By Kevin Carson
Special to the Herald-Banner
CARROLLTON - The Commerce Tigers employed the time-honored axiom that offense wins games but defense wins championships Friday night as they claimed the Class 3A Division II area championship with a 27-14 victory over
Gainesville at Standridge Stadium.
Commerce, which improved to 12-0 on the season while notching its 28th straight win, hammered Gainesville's defense with 267 yards rushing and limited its high-powered offense to just 161 total yards.
The Leopards, led by former Texas A&M-Commerce player and coach Mark Copeland, finished the season with a record of 9-3.
Most impressive about the Commerce offensive output was the fact that Tommy Wright, the game's leading rusher, had a modest 65 yards on nine carries. Equally impressive was the fact that Bart Beck, the featured runner in Gainesville's one-back attack, was held to 50 yards on 23 rushes. Beck had run for 348 yards in the Leopards' bi-district win last week.
"The talent in our backfield is a big part of our success," said Commerce coach Steve Bragg about his running-by-committee offense. "They can't lock in on one kid because they have to be prepared to defend four or five different guys each night. They are all unselfish players who run and block hard and that combination is tough to beat."
The Tigers didn't just run by committee, they scored by committee also as four different backs, Wright, Brodrick Kelley, Ryan Coffey and Larry Hatley, accounted for the Commerce scores.
A 36-yard run on fourth down by Wright on the Tigers' opening possession capped a 10-play,74-yard drive that began after the defense held Gainesville to just 14 yards on the first possession of the game.
Commerce converted on two third downs on the drive before Wright scampered untouched on a perfectly executed trap play. A two-point pass by freshman kicker Bart Bryant was incomplete, however, and Commerce led, 6-0, with 5:16 remaining in the first quarter.
The defense set up the second Commerce score as they forced the Leopards to punt into a strong north wind from inside their own 5-yard line. The punt was killed at the Gainesville 35-yard line and it took the Tigers just five plays before Kelley capped the short drive with a 13-yard
run. Kelley then hit Anthony Burrell on the two-point pass and the Commerce lead was extended to 14-0 with 10:24 to play in the second quarter.
"Kelley is a good fit at quarterback right now," said Bragg of his senior signal caller. "We are lucky to have two good quarterbacks that we can go to in different situations. Brodrick (Kelley) has that big game experience and has played in over 30 games on varsity and that is a big factor."
It was Kelley's play on defense though that set up the third Tiger score of the night as he picked off Leopard quarterback Nick Haseloff's pass at the Commerce 18-yard line and returned it 42 yards to the Gainesville 42.
Shawn Droddy, the other half of the Tiger quarterback tandem, came on in the ensuing possession and picked up a crucial first down with a 3-yard sneak on fourth and inches to keep the drive alive.
Coffey then ripped off runs of seven and eight yards on consecutive plays to move the ball to just outside the Leopard six-yard line. He then bolted five yards two plays later to convert a third and two on the last play of the third quarter. He scored on the 1-yard run on the opening
play of the final period and Bryant tacked on the point-after kick, giving the Tigers had a commanding 21-0 lead with 11:58 to play.
Gainesville then went on their first extended drive of the game as they advanced to the Commerce 19-yard line. But Haseloff was sacked for a loss of six yards by Broderick Hearn on first down and Hatley broke up a Haseloff
pass in the end zone on fourth down from the 18-yard line and the Leopards came away empty-handed.
They got the ball back just two plays later as Commerce surrendered its third fumble of the night and Gainesville took over at the Tiger 19-yard line.
This time they weren't denied as it took Haseloff just two plays to find the end zone as he hit Larry Wilson on a 20-yard scoring pass. The point-after kick hit the left upright, though, and Commerce held a 21-6 advantage with 6:43 remaining.
Any hopes of a Gainesville comeback were dashed however as Commerce began the ensuing drive at its 14-yard line and took 5:04 to march the 86 yards in 12 plays. Hatley, who kept the drive alive with an 18-yard run on third down from the 23-yard line, put the nail in the coffin with a 5-yard run to up the margin to 27-6 with just 1:37 left.
The Leopards didn't surrender though as Kendrick Grundy took a sideline pass from Haseloff and broke a pair of tackles to go 41 yards for the touchdown. Haseloff then hit Brad Cox for the two-point pass. The margin was cut to 27-14, but only 37 seconds remained in the game.
Haseloff completed 6-of-15 passes for 96 yards and one interception. He also rushed nine times for 15 yards but was sacked three times.
In addition to his game-leading 65 yards rushing, Wright also caught one pass for seven yards. Coffey contributed 50 yards on 10 tries and Hatley finished with 57 yards on seven carries. Kelley gained 29 yards on seven carries while Billy Mercer had 44 yards in nine attempts.
None of those figures stand out individually, but collectively they total 267 yards rushing on 43 carries. More importantly, the Commerce offense by committee will meet again next week.
The Tigers will take on the winner of the Brownsboro-Spring Hill game, which will be
played today in Nacogdoches. The date and time have not been set, but all teams have
agreed on a location, Mesquite's Memorial Stadium.