Ellison quarterback Jaron Turner, playing in place on injured starter Ivan Delgado (dislocated elbow in non-throwing arm), kept the ball on the two-point attempt, started wide, cut inside and was stacked up short of the goal line by a Killeen defense headed by Anthony Shaw.
“We decided that if we had a chance we were going to go for it,” Ellison coach Bret Boyd said. “I guarantee it will be there on the film. I would do it again tomorrow.”
The Eagles’ attempt for two followed a 9-yard touchdown on a keeper by Turner on the third play of the series. Killeen had claimed a 42-35 lead on the first possession of the period on a 5-yard pass from Alijawon White to T.J. Hill in the front-left corner of the end zone. Matt Funk kicked what proved to be the deciding point.
In overtime, Ellison got a 14-yard scoring run on the fifth play of the first possession after Michael Holloway got a first down on fourth and 1 with a 2-yard plunge. The Kangaroos answered on the second play of their possession as White fired a 26-yard scoring toss to Levi Fuson. It was the third time in the game that White and Fuson combined for a touchdown.
Regulation ended at 28-28 with Holloway, a 195-pound senior, having scored all four Ellison touchdowns. He scored on runs of 36, 22, 4 and 1 yards and finished the night with 189 on 25 carries. He had 86 of his yards on his first four carries.
Killeen had to battle back from a 28-14 deficit in the third quarter. Marcus Tillman scored his team’s final two regulation TDs on runs of 2 and 8 yards. He posted the game-tying touchdown with 5:54 remaining in the fourth. The play climaxed a nine-play, 85-yard drive that featured a 31-yard sprint by Justin Ross from his 29 to Ellison’s 40.
The regulation portion of the game had a wild finish. Ellison’s Marcus Degarziua recovered a Killeen fumble on his 47 with 12 seconds remaining. The Eagles got two plays off. The first resulted in a 15-yard interference call against Killeen. On the next play from the 37, White threw the ball toward the goal but it went through a receiver’s hands at the 3. Time expired and the teams went to OT.
Killeen’s first two TDs were a pair of 33-yard completions from White to Fuson.
The game, which started 50 minutes late because of lightning, had 28 points scored in a five-minute, 21-second span in the first quarter.
Killeen returns to action next Friday against crosstown rival Shoemaker while Ellison plays at Pflugerville Hendrickson.
gwellnicki@temple-telegram.com
