Second Baptist School knocks off defending State Champ Regents School of Austin, advance to State Semis
HOUSTON - For the past few seasons, Second Baptist School's road block to winning the program's first state championship since 1999 has come in the form of the Regents School of Austin.
The previous three meetings came in the TAPPS Division II State Semi-finals and heading into Friday's Regional Round, Second Baptist School held an 1-5 all-time record against the Knights. The last win coming in 2012.
Well - it's now a 2-5 all-time mark.
Second Baptist School defeated defending TAPPS Division II State Champion Regents School of Austin 26-16 on Friday at Brenham's Cubs Stadium to advance to the program's fourth-straight TAPPS State Semifinals.
"We just told our kids all week long that Turner [Murdock's] going to be taking a knee at the end of the game," Second Baptist School coach Terry Pirtle said via a phone interview. "They thought that they were going to win, we put in a good plan on offense and defense. The staff did a great job putting in the plan against a great team and our kids did a great job going and executing it."
The win for Second Baptist School (11-2) snapped the Regents School of Austin's 22-game winning streak, dating back to the 2019 TAPPS DII State Championship and ended their season with a record of 11-1.
Scoring 26 points against Regents School of Austin was no small feat for Second Baptist School. That marks the most points the Knights' defense has surrendered all year - the previous high was 21 against St. Michael's in September.
The 16 points Regents School of Austin scored was also a season low - the lowest since losing 36-15 to Central Catholic on September 21, 2018 - for an offense led by Vanderbilt-commit Drew Dickey, a three-star prospect, that scored 478 points this year heading into the meeting.
"Our coaching staff deserves a lot of credit," Pirtle said of the performance. "Our defensive staff put a great plan in. Our defensive line was tremendous tonight putting pressure on a Division I SEC quarterback and I think that was the difference in the game. I think he was off-schedule a few throws. We put in a new offensive scheme that we held on to until this game and it worked. So, kudos to our kids in believing in it and executing it. Our goal going into the game was having just seven or eight possessions.
"We got to that point where the clock was just draining off. We controlled the football and controlled the tempo of the game and I think that worked to our advantage tonight."
Varsity Football: UPDATE
TD EAGLES!!!
20-10
Early 4th Quarter pic.twitter.com/8k3TZPi39c
— SecondBaptistSchoolAthletics (@SBS_Athletics) November 20, 2021
Second Baptist School's success in 2021 can be pinpointed to the leadership of this senior class, Pirtle said and the fact that the teams has been a battle-tested group from the jump.
"They played a great team in Kinkaid in game one and they came up short but they just decided to go win eight games in a row after that," Pirtle said. "Went to Calhoun, played a state-ranked team on homecoming, and learned about themselves there that they could win a big game. Then, they learned a lot from the Fort Bend Christian game. You can't have turnovers and can't get penalties and all that stuff. You have to play well in the big games.
"They are determined to play well the rest of the year."
Being back in the TAPPS State Semi-finals for a fourth-straight season is not something that Pirtle takes lightly as does the senior class.
"It's nice, there's not a lot of programs that can say that they've done that and there's not a lot of programs still playing," he said. "It's an honor and we don't take that for granted. Our kids know what is expected to get back to that game. They know that. These seniors have experienced now a fourth year of it and a lot of them were big parts of those teams.
"They're an experienced group and their expectations are set high. They have done a tremendous job of leading this team."
Second Baptist School will face the winner of Fort Bend Christian Academy and St. Michael's next week in the TAPPS Division II State Semi-finals.
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