Midland Lee football player Tyler Day
Christopher Hadorn/Reporter-Telegram
Midland Lee football player JP Reyes
Christopher Hadorn/Reporter-Telegram
Midland Lee football player Hayes Hamm
Christopher Hadorn/Reporter-Telegram
Midland Lee dug too deep of a hole during a shootout with El Paso Eastlake on Friday night.
The Rebels faced an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Falcons and made a late rally but couldn’t pull off the miracle.
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On the final play of the game, Eastlake’s Julian Williams threw a pass up for grabs, which was intercepted by Lee’s Tyler Day at the 23-yard line and returned to midfield when he fumbled as time expired.
The Falcons held on to beat the Rebels, 51-48, in a wild football game at Socorro ISD Student Activities Complex 2 in El Paso.
Lee (2-1) cut its deficit to 51-48 when JP Reyes completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Braylen Anders with 1 minute, 49 seconds left.
“You can’t win games with mistakes, but when you get beat, you get outcoached, you get outplayed,” Rebels head coach Clint Hartman said. “There’s lots of stuff that has to be fixed. I’m proud of their fight, coming back. At the end of the game, they threw a ball up and Tyler Day intercepted it. I thought he was going to score, and we were going to pull it out. He did everything he could to score and I’m proud of him.”
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Lee chased Eastlake (3-0) all night long.
The Falcons snapped the ball past Williams on their first play from scrimmage. Williams was able to pick the ball back up and throw a 77-yard TD pass to a wide-open Diego Diharce, pushing Eastlake to a 7-0 lead.
Lee fell behind 10-0 early as Hartman said the Rebels fumbled the opening kickoff return and fumbled the ball away on their second offensive drive.
The Rebels scored their first TD when quarterback Santiago Mendoza scored on a 10-yard run, cutting the deficit to 10-7 with 5:57 left in the first quarter.
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Eastlake took a 17-7 lead on a 6-yard TD pass from Williams to Rene Ruiseco, and a 23-10 advantage on a 14-yard TD pass from Williams to Diharce.
However, Day blocked Eastlake’s PAT attempt following the second TD and picked it up to score on an 81-yard return for two points, cutting the deficit to 23-12.
The Rebels inched to 23-20 when Reyes completed a 30-yard TD pass to Ryder Roberts with 6:59 left in the second quarter.
But Eastlake went into halftime with the momentum up 30-20 after Williams completed a 2-yard TD pass to Christian Wegmann with 25 seconds left.
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The Falcons extended their lead to 37-20 when Williams found Albert Jones for a 24-yard TD pass in the third quarter.
Lee kept battling as Reyes threw a 45-yard TD pass to Maddox Marquez in the third quarter and it trailed 44-33 when Hayes Hamm scored on a 5-yard TD run with 11:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Eastlake led 51-33 when Williams completed a 16-yard TD pass to Dihance with 9:00 left.
Williams finished with six TD passes with Dihance hauling in three TD receptions, while Wegmann grabbed two TD catches.
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“Defensively, we have to move some guys around,” Hartman said. “We have to move a couple of guys from offense to defense, but we’ll figure it out. The kids are trying and they’re busting their butt. Hat’s off to them, they played their butt off. Their quarterback played really, really well and they kept making first downs on fourth downs.”
The Rebels ended the game on a 15-0 run.
Hamm scored on a 3-yard TD run with 6:45 left, cutting the Rebels’ deficit to 51-41 with the 2-point conversion.
Reyes threw for three TD passes, while Hamm had two rushing TDs.
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“I’m proud of JP and the receivers,” Hartman said. “I think Ja’Braylen had an amazing night.”
The Rebels will look to bounce back when they host Liberty Hill at 7 p.m. Sept. 18.
“My hats are off to them,” Hartman said of the Falcons. “Last year, they played Permian to within a touchdown, so it wasn’t like you didn’t think it could happen. One thing I know, I’ve done this a long time. They’ll be a bunch of critics that think they know what to do, but the guys in the arena and the coaches will get it fixed.”
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