Legend holds on late, outlasts Pine Creek behind big nights from Jackson Brush and Bryce Vaz

PARKER — The Legend High School shot squad needed everything from its 2 elder playmakers to clasp disconnected a precocious surge from Pine Creek successful a highly-anticipated 5A-4A South showdown to unfastened league play Friday astatine EchoPark Stadium.

Wide receiver Jackson Brush and chap workhorse Bryce Vaz scored 2 touchdowns apiece, and the 5A No. 7 Titans (5-1, 1-0 5A/4A South) defence held disconnected a precocious surge from the 4A No. 2 Eagles successful a 26-23 victory.

Brush opened the scoring connected a 49-yard catch-and-run, aft helium juked to his close to evade a defender astatine the 30-yard enactment and ran it in.

In the 2nd quarter, Legend went for it with a gutsy fourth-and-7 telephone astatine the Pine Creek 28-yard line, and Brush came crossed the mediate with the drawback connected a slant route, sprinted toward the acold sideline and scored to marque it 20-6.

Pine Creek (5-1, 0-1) dual menace backmost Josiah Roy showed disconnected his limb spot to get the Eagles connected the committee with a 65-yard touchdown walk to Braden Kramer.

The Eagles utilized a spot of trickery of their ain trailing by 2 possessions, arsenic they converted a 4th-and-long connected a fake punt. Three plays later, Roy recovered Gavin Whetzal successful the country of the extremity portion for a 12-yard people to marque it a one-score crippled astatine 20-13.

After a penalty-laden archetypal half, turnovers came backmost to wound some teams. The Eagles recovered a fumble heavy wrong Legend territory, lone for Roy to beryllium stripped 2 plays later.

The precise adjacent play, the Titans’ Vaz recovered an opening and ran 59 yards for his 2nd touchdown of the night.

Pine Creek’s Ian Johnson added a 38-yard tract extremity precocious successful the fractional to chopped the shortage backmost to 10 with Pine Creek trailing 26-16.

The 3rd 4th was each astir timepiece management, and the Eagles took advantage. Roy drove the Eagles down the tract and scored connected a backmost sneak, which capped disconnected an 11-play, 70-yard thrust that chopped the pb to 26-23.

In the last frame, the Eagles had a accidental to instrumentality the pb and drove to the Legend 37 to acceptable up a fourth-down situation. Roy heaved it towards the extremity portion but the walk fell incomplete.

Legend was capable to drain astir of the timepiece aft Vaz converted connected third-and-short with a pugnacious run. The Eagles got 1 much changeable with the ball, but Roy was intercepted.