushing and one passing - as the Comets (9-2) ran their winning streak to nine and beat the Comets (6-5) for the fourth time over the last two years.

All three previous games had been close. Kelley needed Zachary Washington's late interception to win at Coweta 29-25 earlier this year and won twice by a field goal last year, including in the playoffs.

So the Comets feared another nail-biter in Friday's game. In the first half, it looked like anything but, because everything worked like a charm.

Kelley scored on five of its first six possessions and led 34-0 on Goforth's 49-yard scoring strike to Will O'Connor with 3:08 left in the first half.

Then, the game changed. The Tigers went 60 yards to score on Hayden Holmes' 23-yard toss to Hunter Rasberry and scored on three straight second-half possessions.

Coweta pulled to within 34-28 on Jakeem Johnson's second scoring run from a yard out with 9:37 left. Johnson also caught a TD pass and finished with 101 rushing and 66 receiving yards.

"At halftime, everybody swore we wouldn't quit and no one did. I couldn't be prouder," said Holmes, a senior who ended his career on a 304-yard passing night.

Kelley helped the Tigers' comeback. After Johnson's 4-yard run made it 34-21, the Comets fumbled on a high snap from center at their own 3. On fourth-and-inches, Johnson went high over the pile and snaked his arm and the ball across the goal line and it was 34-28.

Kelley followed with an 81-yard, eight-play drive - jump-started by 24- and 21-yard gains by Thomas Bingham - capped by Morris' 12-yard run.

"Huge drive for us," Morris said. "They had all the momentum. It was smash-mouth football and our line did a great job and we just powered it down the field."

McGuinness downed Kelley 34-10 in Week 2, but Morris and Goforth were coming off injuries. The Comets won at Coweta the following week and haven't lost since.

"It's a huge rivalry (with McGuinness), especially in the playoffs," Morris said.

BISHOP KELLEY 40, COWETA 28

Coweta	0	7	7	14	-	28
Bishop Kelley	21	13	0	6	-	40

K: Goforth 3 run (Siddiki kick)

K: Bingham 8 run (Siddiki kick)

K: Goforth 2 run (Siddiki kick)

K: Goforth 8 run (kick failed)

K: O'Connor 49 pass from Goforth (Siddiki kick)

C: Rasberry 23 pass from Holmes (Thomas kick)

C: Johnson 11 pass from Holmes (Thomas kick)

C: Johnson 4 run (Thomas kick)

C: Johnson 1 run (Thomas kick)

K: Morris 12 run (run failed)

	Coweta	Kelley
First Downs	19	17
Rushing Yardage	36-156	37-140
Passing Yardage	304	240
Passes	23-37-1	11-14-0
Punts	4-33.7	5-37.4
Fumbles lost	1-1	1-1
Penalties-yards	7-60	7-64

Associated Images:

Bishop Kelley's Zachary Washington hauls in a pass over Coweta defender Jakeem Johnson. BRETT ROJO / For the Tulsa World