Shadow Creek Ends Manor's Magical Run; Will Play Wagner In State Semifinal

Shadow Creek (14-0) faced an unexpected challenge when it took on a hot Manor (8-6) squad during Saturday's UIL 5A Division I Region III final at San Antonio's Alamodome. The Sharks, who were the classification's state runner-up in 2018, faced a Mustang program that won its first three playoff games after a 5-5 regular season, but proved to be the better team in a 59-14 victory.

"They're all tough at this point in the year, so we just wanted to come out and try to protect the football and be great tacklers and solid on special teams," said Shadow Creek coach Brad Butler. "That's kind of our thing week in and week out."

Shadow Creek jumped at the opportunity to slow down its opponent, and took the game's first lead on VYPE Player of the Game Kyron Drones' two-yard touchdown run with 6:50 left in the opening quarter. He finished the game with three passing touchdowns and a pair of rushing scores.

Manor answered with a Che Nwabuko nine-yard touchdown run at the 4:22 mark of the quarter, but Chanceller Byers forced an interception with 47 seconds left in the period to set up the Sharks' go-ahead field goal and 10-7 lead at the 10:40 mark of the second frame.

Manor then jumped ahead on the scoreboard for the first and only time in the game when Matthew Hill connected with Lavonte Benford on a 47-yard touchdown. That gave the Mustangs a 14-10 edge with 5:10 left in the first half.

Even though Shadow Creek trailed at this point, it was all Sharks the rest of the way. Drones found Kelvon Brown and CJ Guidry on a pair of offensive scores, and Jaylen Lane's late pick six added to the 31-14 halftime advantage.

The second half was more of the same. The third quarter saw a Drones five-yard touchdown run and a 16-yard touchdown to Seth Jones, as well as a Jay'Veon Bell 22-yard touchdown run. Shadow Creek ultimately wrapped up their scoring with a Thomas Davis pick six at the 3:46 mark of the fourth.

Shadow Creek now turns its attention to San Antonio Wagner (13-1), who it beat 41-24 in the same state semifinal round in 2018.

"They know it's the rematch and they [are] going to try to have a redemption game, but we can't let that get to us, and we just gotta get over there and win," Drones said of next week's opponent.

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