SAN ANTONIO 鈥 For the third consecutive season, the Edna Cowboys have advanced to the 3A, Division I state football semifinals. But they know their performance must be better going forward.
Edna beat Llano 41-14 Friday night鈥檚 regional final at Heroes Stadium, but it was far from the Cowboys鈥 best performance.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like we played particularly great,鈥 Edna head coach Jimmie Mitchell said. 鈥淏ut we got the job done and that鈥檚 the bottom line. Any time you鈥檙e playing in the semifinals it鈥檚 a big deal.鈥
In a commanding victory, the Cowboys racked up 18 penalties for 156 yards. They threw two interceptions and put the ball on the ground, but recovered the fumble.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 explain the penalties, I really can鈥檛,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to clean that up. We鈥檝e got to clean a lot of things up. We鈥檝e got to be better with that because man that鈥檚 killing us.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to cut that down; we can鈥檛 do that even when we鈥檙e up by a good margin,鈥 Braylen Harris said. 鈥淲e just can鈥檛 get complacent like that.鈥
Despite the penalties, Edna (14-0) reached the semifinals on the back of Harris and a physical defensive performance.
鈥淐oach did a great job of moving me around and allowing me to be diverse,鈥 Harris said. 鈥淭hey like to play the run heavy and we knew the pass would open up.鈥
Harris did it all for the Cowboys Friday. As a receiver, he caught six passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns. As a runner, Harris rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown and had an interception while playing defense.
Harris got the offense going with a 39-yard touchdown reception from Chase Schubert at the 4:28 mark of the first quarter.
Harris hauled in his second touchdown from 18 yards out with 10:19 left in the second quarter to make it 20-0. He ran for a 21-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.
When the Edna offense sputtered in the third quarter, the Cowboys lined Harris up at quarterback for a drive.
He proceeded to break off runs of 15 and 30 yards on back-to-back plays before completing a 25-yard pass two plays later. He capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown run to make it 34-14 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.
鈥淏raylen came in and sparked us, and that鈥檚 why we do that,鈥 Mitchell said of Harris playing quarterback. 鈥淲e needed a spark at that time and he can come in and definitely do it.鈥
The Edna defense made sure that any points would be enough Friday night. In fact, it was the defense that set up Harris鈥 second touchdown reception.
Llano tried to run a screen pass to its running back, but Edna defensive tackle Brody Psencik was ready for the route. Psencik intercepted the pass and returned it 21 yards to the Llano 12-yard line.
鈥淚鈥檝e been working on that screen play all year,鈥 Psencik said. 鈥淲hen they let me go that easy, I know something鈥檚 up and when I saw that back slip behind me I figured I鈥檇 drop back and wait. I happened to get that pick.鈥
Psencik also recorded a sack and another tackle for loss, helping the Cowboys hold Llano to only 75 yards rushing on 38 attempts.
鈥淲e wanted it more than they did; we just came more physical,鈥 Psencik said of Edna鈥檚 success against the run. 鈥淲e knew that they were wanting to play tempo and do some different things, but we out-physicaled them and that鈥檚 the story.鈥
Edna鈥檚 physicality wasn鈥檛 just limited to its defense. Offensively, the Cowboys rushed for four touchdowns, two from Schubert, one from Harris and one from Demariye Cantu, to power Edna into the state semifinals for the third-consecutive season.
After losing to Franklin in the semifinals the last two seasons, the Cowboys will have a new opponent next week.
Columbus (13-1) beat Franklin 62-42 Friday to advance to the final four.
鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be tremendous urgency going into this week,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a tall order in front of us. We鈥檝e got to have some urgency this week.鈥
