Braves advance in overtime

MIDLAND The Iraan Braves football team gave up a 15-point lead to O’Donnell in the third quarter.

The Braves gave up the football three times and watched the Eagles turn those into two touchdowns.

Most importantly, though, Iraan never gave up.

Zach Calvert scored his second touchdown of the night on the Braves’ third play in overtime to lift Iraan to a 27-21 victory over O’Donnell in Class 1A Division II bi-district playoff game Saturday night at Grande Communications Stadium.

The victory moved the Braves (6-5) into the area round, where they will face Hale Center at 2 p.m. Nov. 24 at Grande Communications Stadium.

Calvert finished with 54 yards rushing on 11 carries and caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Call Cade during a 21-point second quarter for Iraan.

Dakota Green also caught a 42-yard scoring toss from Cade, who was 5-of-9 for 105 yards, with one interception.

“That’s the way this season has been going for us in the second half,” Iraan coach John Fellows said. “We’ve talked about it, but we are going to have to do a better job next week.

“I thought that we played a great first half and then we gave them some opportunities with a couple of turnovers, but our kids hung in there. This is a great win for the team.”

The Eagles (5-6) were led by running back Justin Ramirez, who carried the ball 24 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns, both in the third quarter as O’Donnell scored twice to erase a 21-6 deficit.

Quarterback Rico Antuna added 70 yards on 18 carries in the loss.

After the teams played a scoreless fourth quarter, O’Donnell took the ball first in overtime and seemed ready to break the tie, driving to the Braves’ 7. Ramirez then carried the ball to the five, but on the second-down play, the Eagles were called for too many men, pushing the ball back to the 20.

On the next play, Antuna’s arm was hit as he was attempting to pass and the ball was inter-cepted by Iraan’s Taylor Chew to stop the drive.

It then took the Braves just three plays to get in the end zone, with Zac Owen’s 20-yard romp around the left end taking the ball to the 4. Calvert then scored on the next play to set off the celebration.

“I was honored that the coaches felt I could get the job done there,” Calvert said. “Zac ran well and laid out for us to give us a chance to win.

“We went on defense first and Taylor came up with the interception and we felt we could win.”

Iraan 27, O’Donnell 21

O’Donnell 6 0 15 0 0 — 21

Iraan 0 21 0 0 6 — 27

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

O’Donnell: Simon Reyna 70 fumble return (kick failed), 7:40.

Second Quarter

Iraan: Oscar Gonzales 16 run (Len Slaughter kick), 10:38.

Iraan: Dakota Green 42 pass from Call Cade (Len Slaughter kick), 4:04.

Iraan: Zach Calvert 39 pass from Call Cade (Len Slaughter kick), 1:53.

Third Quarter

O’Donnell: Justin Ramirez 7 run (Justin Ramirez run), 6:13.

O’Donnell: Justin Ramirez 1 run (Trevor Halfmann kick), 3:14.

Overtime

Iraan: Zach Calvert 4 run (no conversion).

TEAM STATISTICS

Yardstick O’Donnell Iraan

First Downs 15 18

Total Yards 341 326

Rushes-Yards 49-311 44-221

Passing Yards 30 105

Passing 3-9-1 5-9-1

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 2-2

Punts-Avg 5-22.0 5-38.4

Penalties-Yards 7-51 1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

O’Donnell: Justin Ramirez 24-214, Chris Nava 7-27, Rico Antuna 18-70.

Iraan: Call Cade 4-3, Zach Calvert 11-54, Bradley Ledford 6-18, Zac Owen 5-20, David Himel 12-67, Oscar Gonzales 6-59.

Passing

O’Donnell: Rico Antuna 3-9-1-30.

Iraan: Call Cade 5-9-1-105.

Receiving

O’Donnell: Justin Forges 1-10, Justin Ramirez 2-10.

Iraan: Dakota Green 1-42, Zach Calvert 1-39, David Himel 1-13, Ector Galindo 1-9, Oscar Gonzales 1-2.