East Bernard scored on all six of its first-half possessions and blew away the Bumblebees 56-21 in a bi-district playoff Friday night.
The Brahmas (8-2) moved on to the area round to face Karnes City, which beat Universal City Randolph 38-28.
Academy finishes 7-4.
Although the Bees had difficulty containing the Brahmas’ prolific ground game, their five turnovers didn’t help matters, either.
“Nobody wants to have that many turnovers,” Academy coach Royce McAdams said. “Even at that, they’ve got a good ballclub. We just made it a little easier for them.”
Chris Plunkett scored four touchdowns and kicked six extra points to pace the Brahmas’ attack. Plunkett led them with 91 yards on eight carries and the team had 299. Plunkett scored on runs of 4, 33, 11 and 5 yards.
Academy had success moving the ball at times. Layton Willis led all rushers with 135 yards on 21 carries and scored on runs of 9 and 29 yards.
But the turnovers were costly and the first-team Brahma offense managed to carve up the Bees’ defense. Academy took the opening possession 59 yards in seven plays to the Brahma 12 before a fumble stopped the Bees in their tracks.
The Brahmas answered by tearing off runs in chunks, capped by quarterback Matt Stelzel’s 21-yard TD keeper. Academy blocked the extra point to leave it at 6-0.
East Bernard’s Justin Breedlove intercepted a Chase Gommert pass that went off Noah Hamill’s hands. Breedlove returned it 42 yards to Bees 8.
Two plays later, Plunkett bounced in from the 4. Lance Crump ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead at the 5:46 mark.
Proving they could move the ball, the Bees went 61 yards in seven plays sparked by a 20-yard connection from Gommert to Chase Reeders. Willis went in from the 9 on a third-and-1 to cut the lead in half.
However. the Brahmas erupted for 35 second-quarter points to lock up the game by halftime.
Crump rumbled in from 14 yards away, followed by back-to-back Plunkett TDs. Crump stepped in the end zone from the 1 and Breedlove picked off another deflected pass and took it 36 yards for a touchdown to make it 49-7 by halftime.
East Bernard’s second-quarter scoring drives went for 80, 33, 18 and 14 yards.
The Brahmas capitalized on another short field in the third quarter, going 23 yards in five plays with Plunkett hustling in from the 5.
Academy answered with an 80-yard scoring march in 11 plays. Willis, who went for 27 yards on a middle screen, scurried 29 yards to paydirt on the first play of the fourth.
Kyle Kuban scored the Bees’ final touchdown by barreling in from the 7 with 3:18 to play.
“We accomplished a lot of the things we wanted to do, but not all of them,” McAdams said. “We had a winning season and made the playoffs.
We had some positive things happen,” he added. “You have to do that to get here. I just wished we had had a better ballgame.”
twaits@temple-telegram.com
