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Four-For-Four: Parish Episcopal defends TAPPS State Title
The Parish Episcopal School Panthers football program has defended their state title! Defeating fellow Dallas-Fort Worth area team Prestonwood Christian by a score of 38-14. Securing their fourth-straight state title, the Panthers are bringing gold back to their campus.
Bringing no doubt to Waco, the Panthers came out ready to roll from start to finish. Setting the tone early in the game, quarterback Sawyer Anderson found Chase Burton for a 42-yard touchdown pass. The rest of the first quarter was quiet (scoring wise) before the Panthers broke loose in the second quarter; scoring four more times before halftime. The scores came on a 69-yard reception from Anderson to Cedric Mays, a 36-yard pick six from Daniel Demery, a 30-yard field goal from Ryan Shiller, and a one-yard rush from Anderson. Prestonwood scored once in the first half- a 26-yard pass from Maguire Martin to CJ Jackson. Parish went into haltfime with a 31-7 lead over Prestonwood.
The second half saw a heavy-defensive outing from both teams. Scoring just once more in the game, the Panthers recorded a touchdown in the third quarter on a 19-yard rush from Mays. Parish's defense went back and forth with Prestonwood's defense throughout the rest of the match. Prestonwood opened the fourth quarter with a two-yard rush from AJ Sibley and that was the last of the scoring for the night.
THE KID: Freshman Anderson has winning swagger dating back generations
He’s too young to drive a car, but Sawyer Anderson led Parish Episcopal on scoring drives all day, hammering Midland Christian 56-17 in the TAPPS DI State Title game at Waco ISD Stadium.
While did a lot of handing off to senior RB Andrew Paul, who had four touchdowns and over 200 yards on the ground, Anderson was flawless and threw from several different arm slots all day. He has to as he looks like a small, scrappy little brother with floppy hair.
Sawyer Anderson is just a freshman but he knows about winning.
Anderson is the grandson of Donny Anderson, who was a running back and punter for the legendary Vince Lombardi. Grandpa was a first-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers and won two Super Bowls. Heck, he has his jersey retired at his alma mater Texas Tech.
Anderson’s father played Major League Baseball.
Anderson has been throwing strikes all season, racking up over 2,900 yards and 32 touchdowns on the season. He had two against Midland Christian.
“This was our goal from day one and we fulfilled it,” he said. “We all played together, and we got victory. Our supporting crew is awesome. The first day I got here, everyone was so welcoming. I’ve learned so much from them.”
Part of the supporting cast is his brother Walker, a junior.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play together,” he said. “He plays defense and I play offense. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Head coach Daniel Novakov took a chance on starting the freshman Anderson, sort of.
“I’ve had him since he was in third grade and I kind of knew what he could do,” Novakov said with a smile. I was asked, ‘Are you sure you are going to start the kid?’ I just knew how special of a talent he is, and you see what he can do out on the field. He surpassed all of Preston’s (Stone) records in a single season. He’s a special, special talent.”
Preston Stone was a highly-recruited QB, currently at SMU.
“I’m just getting started and hopefully we can do it next year and keep this ball rolling,” he said.
Scary thought for the rest of TAPPS.