Football: Abilene Wylie pulls away from Seminole in 3A Division I regional game

MIDLAND Seminole stuck with Abilene Wylie for a little more than a half on Saturday night.

But in a back-and-forth football game, the team that turns the ball over loses the staring contest.

And Abilene Wylie played nearly mistake-free football to beat the Indians 28-16 in a Class 3A Division I regional playoff matchup at Grande Communications Stadium.

The Bulldogs (10-2) will play China Springs in a quarterfinal game at a time and place to be determined.

"We made a few mistakes, and they capitalized," Seminole head coach Chris Burtch said. "When you play a good ballclub like Abilene Wylie, you can't make the mistakes we did."

Seminole (7-5) headed into the locker room at halftime trailing 12-9, but the Indians opened the second half with a 13-play, 80-yard drive.

Nicky Nave capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run that gave Seminole a 16-12 lead.

Abilene Wylie came right back.

After Bulldogs quarterback Matt Preston completed a pair of long passes to wide receiver Austin Gray for 25 and 27 yards, respectively, Preston kept the ball on an option and scored from 4 yards out to put Abilene Wylie back in front.

Up until that point there had been no turnovers in the game.

On Seminole's next possession, though, Abilene Wylie defensive lineman Kolter Wright knifed into the Indians' backfield and deflected a pitch on an Indians reverse, then recovered the fumble at the Seminole 24.

Two plays later Abilene Wylie's Kris Gilmore scored on a 13-yard run that gave the Bulldogs' the game's first double-digit lead, 26-16.

"We left somebody unblocked at the point where the pitch was going to be made," Burtch said. "He came through and disrupted the play."

Seminole never recovered.

Nave, who finished with 92 rushing yards, had been a force for the Indians in the first half, but he only gained 14 yards on 11 carries after the break.

Thirteen of those yards came on Nave's touchdown run.

"It was a little tougher to find holes in the second half," Nave said. "There were creases here and there, but I had a tough time finding them."

With Nave shut down, Seminole turned to quarterback Steven Garza, who completed 15 of 27 passes for 217 yards and a 17-yard first-half touchdown to Scotty Flores.

But the Bulldogs found a way to get pressure on Garza in the fourth quarter, and both Chance Perkins and Michael Seidensticker made crucial interceptions for Abilene Wylie.

"We did a great job of staying in position and pursuing the ball," Perkins said. "We just tried to take it one play at a time, blow that play up and move on to the next one."

The Bulldogs' defense made the difference in a game that had been tight in the first half.

Abilene Wylie opened the scoring on an 8-yard pass from Preston to Jon Miller in the first quarter.

Seminole answered with Garza's touchdown pass.

And after Gilmore broke away for a 69-yard touchdown run, Seminole kicker Reid Layton nailed a 29-yard field goal to pull the Indians within 3 at the break.

But once Abilene Wylie started making plays on defense, Seminole couldn't come back.

"There was no time in this game that we thought it was over," Garza said. "We fought hard, we just fell a little short."

>> Abilene Wylie 28, Seminole 16

CLASS 3A DIVISION I REGIONAL PLAYOFF

At Grande Communications Stadium, Midland

Abilene Wylie          12     0   14     2   -    28

Seminole                           6     3     7     0    -                         16

First Quarter

Wylie - Jon Miller 8 pass from Matt Preston (kick failed), 7:16. Drive: 12 plays, 72 yards, 4:38. Key plays: Preston 19 run on 3rd-and-5 at Wylie 33.

Seminole - Scotty Flores 17 pass from Steven Garza (kick failed), 1:27. Drive: 12 plays, 81 yards, 5:42. Key plays: Flores 21 pass from Garza on 2nd-and-18 at Wylie 30.

Wylie - Kris  Gilmore 65 run (pass failed), 0:00. Drive: 3 plays, 73 yards, 1:26.

Second Quarter

Seminole - Reid Layton 27 field goal, 5:15. Drive: 14 plays, 71 yards, 6:45. Key plays: Nicky Nave 5 run on 4th-and-2 at Seminole 17.

Third Quarter

Seminole - Nicky Nave 13 run (Layton kick), 6:47. Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 5:13. Key plays: Bubba Lopez 35 pass from Garza on 2nd-and-9 at Seminole 32.

Wylie - Preston 4 run (Austin Gray kick), 5:07. Drive: 5 plays, 59 yards, 1:31. Key plays: Gray 25 pass from Preston on first play of drive.

Wylie - Gilmore 13 run (Gray kick), 2:05. Drive: 2 plays, 24 yards, 0:18.

Fourth Quarter

Wylie - Safety (ball snapped out of the end zone), 11:18.

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TEAM STATISTICS

                                       Abilene Wylie Seminole

First downs                                        12      18

Total yards                                      271    295

Rushes-yards                           32-174 40-78

Passing                                             97    217

Comp-Att-Int                                        7-10-0                         15-27-2

Sacked-Yards Lost                          1-1     1-4

Punt returns                                     0-0   1-10

Kickoff returns                                3-69   2-16

Punts-Avg.                                 2-80.5 1-23.0

Fumbles-Lost                                 1-0     2-1

Penalties-Yards                                       2-82                         11-82

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Abilene Wylie

Kris Gilmore 11-109, Matt Preston 9-38, Cory Ramos 5-13, Jon Miller 3-8, Joe Nasser 1-9, Keith Green 1-1

Seminole

Nicky Nave 27-92, Steven Garza 9-10, Jarod Adams 1-6, Brandon Alvarado 1-(-6).

PASSING

Abilene Wylie

Matt Preston 7-10-0-97.

Seminole

Steven Garza 15-27-2-217.

RECEIVING

Abilene Wylie

Austin Gray 2-52, Kris Gilmore 1-14, Michael Seidensticker 1-13, Jon Miller 1-8, Matt Field 1-8, Cory Ramos 1-2.

Seminole

Bubba Lopez 7-100, Nicky Nave 3-47, Scotty Flores 2-38, Kenneth Russell 2-17, Jarod Adams 1-15.

INTERCEPTIONS

Abilene Wylie

Chance Perkins 1-0, Michael Seidensticker 1-0.