Very well, it turned out.
Lache Seastrunk ran for 116 yards and a touchdown to pace a 333-yard attack, and Derrick Davis had three 1-yard scoring runs in the second half and combined with Stedman Moore and Patrick Johnson to lead a swarming defense as Temple roared into the playoffs by blasting the Grey Wolves 42-14 at Wildcat Stadium.
Shoemaker got outscored 28-0 in the final 20 minutes, but coach Ken Gray’s Grey Wolves (4-6 overall, 3-4 in District 12-5A) still had a big reason to smile. Belton’s 31-21 win at Bryan gave Shoemaker the first playoff berth in its nine-season history.
Temple lost its first five games, two in 12-5A, but the Wildcats then won five in a row to finish 5-5 overall and 5-2 in district, good for a share of second place with College Station A&M Consolidated.
The Wildcats are 12-5A’s No. 2 seed for the Class 5A Division I
playoffs and will battle 11-5A co-champion DeSoto (5-5), coached by former Bartlett star Claude Mathis. That bi-district game will be 1 p.m. next Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium, with the Wildcats being the home team.
Shoemaker, which got two touchdown passes from Jameill Showers to Derrick Mays, is 12-5A’s No. 2 seed in Division II and will play Tyler John Tyler (5-5) in next week’s bi-district round.
Monsen said he was “absolutely” concerned about how intense and sharp Temple would play after the Wildcats learned Thursday that they didn’t need to beat Shoemaker to make the playoffs.
However, the Wildcats took care of business by playing a strong first 10 minutes and dominating the final 20 to cap their flourish in the second half of the season.
“Our kids played a great game tonight,” Monsen said. “It was a great job by our defensive kids and coaches - they were the MVP.
“We’re going back to the playoffs and we’ve seen a variety of teams, so I think we’re well-seasoned. We like the look of our football team and we’re playing well.”
Junior Seastrunk passed Kenneth Davis to become Temple’s second-leading career rusher, but fullback/linebacker Davis - Kenneth’s nephew - stood out with a dominant performance.
Davis, another junior, rushed for 86 yards and the three short scores. And along with Moore, Johnson and plenty of others, he blitzed, chased and pounded Showers and Shoemaker’s potent spread offense into an unusually poor 198-yard night.
Controlling Showers and running back Dion Demers, Temple forced negative yardage on 15 rushing plays.
“On defense it (the key factor) was energy. As a team we played awesome - Stedman, Patrick, the D-line, everybody,” Davis said. “On offense it was smash-mouth. That’s all it was. We stuck to our gameplan and it was good.”
Monsen praised the 240-pound Davis, who’s rushed for 493 yards and 11 touchdowns during the five-game winning streak while still leading the defense from his middle linebacker post. Davis credited assistant coach Robert Murphy for keeping him in condition to play so many snaps.
“I’m very impressed by Derrick, and we’re all very excited about how he’s playing,” Monsen said. “You can put him anywhere, because he’s a football player.”
On the Shoemaker side, Gray would have preferred for his Grey Wolves to grab their first playoff berth on a winning note, but after the game he wasn’t exactly complaining.
“I’m just happy for our seniors, because we’ve talked all year about making the playoffs and leaving a legacy,” said Gray, who started Shoemaker’s program in 2000. “We’re happy to be there, and thanks to Belton. Several times we’ve knocked at the (playoff) door, and now we get in.”
Temple got off to a perfect start, making Shoemaker lose 20 yards on the opening possession and then getting a 53-yard sprint from Daniel Carr on its first play. Kevin Lock’s third-down pass to Seastrunk kept the drive alive and Lock capped it with a 1-yard TD sneak on fourth down.
The first of Chris Winkler’s six extra points put Temple up 7-0 with 5½ minutes gone.
On the next possession, Texas-El Paso commitment Mays gained 17 yards on a fake-punt run but Tevin Reese came up to tackle him 3 yards short of a first down at Temple’s 22-yard line.
Two plays later, Seastrunk ran off right tackle and blazed down the sideline for a 60-yard score and a 14-0 lead.
Shoemaker finally got going late in the first half. Mays got open deep and hauled in a 42-yard touchdown pass 40 seconds before halftime to make it 14-7.
The Grey Wolves recovered a Davis fumble at Temple’s 43 a minute into the third, and Mays broke tackles to score on a 22-yard pass and produce a 14-14 tie at the 9:16 mark.
However, it was all Temple from that point on.
The Wildcats’ next three possessions ended with 1-yard touchdown rumbles by Davis, and Temple’s aggressive defense refused to let up.
Senior Jonathan Bane’s 4-yard TD pass - his first varsity attempt as a Wildcat - to Itai Meki with 4:15 left completed the scoring.
gwille@temple-telegram.com
