DENTON — Top-ranked Grass Range-Winnett has leaned on its defense all season. With a 6-Man South conference championship on the line Saturday, that defense delivered again.
Grass Range-Winnett held off second-ranked Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine 24-20, overcoming an early deficit and a late push to finish the regular season unbeaten and capture the conference championship.
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D-G-S-G struck first when Blaze Becker found the end zone in the opening quarter to give his team an 8-0 lead.
Grass Range-Winnett responded in the second quarter behind sophomore Freddie Allen, who scored his first of two touchdowns to even the game at 8-8. Allen struck again in the third quarter to put GR-W ahead 16-8.
“I'm just glad I got the job done,” Allen said. “We all have good chemistry together, and it's just nice when you connect for something like a good deep pass. It's just satisfying.”
D-G-S-G battled back, getting touchdowns from Gatlin Nemitz and Kaiser Tesarek. Tesarek then recovered an onside kick to give the Bearcats another opportunity.
“It’s really hard to not get down on yourself,” Allen said. "But that’s when you’ve got to lock in and say, ‘OK, that mistake’s behind us. Now we’ve just got to do the best we can going forward.’”
Grass Range-Winnett’s defense answered, with Wil Murnion intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown to help GR-W secure the 24-20 victory.
“We’ve relied all season long on our defense,” head coach Jaxon Allen said. “We’ve got some good offensive weapons, but at times we still haven’t quite got them to mesh. But we’ve had great defense, and we’ve relied on that defense.”
That trust showed again late when GR-W elected to punt on fourth-and-long and put the game back in the hands of its defense.
“Fortunately, they held up and did what they’ve done all year long,” Jaxon Allen said.
For Freddie Allen, the championship also carries a unique family connection, with the sophomore playing for his father.
But with an unbeaten regular season and conference championship secured, the Allens already have their sights set on what comes next.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Jaxon Allen said. “We’ve got a lot of football season left.”
Freddie echoed that message with the postseason ahead.
“I’ll probably watch some film on Monday and then get back to work, because it’s just the beginning,” he said. “We got the playoffs now, and the goal’s that championship trophy.”
