Crowley 26, Midland 21

November 23, 2024

Shotwell Stadium

Abilene, TX

A Saturday night special in the area round of the playoffs certainly delivered when it comes to excitement as Crowley advanced to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1971 with a thrilling win over a tough Midland High squad.

Midland’s defense set the tone early forcing a Crowley three and out to open the game and the Bulldogs ground oriented offense got going moving to the Crowley 18, but a fumble by MHS QB Stroman Bridges was recovered by Crowley LB Kameron Walker.

The Eagles would take advantage of the turnover taking a 7-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the first quarter as QB Caleb Williams hooked up with Antayvious Ellis for a 34-yard touchdown pass.

Midland would respond with a seven plus minute drive, but the Bulldogs were stoned by the Crowley defense on 4th and 1 from the Crowley four yard line and Crowley would take over leading 7-0 with 9:37 left in the second quarter. It was the first time Midland’s offense failed to score in 2024 in the red zone.

Crowley would immediately seize control of the game marching 96 yards to take a 13-0 lead on a nine-yard touchdown run from Jonathan Blake with six minutes left in the first half as the PAT was blocked. After a Midland three and out, Crowley would extend the lead to 19-0 with 3:31 left in the half as Blake found the end zone again from three yards out as the two-point PAT failed. That would end up being the score at halftime and it appeared we were in danger of another DFW rout of a West Texas team in the playoffs.

Midland would open the second half with a different energy and the Bulldogs found the end zone on their opening drive as RB Elijah McCoy would score from eight yards out to cut the Crowley lead to 19-7 with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter.

The MHS defense would get a stop and with momentum the Bulldogs moved into Crowley territory, but disaster struck the Bulldogs as Matthias Martin would scoop up a Midland fumble and race 60 yards for a score to give Crowley what appeared to be an insurmountable lead at 26-7 with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

Midland wouldn’t go away as after a nice kickoff return, the Bulldogs struck quickly as WR Ayden Castillo got behind the Crowley defense to haul in a 48-yard touchdown pass from Stroman Bridges to cut Crowley’s lead to 26-14 with 2:48 left in the third quarter.

Midland needing a stop was unable to get Crowley off the field on the next drive as the Eagles failed to score, but they held on to the ball for over six minutes before punting and pinning Midland on their own twenty.

The Bulldogs would go into their version of a hurry-up offense as they marched eighty yards to score as Bridges connected with WR Cornell Hunt for a 14-yard touchdown pass to cut the Crowley lead to 26-21 with 3:42 left and a pair of timeouts.

Midland decided to go for an onside kick, but Crowley would recover and proceed to run out the remaining 3:42 of the game as CHS converted a pair of fourth down conversions to drain the clock and escape Midland’s late rally to advance to the regional semifinals in 6A-Division II Region I.