JENNIFER MULHAUSEN
The Ellis County Press Sports
ARLINGTON – To give the Flower Mound Marcus Marauders credit, they hung close to Cedar Hill through the first two quarters of play, but the Cedar Hill team that emerged after halftime effectively shut down Marcus in the second half of play for the 41-10 victory.
The Marauders entered the game with a regular season record of 6-3 and a 48-18 win over Grapevine the weekend before in the first round of play-offs.
In the end, however, they were no match for the speed and agility of Mason Hayes and his fellow Longhorns teammates who were hard-set on not succumbing to the same fate as last season’s team.
The Longhorns came ready to play and stormed down the field on their opening drive, but what should have been a sure-bet touchdown turned instead into a 29-yard field goal by Eduardo Camara to give the Horns a 3-0 lead at the 9:02 mark of the first quarter.
Cedar Hill extended their lead to 10-0 after a 55-yard pass from quarterback Driphus Jackson to Mason Hayes.
Flower Mound got on the board to begin the second quarter after Dagan Newsome took the ball in from 23 yards out for the touchdown.
Cedar Hill held a 17-10 lead at the half after a 13-yard run by Mason Hayes for the Longhorns and a 38-yard field goal by Marauders’ kicker Trevor Mouton.
Cedar Hill made it a two possession game with 3:35 left to play in the third quarter with a one-yard run by Ben Malena to go up 24-10.
The Horns opened up the fourth quarter with a six-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Lovett Gibson for a 31-10 lead.
Flower Mound scored what would be their final touchdown with 7:52 left in the game on a 26-yard pass from quarterback Brode Boyd to Chris Cahill to trail 31-17.
A three-yard touchdown run from Hayes and a 30-yard field goal from Camara rounded out the Longhorns’ decisive win against the Marauders to advance to the next round of playoffs.
Mason Hayes led the rushing and receiving categories with 12 rushes for 125 yards, two receptions for 68 yards, and three touchdowns in the game.
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