Prosper brings home the gold

IRVING — The Prosper Eagles will hang up the football cleats and start basketball today.

But unlike most teams in the state, the Eagles finished out the football season with a Class 3A Division I state championship win over the Waco LaVega Pirates, 17-10 at Texas Stadium.

It wasn't easy for the Eagles against a speedy LaVega team. Prosper had problems with the Pirates in the first half.

LaVega (12-3) started its first possession from the Eagles 39-yard line after a failed onside kick attempt. The Eagles defense held tough, stalling the Pirates at the 10-yard line. LaVega was able to get on the board first with a 27-yard field goal by Eddy Gonzales.

Nearly four minutes later, the Pirates were on the board again after a 51-yard touchdown pass to Daxton Swanson from Danzel Wilson. Like the previous two playoff games for the Pirates, they opened up with an early.

But also like the last two LaVega playoff games, their opponent mounted a comeback.

"Defensively, we had a couple of hiccups in the first half," said Coach Kent Scott. "I thought we hit them from the outset. They had a couple of big plays on us. The first drive we had, we gave them good field position with an onside kick. But our kids stepped up right there to hold them to a field goal."

Prosper did get on the board late in the second half on a 22-yard field goal by Drew Bristol. The 10-3 Pirate halftime lead didn't bother the Eagles in the least.

"We felt pretty good about it," said Scott, speaking about being down by only a touchdown at the half. "We felt good about it every time this year. When we've been down at half or when we've been close at half, we just felt like we were a second-half team. The kids came out revved up in the third quarter and we just shut them out."

Prosper junior linebacker Drew Miller agreed.

"We're a second-half team," Miller said. "Seven point down at the half, we felt like that was okay."

And it was.

After the initial 10 points (which came on one short drive and one big play), Prosper's defense shut out the Pirates the rest of the way.

"We stopped the run all night and the only thing they could go to was their passing. We knew if we stopped that, we had them. The offense came out and did a good job getting points on the board," Miller said.

The Eagle defense held LaVega to just 211 yards of total offense. Junior running back Chris Parr, who averaged more than 200 yards in the previous two playoff games, finished the night with 14 carries for 39 yards.

The offense also got on track in the second half. By committing to the run — the Eagles only tried to pass twice in the second half — the Eagles were able to run the clock and wear down the big Pirate defensive line.

Hunter Nix got the scoring started in the second half by tying the score on a 2-yard touchdown run. Bryan Monroe capped a 72-yard drive with a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Eagles.

Monroe said he had one thing on his mind as he broke through the line for the game's final score.

"I saw a ring," said Monroe with a laugh. "I'm still speechless about it. The line did a good job on that play. They doubled that guy down and I sprung open for a touchdown."

Monroe finished as the Eagles' leading rusher with 16 carries for 84 yards.

LaVega had one last chance with 2:55 left in the game. The Pirate drive started at their own 29. Twelve plays later, the Pirate drive stalled at the Prosper 40.

The win ends the Eagle season with a 14-1 record, the one loss coming from Bridgeport early in the season. This is the first state football championship for the school at any level. The Eagles are only in their third season as a 3A school.

Many of the players and coaches said the key to the successful season was being a "family."

"Coach [Shane] Mobley came in here and told us that we had to play as a family," said Miller, speaking about Prosper's defensive coordinator, who is in his first season with the team. "And we played as a family. We came out and executed and did our job. It was awesome."

Monroe said this team stayed together as a family all year. There were never problems with any individuals on this team.

"We don't even call ourselves a team, we're a family. That was the main motto of this year."