Without their injured star quarterback Kingston Jeffries, the Eastwood Troopers had two imperatives in their bidistrict playoff game with Frenship.
They needed sophomore backup quarterback Bentley DeVries to play with maturity beyond his years and they needed their defense to make some plays.
In a 45-30 victory that earned Eastwood an area game next weekend with Trophy Club Byron Nelson, all was delivered.
DeVries threw a touchdown pass, rushed for two and avoided mistakes in a calm, steady effort. The Trooper defense turned the game with back-to-back interceptions, then a fourth-down stop, all in the third quarter, as Eastwood went to 10-1.
Frenship, which was tied at 14-14 in the final minute of the first half, fell to 4-7.
Eastwood did its work in the third quarter when it outscored the Tigers 21-0, taking advantage of three short fields after three stops by a defense that improved dramatically in the second half.
Joshua Mora and Zachary Adams had the interceptions for the Troopers. DeVries was 14-for-22 passing with 158 yards at the midpoint of the fourth quarter and had several nice scrambles to keep drives alive.
It added up to a big win for a team that didn’t let a key injury end its season.
Eastwood up 3 at half
The Troopers closed the first half with a 24-yard field goal from Derik Messer to take a 17-14 lead at halftime.
Earlier, Eastwood had a chance to go up 21-7, but a holding penalty negated a long touchdown pass from DeVries to Jordan Nava. Shortly after that, a bad snap gave Frenhip the ball on the Eastwood 41, and the Tigers quickly tied the game.
Eastwood outgained Frenship 236-144 in the first half.
Up next
Eastwood plays Byron Nelson in the Region I-6A Division II area-round game. Time, date and location are TBA.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Eastwood cranks up defense in second half, rolls past Frenship in bidistrict playoff game
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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