By Warren Morrison
Herald Banner staff
ROCKWALL - The Commerce Tigers capitalized on three fourth-down touchdowns to beat the Alvarado Indians, 42-20, Friday night in the Class 3A regional final at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium.
With the win, Commerce remains undefeated for the season at 14-0 and claims its third 3A regional championship in five years. The Tigers advance to play the winner of today's Crane-Childress game in the state semifinals.
Senior halfback Avin Johnson scored on two of the touchdowns on runs of 35 and 10 yards while a wide-open Broderick Kelley caught a 21-yards pass for the third.
Johnson added a third touchdown on a 12-yard run. The Tigers also got touchdowns on Logan Coffey's 11-yard reception and a one-yard run by senior fullback Ryan Sienty to amass 367 yards of total offense.
Commerce wasted little time in putting points up on the stadium scoreboard; going 55 yards in four plays taking just 1:55 off the clock. Quarterback Chad Anderson ran for 46 yards to the Alvarado 14 to set up his touchdown pass to Coffey.
Coffey would also convert on the two-point conversion to give Commerce a quick 8-0 lead with just a little more than two minutes into the game.
The Tigers got the ball back on their own 20 following an Alvarado punt that sailed into the end zone Ñ courtesy of a gusty 30-mile per hour southerly wind Ñ two minutes later and maintained possession for the remainder of the period behind the legs of Anderson and Sienty.
Starting the second quarter on the Alvarado 12, Johnson broke through two tackles at the line for his first touchdown of the night, followed by the Sienty extra point kick.
Alvarado, which ends its season at 11-3, came back to cut the lead down to nine on its next possession when senior quarterback Steven Ramsey connected with wide receiver Hollywood Mitchell for 60-yard touchdown pass.
Mitchell and Commerce defensive back Tommy Wright battled for the ball at the Tigers 40. Wright attempted the interception, only to tip the ball into Mitchell's hands who raced untouched into the end zone at the 8:48 mark in the second quarter.
Commerce extended its lead back into double digits on its next possession as Johnson's 35-yard run through the heart of the Alvarado defense capped an 11-play, 64-yard drive with 4:02 left until halftime.
The Indians narrowed the gap on the final possession of the half; going 80 yards in 11 plays when Ramsey found a wide open Melvin Norwood along the near sideline for a 14-yard touchdown. The two touchdown passes pushed Ramsey's total for the night to 145 yards while completing seven of 13 attempts with one interception.
Alvarado cut the Commerce lead to two, 22-20, on the first possession of the second half on halfback CaShan Clark's 60-yard run. Clark broke Commerce tackles at the line before escaping down the near sidleine.
The two teams traded possessions and it looked as if Alvarado was about to stop Commerce for the second time in s four-minute span. With the Tigers facing a fourth-and-three at the Alvarado 10, Anderson pitched right to Johnson, who started toward the near sideline.
Like Clark moments before him, Johnson managed to break away from the defense and ran the tightrope along the sideline for 10 yards and the touchdown at the 3:05 mark in the third quarter.
That play appeared to be the difference as the Alvarado offense could not manage to stay on the field for more than four plays for the remainder of the game.
While the Alvarado defense keyed on Anderson Ñ who rushed for 109 yards on 13 carries in the first half and finished with 137 yards on 24 carries Ñ Commerce switched the ball-carrying duties to Sienty but not before Anderson connected with Kelley for the 13-yard scoring play on a fourth-and-five.
The Commerce defense, which had allowed Clark 65 yards on six carries and Ramsey 40 yards on 15 carries, notched two quarterback sacks; with the second coming off a bad snap to the Ramsey on a fourth-and-six with 7:33 left to play.
Sienty, who was limited to four carries for 13 yards in the first half, finished with a strong second half, including the final touchdown to cap an 11-play, 72-yard drive that took almost seven minutes off the fourth quarter clock.
The senior, who had connected on his four previous extra point attempts, missed his last one.
Alvarado attempted one final drive but Ramsey's long pass was intercepted by Kelley to end the game.