High School Football

Taylor overcomes 21-point deficit to beat Seven Lakes

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 9/18/22

“It feels awesome,” Jefferson said. “It’s just amazing to be here and get this win, but this isn’t about me and we aren’t done yet. This is the first of many and that’s what I and the other guys have to stress to the team."

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High School Football

Taylor overcomes 21-point deficit to beat Seven Lakes

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Taylor knows how close they are to being able to compete with anyone at the District 19-6A level.

The Mustangs are a young team, but they have experience and talent and for the team, its all about combining those two things and turning it into wins.

Taylor had showed that in spurts this year, but it hasn’t always turned into wins. But the Mustangs may have had a breakthrough on Saturday night at Legacy Stadium.

Taylor (2-2, 1-1) overcame a 21-point deficit to come out 35-28 winners over Seven Lakes (0-3, 0-1), securing the Mustangs their first District 19-6A win of the year.

“We knew the entire time that we could win this game, even when we were down three scores,” said senior quarterback Joe Jefferson. “We had the same mindset the whole time, it never changed. We knew we had to fight and overcome whatever was in front of us. We knew it was going to be a battle, when we went down 21 we just said ‘ok we’re going to overcome this, lets go.’

Jefferson is no stranger to overcoming adversity, and the win was especially sweet for him.

Last year in Taylor’s first district game, Jefferson went down to a leg injury that sidelined him for months. The quarterback had to watch from the sidelines the rest of the way, but he committed to coming back even stronger.

Jefferson has been a huge presence for Taylor this year, and he along with the rest of the team did not want to wait any longer for their first district win of the year.

“It feels awesome,” Jefferson said. “It’s just amazing to be here and get this win, but this isn’t about me and we aren’t done yet. This is the first of many and that’s what I and the other guys have to stress to the team. We’re like that, we are a good football team and we’re going to keep winning. That’s the mindset we have to have.”

Seven Lakes started the game with a punt and then made a stop on a Taylor fourth down as the Mustangs were driving near the red zone. The Spartans then struck first on their next drive as Tanner Perez threw a screen pass to Marcel Davis, who took it 71-yards for a touchdown.

Seven Lakes went up two scores early in the second quarter on another pass, this time from Perez to Landon Ross and then made things 21-0 on a Barrett Hudson touchdown run with three minutes left in the half.

But Taylor turned things around from there. After a big pass, Dante Archie cut the lead to 14 on a 2-yard run and then Taylor nearly got seven more points on their final drive of the half. And Taylor came out even more determined in the third quarter.

“At halftime, there wasn’t any doubt with these guys at all,” said Taylor head coach Chad Simmons. “I told them ‘this could be a legendary comeback from being down 21.’ They all just fully bought in and kept their poise and stayed confident, that’s all we needed.”

Taylor came out hot immediately in the second half. Jefferson opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 15-yard touchdown throw to Dante Archie before Cherron Lewis ran in a score from eight yards out. Jefferson then hit Archie again from 49 yards out as Taylor took their first lead of the game, 28-21.

Jefferson ended the night 9 for 17 passing with 208 yards and three touchdowns through the air, while also adding 135 yards on the ground to lead the Mustangs.

“It’s a joy to see where Joe has gotten too,” Simmons said. “He’s as mature, poised and as good a kid as you’ll ever be around. He doesn’t take the credit for anything and is always praising his teammates and knows he can’t be successful with those guys around him. He gets it, and that’s one of the best things you can say about a kid.”

Jefferson put Taylor up two scores midway through the fourth with a 4-yard pass to Daniel Bruns before Seven Lakes cut things to a seven point lead on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Perez to Ross.

Taylor got the ball back and pounded the ball for two first downs to run out the clock, Jefferson broke off a long run on the play that sealed it, and went down at the one-yard-line instead of scoring to secure the win. A play that Simmons said showed the seniors leadership and maturity.

The Taylor defense held strong with everything the Spartans threw at them in the second half and also helped set up the offense for those scores, something the coaches and offense were quick to praise.

“During halftime, our coach came to us and said we can’t have any more of what we had early, each of us has to do our job,” said junior defensive lineman Ashton Coker. “If each of us do our jobs then we know we’ll succeed as a whole team. We all did that in the second half on both sides of the ball and that’s what got us the win.”

The win comes at an important time for Taylor, as the Mustangs enter their bye week and prepare for the rest of district play.

But Taylor wont spend the next week feeling good about themselves, they know there’s still work to do.

“We’re going to keep going out and getting better everyday,” Coker said. “This win is important but there’s more for us to do. Our goal is playoffs, so we are going to push for that. We lost to Cinco, but we are just going to keep going and try to beat every other team in our way.”

Taylor 35, Seven Lakes 28

Taylor

0

7

21

7

 --

35

Seven Lakes

8

13

0

7

 --

28

First quarter

SL: Tanner Perez 71 pass to Marcel Davis (Luke Cunningham run) 3:20

Second quarter

SL: Perez 46 pass to Landon Ross (kick failed) 7:55

SL: Barrett Hudson 4 run (Jon Franco kick) 3:12

T: Dante Archie 2 run (Alei Sabek kick) 2:25

Third quarter

T: Joe Jefferson 15 pass to Dante Archie (Sabek kick) 8:39

T: Cherron Lewis 8 run (Franco kick) 4:49

T: Joe Jefferson 49 pass to Dante Archie (Sabek kick) 2:22

Fourth quarter

T: Jefferson 4 pass to Daniel Bruns (Sabek kick) 6:38

SL: Pere 67 pass to Ross (Franco kick) 2:57

Team stats

Taylor

Seven Lakes

  First downs

17

13

  Yards rushing

49-263

28-92

  Yards passing

208

265

  Passes

9-17-3-1

11-21-3-0

  Punts

2-26

4-32

  Fumbles-lost

0-0

1-1

  Penalty-yards

2-15

9-91

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Taylor: Joe Jefferson: 22-135; Dante Archie, 14-62-1; Cherron Lewis, 12-59-1; Chase Cobbin, 1-7; Seven Lakes: Jake Farris, 14-51; Barrett Hudson, 8-29-1; Marcel Davis, 3-17; Gary Dang, 1-2; Tanner Perez, 2-(-7);

Passing – Taylor: Joe Jefferson, 9-17-208-3-1; Seven Lakes: Tanner Perez, 11-21-265-3-0

Receiving – Taylor: Dante Archie, 3-77-2; Ian Flynt, 3-57; Alei Sabek, 2-57; Kameron Green, 1-11; Daniel Bruns, 1-6-1; Tompkins: Marcel Davis, Landon Ross, 4-146-2; 6-113-1; Barrett Hudson, 1-6;

Katy ISD, Taylor, sports, Seven Lakes, football, District 19-6A