With crowds roaring, the Decatur Eagle football team scored a last-second touchdown under the bright lights of Baylor University’s McLane Stadium to send the Eagles to their second consecutive state semifinal appearance.
The Decatur Eagles faced off against the Brownwood Lions in a state quarterfinal’s matchup that would turn into an instant classic.
The Eagles are no stranger to this stage, as they made a similar run last year as they advanced to the state semifinals before losing 27-33 to the eventual state champions China Spring.
This experience would pay off, as after a tough back-and-forth game, the score was knotted up at 28-28 with around four minutes left as Decatur was driving.
This drive was quickly stalled out in the red zone, and set up a 35-yard field goal for kicker Greg McDonnell.
With the pressure mounting, Greg stepped up and knocked it right through to put Decatur up 31-28 with three minutes remaining.
“It was a great feeling to be able to help my team out,” Greg said.
This lead was short-lived as Brownwood responded with their own scoring drive.
After a tough Brownwood hop Decatur would be set up at their own 13-yard line with about a minute and a half remaining.
Decatur’s drive starts with two swing passes out wide to running back Nate Palmer, followed by a corner route right on the sideline to receiver Landon Felts, getting Decatur to about midfield.
With time running low, Decatur needed some big plays from their star players, and that’s exactly what they got.
Quarterback Jed Ross connected on a pair of seam shots first to Luke White and second to Landon Felts who was ruled down 1-yard short of the goal line and after a Decatur timeout they were looking at first and goal with 8 seconds remaining.
After the timeout the Eagles drew up a play to get their star running back Nate Palmer the ball.
Ross sent Palmer in motion, got the snap and rolled out right and took a big hit as he delivered a strike to a wide open Nate Palmer who would walk for his fourth and final touchdown of the night to take a Decatur lead with 4 seconds left.
As the crowd goes wild, Greg knocks through the extra point to put the score at 38-35, punching the Eagles ticket to their second-straight state semifinal appearance.
The Eagles will face off against the Anna Coyotes Friday, December 8, at 7 p.m. at C.H. Collin’s Athletic Complex.
“It feels great, but we’ve still got our mission”, said Ross. “We just gotta take it one week at a time. Hope to see all y’all in Denton on Friday.”
