Llano football beats Corpus Christi London

The Llano High School football team crushed Corpus Christi London 53-12 Nov. 21 for an area championship of the Class 3A Division I playoffs.

The Yellow Jackets (11-1, 5-0 District 13-3A Division I champions) will face Goliad (10-2, District 15-3A Division I runner-up) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, at Bastrop Memorial Stadium. Buy tickets here.

The Tigers eliminated Crystal City 49-28 Nov. 21.

Going into the area game, Llano head coach Matt Green had much respect for the London Pirates’ offense led by senior quarterback Alex Manning and his four receivers. And Green was curious – had the Pirates faced a defense like the one new Jackets defensive coordinator Michael McLeod fields? Can that passing attack, which averaged 295 yards throughout the season, do that against Llano?

The answer was an emphatic no as the Jackets defense’s “No Fly Zone” limited the Pirates to 115 yards from their passing game for 120 yards of total offense. Manning, who had only thrown 10 interceptions coming into the contest against Llano, threw three that includes back-to-back catches by Llano senior safety Grayson Lilie, who returned one 69 yards for a touchdown.

In all, Manning completed 13 of 32 passes for 115 yards with no touchdowns on top of the interceptions. The other one was caught by senior defensive back Austin Humphries.

“Great defensive execution,” McLeod told the Jackets in their post game huddle. “It wasn’t perfect. But great defensive execution.”

To fully appreciate the Llano defense’s supremacy, consider this. The Pirates had 10 offensive possessions that ended with three interceptions, a fumble that was recovered by Llano junior defensive end Cole Kennedy, two punts, three turnovers on downs and the end of the game where they chose not to punt as the clock hit triple zeroes.

Head coach Matt Green couldn’t commend his players enough for their play and facing adversity like a championship team as he congratulated them on earning another gold ball trophy .

“That’s how you win any ball, that’s how you go deep in the playoffs,” he said. “You play for your team – you don’t play for yourselves.”

And he emphasized two groups that needed “to be loved up.”

“Defense was unbelievably dominant at all levels, from the secondary that caught interceptions to the pass rush we got on and to the linebackers containing them,” he said. “When they took off, the defense was simply awesome – they gave up six points. That’s unbelievable. The defensive line applied tons of pressure. 

“And then the other we have to talk about is on the offensive side, as good as the skilled kids were, is the offensive line,” he added. “That offensive line absolutely knocked London off the ball all night and controlled the line of scrimmage. I said it last December after our season ended. The strength of our football team will be the offensive line and the defensive line. And that’s what happened. It allowed our kids to make big-time plays.”

The Jackets led from the start. They had the first offensive possession of the game and drove 70 yards in 11 plays in a drive that ended when senior running back Jose Sillas scored on a two-yard run. Senior kicker Francisco Parravano added the extra point and the Jackets led 7-0 with 8 minutes 15 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.

The Pirates’ first drive ended on their first offensive play when Kennedy recovered London’s fumble.

But the London defense turned the Jackets away thanks to catching the contest’s first interception. Its offense needed four plays to score, completing the 77-yard drive with a 40-yard pass to sophomore receiver Maddox Jennings from Manning. The extra point was blocked by Llano senior defensive back J.D. Friday to preserve a 7-6 advantage with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter.

Llano got the score right back thanks to another multi-play drive. This time the Jackets covered 71 yards in 10 plays on a drive that ended when Sillas lined up in the wildcat package and worked his way to pay dirt from 15 yards out. Junior quarterback Luke Davis found receiver Humphries on the two-point pass for the 15-6 advantage with 1:24 left in the first period.

The Pirates’ next drive ended on a turnover on downs four seconds into the second stanza.

Llano took over on its own 27-yard line. Fourteen plays later, Parravano ended the drive with a 25-yard field to give the Jackets an 18-6 lead with 7:15 left in the half.

Lilie struck on the next London drive. The Pirates drove 30 yards in six plays to reach the Llano 42. But on the seventh play, Manning launched a ball with some air, allowing the Jacket to get to it. Then he followed his blockers and turned on the after jets as he ran it back to the end zone the other way in front of the orange and black faithful on a 69-yard scamper and the 25-6 advantage with 4:41 remaining in the half. The result of the play started when Kennedy was a second away from sacking Manning.

Determined to get back in the game, the Pirates started another methodical drive, going 33 yards in eight plays to get to the 50. On fourth and nine, Lilie caught his second interception to set up the Jackets on the Pirates 32-yard line.

It took the Jackets six plays to get to the London one. On second and goal, the ball was snapped and slipped through fingers as the Pirates brought the house on a heavy blitz. London sophomore defensive back Sam Sanchez picked up the ball and ran about 90 yards the other direction. The two-point pass failed, but the Pirates trimmed the deficit to 25-12 at the half.

London received the opening kickoff of the second half and got one first down. On third and 5 from its 49, the Pirates were called for a false start then senior Isaiah Aguilar, who moved from linebacker to defensive end, sacked Manning to force London to punt on fourth and 15.

Llano took over on its 27-yard line and needed five plays to go 73 yards in 1:40. The drive ended when Davis hit senior receiver Graham Prokop on a 21-yard touchdown and the 32-12 advantage with about 7:40 remaining in the contest.

After the Pirates turned the ball over on downs, the Jackets’ next drive finished when freshman Cole Landers made his way to the end zone on a 51-yard touchdown run for the 39-12 lead with 5:39 left in the game. The two-play, 52-yard drive needed 38 seconds to finish.

“When you play tough ball games, sometimes things like (the fumble on your own one-yard line) happen and certainly, we didn’t want it to happen,” Green said. “And if we go in and score right there, I think it’s ballgame, for sure, I think we break their backs. But we gave them momentum, they get the ball coming out, and what I love about our football team is they came out and stopped them. And then we get the ball immediately and go score, and that’s the mark of a championship football team. And that’s what they did. We don’t want to turn it over there, we want to punch the ball in. But I’ll just say in these big games, it can happen, so you have to be able to overcome it. And we did.” 

Humphries ended the Pirates’ next drive with an interception on the first play.

Then Davis steered a 57-yard, 11-play drive that ended when he called his now number for a two-yard touchdown run and the 46-12 advantage with 1:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Another London punt and another Llano touchdown. This one — a 23-yard touchdown catch by senior tight end Konrad Zwicke from Davis — ended a 50-yard drive in six plays and took 2:43 to finish for the 53-12 score with 8:57 left in the contest.

London drove 55 yards to reach the Llano 25-yard line but turned the ball over on downs. By then reserves had taken over.

The Pirates, who also averaged around 385 yards of total offense, struggled throughout the game to get an offensive rhythm. The Jackets pressured Manning all night thanks to their 12 quarterback hurries and two sacks both by Aguilar.

“Our defensive staff had an amazing plan to confuse the quarterback by switching the coverages, and we mixed them up all night long with coverages,” Green said. “And we mixed blitz packages. Sometimes we came after him with five or six and other times we only brought three, and he was confused. Hats off to the defensive staff, they had a remarkable plan, and our kids carried it out beautifully.” 

Meanwhile the Llano offense, under the direction of coordinator Ryan Priem, generated 532 yards of total offense thanks to 360 yards from the rushing attack on 55 carries.

Landers had 16 rushes for 180 yards and a score, Sillas finished with 12 carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns and a five-yard reception, senior running backs Brayton Shaw had 11 carries for 63 yards and River Thomison had five carries for six yards.

Davis completed 10 of 11 passes for 132 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and Davis had four carries for four yards and a score, while Lilie completed 5 of 6 passes for 40 yards and had seven rushes for 49 yards.

Prokop had four receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown, while junior receiver Cash Lynch had five catches for 149 yards, Zwicke caught a 23-yard touchdown pass, Humphries had two catches for five yards, junior Josiah Wood had a 14-yard reception and Emerson Pool had a three-yard catch. Both are juniors.

Parravano contributed nine points to the scoring total thanks to connecting on all six of his extra points and the 25-yard field.

As the holiday approaches, Green noted he is thankful the Jackets will have a quick practice on Thanksgiving morning where the players’ families attend.

“It’s just a really good time, and we have a lot to be thankful for in Llano, but I’m so excited to be playing Thanksgiving football,” he said. “We’re one of 16 teams. I’m so proud. That’s not the end goal, but let me just tell you getting here is very difficult. You can go ask the majority of the teams throughout this state who won’t get to play Thanksgiving football. We’re thankful for the opportunity.”