Plano rides big 1st half, Hail Mary to win over East

Wildcats head coach Todd Ford said the initial read for senior quarterback Drew Forkner was supposed to come on the right side of the field. But the Wildcats lost their protection, and Forkner had to improvise.

"There was pressure, so I had to scramble back to the left. I'm just kind of surveying and flipped it up there," Forkner said. "Sometimes it goes your way and it went our way tonight. That was an awesome experience."

Compounding matters was that Forkner's heave was initially tipped by the Panthers, only to deflect right in line for Plano senior Esteban Deras to come down with the ball just past the goal line for the 36-yard touchdown.

"I threw my hands up in the air and was in shock. That's a really cool memory, for sure," Forkner said.

Plano 27, Plano East 14 @ 0:00/2QOH MY GOODNESS!! Drew Forkner evades the pass rush and finds Esteban Deras for the 36yd TD on the final play of the half. Wild finish to an entertaining couple of quarters here at Clark. pic.twitter.com/7uRQegj07O

— Matt Welch (@MWelchSLM) September 24, 2022

It was the last of four touchdowns accounted for by the Wildcats' signal-caller in the first half — a dramatic parting shot before halftime in an eventual 33-22 victory over the Panthers from Clark Stadium.

"It's huge. When you get a shot of adrenaline like that, it does wonders," Ford said. "It was really, really nice because we practice that stuff. We work it in spring training a lot and work through it in the fall. It's one that's going to be on the teaching tape for a long time because we rep it a lot."

It was a welcome start to district play for the Wildcats, who improved to 2-2 on the season and 1-0 in 6-6A while handing East (3-1, 0-1) its first loss of the season.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they may have lost more than just that after senior running back Daniel Fayombo suffered a knee injury on East's first drive of the game. Head coach Tony Benedetto said that the injury could possibly be season-ending.

"It's not good. He had to go to the ER," Benedetto said. "It was a nightmare, especially thinking of what he's gone through. It's his knee, so we'll see."

Fayombo has been one of the area's breakout stars, rushing for 577 yards and six touchdowns on more than 7 yards per carry in his first year of high school football after being discovered by the East coaching staff in P.E. class during the offseason.

Fayombo's absence was the first in a cavalcade of tough moments for the Panthers, who committed five turnovers in the loss.

"Plano is a great team and made no mistakes. They played really good football and we just continued to make mistake after mistake," Benedetto said. "Stuff we don't preach, stuff we don't practice, it just happened."

Plano capitalized to the tune of 415 total yards of offense, eclipsing its per-game scoring average in the first half alone on Friday. The Wildcats found the end zone four times, all behind either the arm or legs of Forkner.

Even prior to the last-second Hail Mary, Forkner's chemistry with Deras was evident—the two scrambled the East defense early in the second quarter for a 45-yard catch-and-run that put Plano ahead 14-7. Deras went on to catch five balls for 124 yards and two touchdowns.

Forkner, meanwhile, threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns while also making his presence felt on the ground with 14 carries for 71 yards and two more scores. He found the end zone near the goal line on runs of 6 and 2 yards in the first half.

"The game is slowing down for [Forkner], and we thought it might," Ford said. "We had a good open week and a good plan coming into this one, and we came out and executed. A goal of ours is to start fast and we wanted to do so tonight, and I think that really helped us."

Plano 21, Plano East 7 @ 3:15/2QWildcats have leaned on Drew Forkner's mobility a bunch tonight, especially in short-yardage spots, and East hasn't been able to find an answer. Forkner scores his 2nd rushing TD of the night. pic.twitter.com/LhAt0s83rX

— Matt Welch (@MWelchSLM) September 24, 2022

Forkner's Hail Mary gave Plano a 27-14 lead heading into the break, and despite the hard-luck finish before halftime, Benedetto felt good about where the Panthers were at. Although Fayombo's absence made it tough to establish the run, junior Drew Devillier managed a pair of first-half touchdown passes — one on a screen to senior Rushil Patel that the wide-out took 89 yards to the house and another off a coverage bust by the Wildcats that resulted in an 18-yard score from senior Bryce Dixon.

Devillier went on to throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns, with Patel being on the receiving end of two of those scores to go along with six catches for 139 yards.

But the Plano defense got an immediate lift to begin the third quarter, as senior Colin Wanek intercepted the Panthers on their first play of the second half, which set up the first of two 30-yard field goals by senior Cody Estes over the final two quarters.

"[Giving up the Hail Mary] sucked, but we were OK coming out of halftime," Benedetto said. "We were confident in what we were doing, but throwing a pick on the first play of the third quarter really sucked the wind out of us."

Plano 21, Plano East 14 @ 1:00/2QPanthers scramble the Plano secondary (and my camera) on this one. Drew Devillier finds Bryce Dixon all alone for an 18yd TD and East is right back in it late in the half. pic.twitter.com/BbcXDN2tBK

— Matt Welch (@MWelchSLM) September 24, 2022

"We wanted to play cleaner on defense. We've been having a lot of penalties and I was really pleased with how we cleaned up there, plus winning the turnover battle tonight was huge," Ford said. "You talk about energy and we were able to get that on defense fairly often tonight and it just continues to build."

Friday's win marked Plano's fifth in a row over the Panthers. The Wildcats will turn around and begin preparing for another city rival, next taking on Plano West at 7 p.m. Friday back at Clark. East looks to bounce back that same time from Kimbrough Stadium against Hebron.

"They've had three great weeks. Now it's about us saying who are we and if we can push through adversity," Benedetto said. "You go through something hard and you've got to see how you respond. It'll be a testament to what we're really like because we haven't had adversity like this."

FINAL: Plano 33, Plano East 22@Plano_Football gets a 4-TD 1st half from QB Drew Forkner, including a Hail Mary just before halftime, and forces 5 TOs to hand East its 1st loss. Tough spot for East, who lost RB Daniel Fayombo to injury early. East 3-1 (0-1 6-6A, Plano 2-2 (1-0). pic.twitter.com/GzZoNznQq1

— Matt Welch (@MWelchSLM) September 24, 2022