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CEDAR HILL — The rare sight of seeing no points on the Cedar Hill side of the scoreboard for almost three entire quarters could have been discouraging for a lesser team.
But quarterback Cedric Harden Jr. kept up a steady stream of encouragement and in crunch time delivered the knockout blow in Cedar Hill’s tense 14-10 victory over determined Waxahachie for a share of the District 11-6A lead Friday night at Longhorn Stadium.
Harden’s arm strength came in handy on both touchdown drives with connections of 46 yards with the wind in the third quarter and 37 yards into the breeze in the final quarter. The target on both was junior Jairrus Nicholson.
A fourth-down quarterback sack by defensive end Traviun Smith preceded Cedar Hill’s 53-yard, six-play drive to pull out the victory.
The winning score came on third down and was not without dramatics. After faking a handoff to Jaylen Jenkins, Harden lost control of the ball and it dropped to the turf, but he was able to scoop it up and go in untouched.
Cedar Hill (4-2, 3-0 in 11-6A), No. 12 in SportsDay’s Class 6A area rankings, is tied with Duncanville for the district lead.
Cedar Hill safety Keandre Jackson came up with two key plays to stop Waxahachie scoring threats in the opening quarter. Jackson and linebacker Jaden Brown combined on a fourth-down goal-line stand. When a second Waxahachie drive stalled at the Longhorns’ 13, Jackson broke through to block a 30-yard field goal try.
Waxahachie’s persistence was rewarded with a 58-yard, 10-play drive just before intermission.
WX – Joseph Lankford 34 pass from Roderick Hartsfield Jr (Jesse Garfias kick).
WX – Jesse Garfias 32 field goal
CH – Cedric Harden Jr 2 run (Shawn Sipes kick).
CH – Cedric Harden Jr 2 run (Shawn Sipes kick)
First Downs WX 15 CH 14
Rushing Yards WX 47-102 CH 33-215
Passing Yards WX 116 CH 122
Passing WX 9-18-0 CH 6-12-0
Punts-Avg WX 3-33.7 CH 5-19.4
Penalties WX 3-25 CH 10-99
Fumbles-Lost WX 1-0 CH 1-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: WX – Jayden Becks 19-75, Roderick Hartsfield Jr 9-24, Iverson Young 19-51. CH – Robert Richardson 2-2, Cedric Harden Jr 13-89, Jaylen Jenkins 17-122, Keione Bright 1-2
Passing: WX – Roderick Hartsfield Jr 9-18-0-116. CH – Cedric Harden Jr 6-12-0-122
Receiving: WX – Jayden Becks 3-17, Keith Abney II 2-16, Iverson Young 1-14, Blair Hawkins 1-11, Joseph Lankford 2-58. CH – Robert Richardson 1-4, Felton Brisco 1-3, Keione Bright 1-12, Joshua Manley 1-20, Jairrus Nicholson 2-83.
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