And Still Undefeated – Recapping Holy Cross’s Round 2 Playoff Win vs Lake Country Christian
On Friday night, the Holy Cross Knights and the Lake Country Christian Eagles met in Jarrell, Texas for round 2 of the TAPPS Division III Playoffs. The expectations were high, the lights were bright and my personal favorite, the weather was nice and cold.
The night started off with the Eagles driving the ball all the way down on the opening drive to set up ‘26 Quarterback Timothy Wright to hit ‘27 WR Ryan Whites for an 18-yard TD to give them the lead first 7-0. Shortly after the Knights would respond when ‘25 RB Louis Lopez brought in a 19-yard rushing TD to bring the score to 6-7, Holy Cross’ defense would start to show up and force a quick drive for Lake Country and it would be a 39-yard rushing TD from Louis Lopez that gave the Knights their first lead of the game 12-7.
A sack from ‘27 ATH Andrew Ybarra would quickly end another drive for the Eagles and Louis Lopez would go and get his 3rd rushing TD of the half off a 59-yard run. Holy Cross would force another quick stop and the second half was almost done when Louis Lopez took off again for a 4th rushing TD with 55 seconds left. The Eagles were starting to fall into dangerous territory being down 7-20 but it wasn’t too late to get something going. Unfortunately, They weren’t able to do much with ‘25 ATH Issiah Rice getting back-to-back interceptions with the 2nd one setting up the offense at the 1-yard line which led to a rushing TD from ‘25 Quarterback Gibby Alvarado and a halftime score of 35-7 for the Knights.
Holy Cross got the ball to start the second half and with that they would march the ball all the way down and Gibby Alvarado would hit ‘25 ATH Marco Gomez for a 14-yard TD to extend their lead to 42-7. The Eagles were once again trying to do whatever they could to give themselves some life down big time but once again it was the Knights defense that was showing up big time and after another 3 and out the offense was back out on the field for Holy Cross. Gibby Alvarado would start off the drive by throwing a short pass to ‘25 ATH Nick Hall and after he took off 90 yards to the house, Holy Cross went up 49-7. The Knights’s final score off the game came when Gibby Alvarado found another guy in the endzone, this time ‘25 ATH Patrick Ortiz for a 22-yard TD. The Eagles would finish off the game with a final touchdown from ‘27 ATH Antonio Hernandez to bring the final score to Lake Country Christian 14-56 Holy Cross.
This was a big-time performance from Holy Cross all around. Gibby Alvarado finished with 254 passing yards and 3 passing TDs on a 75% completion percentage alongside Nick Hall with 3 catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. Louis Lopez went off for 118 yards and 4 rushing TDs. Holy Cross’ defense was once again too fast and physical to be matched and Head Coach Mike Harrison is going to get to enjoy one of his favorite parts of a football season, a Thanksgiving practice because he told me “If we’re practicing on Thanksgiving, that means we’re having a good season.” Holy Cross will now prepare for Colleyville Covenant Christian in round 3 of the TAPPS Division III Playoffs.
