Willis Football Shocks No. 5 A&M Consolidated On Road

COLLEGE STATION, TX — A false start penalty put Willis in a precarious position, and it looked like the high-powered A&M Consolidated offense would get one last chance to tie the game late.

Willis quarterback DJ Lagway didn’t give them that chance.

The sophomore ran around left end for 13 yards on third-and-10 with just over two minutes left, sealing a 24-17 road victory over Class 5A Division II No. 5 Consol on Friday night at Tigerland Stadium.

Lagway’s run came three plays after he picked up another big third down with his legs, hurdling a Consol defender for five yards on third-and-2.

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“Lagway’s getting better every week [with] maturity and understanding game situations. He takes care of the football, and that was critical tonight,” Willis head coach Michael Wall said. “I’m proud of that big third-down run to keep us on the field at a critical time.”

Lagway, who already has scholarship offers from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston, put the Wildkats (2-2) in front for good with 9:17 left in the fourth quarter. He kept the ball on a read-option, only to be met by two Consol defenders, but he cut inside, pulled off a spin move and ran over another defender as he plunged over the goal line for a 12-yard touchdown run.

Willis’ defense, which was stellar all night, took over from there, allowing just one first down on the Tigers’ final two drives. A 60-yard, potential tying touchdown pass from Consol quarterback Brodie Daniel to receiver Wesley Greaves was called back for a chop block penalty on Consol’s final drive.

The Wildkats held the normally potent Consol offense to just 225 yards and frequently came up with key stops on short fields.

A pair of first-quarter fumbles gave Consol (3-1) starting field position at the Willis 21- and 45-yard lines on consecutive possessions. The Wildkats came up with a turnover on downs on fourth-and-goal and followed with two sacks to force a punt.

“They had some bad situations and made some big stops,” Wall said. “They were in the backfield bothering [Daniel] all night. We’re a scrappy bunch, and we were that tonight.

“We were giving them a lot of looks, a lot of twist gains. They have a big offensive line, so we weren’t just letting them line up and mash us.”

Willis racked up 256 rushing yards and controlled the ball for most of the game. Senior Da’Ontae Fleeks had 75 rushing yards on 16 carries, often gaining tough yards in the middle of Consol’s stout defensive line. Lagway played a big factor with his legs, rushing for 54 yards on 19 carries. Three of those carries lost 41 yards on sacks.

Lagway also threw for 150 yards on 13-of-19 passing, often finding his favorite target, senior receiver Ladarius Brown, who had seven catches for 103 yards.

Junior Devon Lovelady provided the fireworks in the second half with 115 yards on just four carries, including an 80-yard touchdown on his first carry that gave the Wildkats a 17-10 lead late in the third quarter. He added a 35-yard run to set up Lagway’s winning touchdown.

“The crazy thing about him is that in four games, he’s touched the ball probably 10 times, and he has about four touchdowns,” Wall said. “When he touches it, he makes a big play. It’s like, why don’t we give it to him every play? But yeah, he gave us a great spark.”

Consol took advantage of a huge break to tie the game early in the fourth quarter after it appeared the Wildkats had recovered a fumble in the red zone on third down. An inadvertent whistle before the fumble gave the Tigers the choice between taking the ball where it was fumbled for fourth down or replaying third down. Consol converted on its second chance, and running back Keshun Thomas scored his second touchdown, a 2-yard plunge, to tie the game at 17 with 11:08 left in the game.

Thomas led the Tigers with 146 rushing yards on 22 carries.

“We had chances to win the ballgame, and we should’ve won the ballgame,” Consol head coach Lee Fedora said. “We had turnovers; we had penalties. That one big touchdown at the end, had a penalty called on that. We’ve got to stay focused, keep our heads up and get ready for the real season.”

Consol drove 68 yards at the end of the first half as a defensive pass interference call and a 16-yard catch-and-run from Daniel to Christian Dalsing put the Tigers at the Willis 10-yard line with under 20 seconds left. Willis forced a pair of incompletions in the end zone, and Cole Bentz hit a 26-yard field goal to give Consol a 10-7 lead at the half.

The teams traded touchdowns early in the second quarter. Lagway found Brown over the middle for a 55-yard catch-and-run to the Consol 8-yard line. Two plays later, Fleeks ran for a 3-yard touchdown to put Willis up 7-0 with 10:11 left in the first half.

The lead was short-lived as Consol senior Dre Minor returned the ensuing kickoff 74 yards to the Willis 5-yard line. Two plays later, Thomas ran it in from a yard out to tie the game with 9:30 left in the second quarter.

It was one of the few times Willis’ defense couldn’t rise up to keep Consol off the board. The Wildkats held Daniel to 106 yards on 9-of-18 passing.

“In my short time here, this is one of the best wins we’ve had,” Wall said. “This is a quality program in their place. I think it gives us a great boost going into the last non-district game [against Klein Collins on Friday] and bye week. We’ve still got to fix us, and if we can do that, I think we’ll be pretty good.”