DENTON – Senior Heath quarterback Cody Court scored on a two-yard run with 1:25 left on the clock to give the Hawks a 25-20 lead, but the Hawks’ vaunted defense was unable to hold Sherman, which scored a game-winning TD on a 31-yard pass from Gus Daniel to J.T. Luper with just 35 seconds left in the game, to win 28-25.

The loss, played on a cold, windy night at the University of North Texas stadium, ends Heath’s highly-successful 11-2 season. Sherman (9-3) advances to play Tyler John Tyler next week which squeaked by District 10-4A champion Highland Park Friday, the only other team to beat Heath this year, 42-39.

The loss was a huge heart-breaker for Heath which actually led 19-0 with seven seconds left in the third quarter, after Amaris Fields caught a 14-yard TD pass from Court and Ethan Smith nailed a PAT.

But suddenly, a huge Sherman rally began, when Ryan Reid raced 92 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff just as the third quarter ended. After Heath block the PAT attempt, the score stood 19-6.

The fourth quarter was all Sherman’s, however, as they came roaring back, with 22 points on a short run and two passes.

With 9:31 left in the game, Luper scored his first TD on a three-yard run and Austin Roan kicked the PAT. Score 19-13.

Then with 5:53 left, Joseph Harvey caught a nine-yard TD pass from Sherman quarterback Gus Daniel. Roan’s PAT kick gave Sherman their first lead, 20-19.

Not to be denied, the Hawks fought back when Fields scored, but Sherman would not give up, scoring again themselves.

Court also connected on 9 and 8-yard TD passes in the first and second quarters to Jordan Points and Alan Wilcoxson, respectively. Both PATs failed on a kick and pass.

Heath outgained Sherman 281 yards of total offense to 218. The Hawks also intercepted three Daniel passes.

In the Hawks final game of the 2011 season, Court connected on 10 of 21 passes for 179 yards and three TDS . Fields was the leading receiver with five catches for 92 yards and one TD. Rico Henderson rushed 17 times for 63 yards.

Sherman’s Braylon Russell led runners with 85 yards on 14 carries. Daniel completed 14 of 25 passes for 143 yards, with 2 TDS and 3 interceptions. Luper caught 6 passes for 81 yards and one TD.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

GARLAND – Shyon Motlagh caught the first of his two touchdown receptions, Amaris Fields scored on a surprise 65-yard reverse run and Rico Henderson scored the second of his two short TD plunges as Rockwall-Heath exploded for 21 points in the second quarter and cruised past Dallas Kimball last night, 38-6.

The Class 4A Division I Region II Area playoff game was played at Homer B. Johnson stadium in Garland.

As usual, the Hawks (11-1) defense held strong, limiting Kimball (9-3) to only 201 yards total offense, forcing Kimball to punt seven times, plus forcing and recovering one fumble.

The Hawks wrapped up the game in the third quarter with Motlagh’s 49-yard catch and run TD pass from Cody Court and an Ethan Smith 33-yard field goal.

The Hawks rushed for 161 yards on 38 carries and gained 121 yards through the air, with Court completing 5 of 11 passes. Henderson was the rushing leader with 84 yards on 17 carries.

Heath advances to face Sherman (8-3) next Saturday at 2 pm at Fouts Field in Denton in the 4A Division I Region II semifinals. Sherman squeezed past Waxahachie (9-3) last night, 38-35, with a 17-point fourth quarter.

Hawks rival and the only team to beat Heath this season, District 10-4A champion Highland Park (12-0), also blasted Dallas Woodrow Wilson last night, 49-24.

HP defeated Heath, 31-30, in overtime Oct. 28th when Heath missed an extra point kick.

A rematch will occur in the Region Final in two weeks if Heath beats Sherman and HP defeats Tyler John Tyler Friday night in Waco.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

(ESPN-DFW) GARLAND, Texas – After seeing Rico Henderson’s work ethic during summer workouts, Rockwall-Heath head coach Mickey Moss decided the freshman could help his team this year — as a defensive back.

After seeing him in a game, it didn’t take long for Moss to move Henderson to his natural position — running back.

That decision continues to pay dividends for Rockwall-Heath as Henderson rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns to power the Hawks to a 38-6 win over Dallas Kimball on Friday in a Class 4A Division I area-round game at Homer B. Johnson Stadium.

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(Dallas Morning News) GARLAND — There’s no such thing as having too many offensive weapons. On Friday, Rockwall-Heath used its Class 4A Division I, Region II playoff game to showcase the depth of its arsenal.

Whether it was freshman running back Rico Henderson or wide receivers Amaris Fields and Shyon Motlagh, Heath found success, easily blowing past Dallas Kimball, 38-6, at Homer B. Johnson Stadium.

Henderson and Fields set the tone in the first half, combining for 186 yards of offense and three scores as Heath (11-1) took a 28-6 lead into halftime.

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(ESPN Dallas) No. 7 ROCKWALL-HEATH (10-1) vs. DALLAS KIMBALL (9-2)
7:30 p.m. Friday at Garland’s H.B. Johnson Stadium

What: Class 4A Division I Region II area playoff

When we saw them last: Rockwall-Heath barely made it out of the bi-district round, edging Frisco Wakeland, 22-21, thanks to two second-half touchdown runs by Rico Henderson. Jaalen Adkins’ two rushing touchdowns in the second half helped Kimball beat Bryan Adams, 34-24, in bi-district play.

Last in the playoffs: Kimball advanced to the area round in 2010 but was bounced decisively by Wylie, 42-14, at Carrollton’s Standridge Stadium. Rockwall-Heath lost to Frisco Liberty, 49-35, in 2009 in the bi-district round.

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(ESPN High School Report) FRISCO – Rockwall-Heath has been in this position before.

ESPNDallas.com’s seventh-ranked team fought back in the final minutes to defeat Frisco Wakeland, 22-21, in Class 4A Division I bi-district playoffs Friday at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.

Coach Mickey Moss didn’t have too much to say in the postgame huddle and simply repeated the words “never give up” over and over.

“That’s a sign of this team in the fourth quarter. Nine of our 11 games have all been decided in the last three minutes of the ball game,” Moss said. “We have won eight of them. That says a lot about our kids.”

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(Dallas Morning News) FRISCO – Freshman running back Rico Henderson ran for 116 yards and two second-half touchdowns, the last from 11 yards out with 3:04 to play, as Rockwall-Heath, SportsDay’s No. 4 area Class 4A team, survived a scare to defeat Frisco Wakeland, 22-21, in a 4A Division I bi-district playoff game at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.

Heath (10-1) advances to meet Kimball (9-2), a 34-24 winner over Bryan Adams on Thursday night, in an area-round game set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Homer B. Johnson Stadium in Garland.

Wakeland led most of the game and twice had chances to put it away in the fourth quarter, driving deep into Heath territory only to lose a pair of costly fumbles.

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HEATH -  Rockwall-Heath’s All-American pitching and first baseman sensation Jake Thompson signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play baseball and continue his education at Texas Christian University (TCU) in 2013.

Thompson is a senior and will play once more this Spring for the Hawks baseball team. He had previously verbally committed last year to play at the University of Nebraska, until the Cornhuskers fired their baseball coach last year.

His parents said they are very happy that Jake will now be attending college closer to home so they can see him play more often.

His father, Keith Thompson, who works in administration for the Garland school district, expressed his appreciation Wednesday at Heath High for all those who have supported their son and family.

“Many of you were present this morning and we all thank for that tremendous show of support. It has been a long hard grind, with countless hours of hard work by Jake, but it all came back to him this morning. Thank you all very much and let’s all hope he can stay healthy his senior year!

Thompson also volunteers as a sportswriter for TheRockwallNews.com, reporting on Heath Hawks baseball.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

HEATH- The state’s 14th-ranked Rockwall-Heath Hawks (9-1) begin Class 4A bi-district playoff action this Friday against Frisco Wakeland (7-3) at 7 pm at Wildcat-Rams stadium in Frisco.

Having only lost once this season, 31-30, in a heart-breaker to District 10-4A champion Highland Park in overtime, after missing an extra point kick, the Hawks are led by a strong defense which has limited only two teams to score more than 14 points per game this season. The Hawks have given up an average of just 15.2 points per game.

After a slow start, the offense has averaged 27 point per game.

Offensive leaders are senior quarterback Cody Court, who has passed for 1401 yards, completing 86 of 157 passes (55%) for 12 TDs and 7 interceptions. He also leads Hawks rushers with 654 yards and two TDs.

Other leading rushers are freshman running back Rico Henderson (547 yards and 9 TDs), senior Jovan Hernandez (401 yards and 7 TDs) and junior Jeremy Armstrong (342 yards and 3 TDs).

Leading receiver is senior Amaris Fields, who has caught 43 passes for 807 yards (18.8) and 10 TDS. Junior Shyon Motlagh has caught 20 passes for 308 yards and 1 TD.

Leading scorers are Fields and Henderson, each with 10 TDs and 60 points. Hernandez scored 42 points on 7 TDs. Senior kicker Parker Swanson has scored 37 points on five field goals and 22 PATs.

Other playoff games of local interest are:

Highland Park (10-0) vs. Frisco Liberty (6-4)

Royse City (3-7) vs Kilgore (5-5),  Thursday 7:30 pm in Mt. Pleasant

Rowlett (6-4) vs. Lake Highlands (5-5)

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

HEATH – The Rockwall-Heath girls volleyball team, led by Regina Tillis, Claire Carpenter and Aubrey Baune, won a hard-fought UIL Regional Quarterfinal match last night, 3 games to 2, over Frisco Centennial at McKinney North High School.

Heath won the first two closely-contested games, 25-21 and 25-17, but the Lady Titans came back to win the next two, 25-20 and 25-21. In the fifth game to 15, Centennial led as late as 7-6 and was tied at 9-9.

Carpenter’s hit put the Lady Hawks ahead to stay at 10-9, but the Lady Titans wouldn’t go away. They faced a match point with Carpenter serving at 14-10, but a kill by Centennial’s Sara Mossakowski gave her team that point and the serve.

On Centennial’s serve, the ball came to Rockwall-Heath’s Tillis. She put the match away with a kill down the left side.

The Lady Hawks (44-5) advance to this weekend’s Region II-4A Championships at the Garland Special Events Center. They will meet Red Oak in a Regional Semifinal Friday at 7 p.m.

Red Oak (32-12) beat Pflugerville Hendrickson Tuesday, winning 25-18, 25-11, & 25-13.

Heath began playoff action with a 3-2 Bi-District victory over Frisco, Nov. 1. They beat Molina, 3-0, Nov. 3.

Tillis leads her team and the entire DFW area with 708 total kills (5 per game). She also leads the team in blocks with 67 and is second in Digs with 405.

Carpenter is second with 378 kills (2.6 per game), second in assists with 629 (4 per game) and first in Aces with 94.

Baune leads the Lady Hawks with 761 assists (5 per game).

By J.J. Smith, Publisher