Chapel Hill

CYPRESS — Chapel Hill’s freshman backfield duo of Demetrius Brisbon and Rickey Stewart, along with a strong defensive performance, led the Bulldogs to a 31-14 win over Little Cypress-Mauriceville Friday night at Cy-Fair FCU Stadium.

The win sends the Bulldogs to the state semifinals for the first time since its state championship season of 2011. The win also came on the same date — Dec. 3 — and at the same venue as its state semifinal win in 2010.

“This means a lot,” third-year Chapel Hill head coach Jeff Riordan said. “We’re a young team. We’ve got a great group of seniors, but we’re a young team. Every week of practice and every game is just going to benefit us in the future. The Chapel Hill program is back on the map. We came from ruins and a dead stagnant program. My first year we were 2-8 and suffered through the growing pains and kind of came out of it last year and kind of revived the program, and now we’re just building off the success of last year.”

Chapel Hill went 8-5 a season ago and advanced to the third round of the playoffs. A lot of those players from that team are back this season, but two newcomers are playing a big role in the form of Stewart and Brisbon.

Stewart had 134 yards on 20 carries, and Brisbon carried the ball 17 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Brisbon also threw a touchdown pass.

“They’re freshmen, but they play like college freshmen, not high school freshmen,” Riordan said. “They are never too high and never too low. The moment is never too big for them. They also have a great supporting cast. Our O-line is great. Our receivers block their tail off on the outside on the edge, and they also make plays in the passing game. They wouldn’t be able to do what they do without the supporting cast, but they’re two special freshmen.”

Brisbon agreed that the offensive line deserved a game ball for their performance on Friday night.

“They were blocking good,” Brisbon said. “I give the game to them.”

The Bulldog defense pitched a shutout in the first half with some notable stops mixed in and a defensive touchdown by Samari Willis.

Chapel Hill forced a quick punt to start the game and then went 81 yards on 15 plays, finishing with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Brisbon to Deuce McGregor.

After another LCM punt, the Bulldogs went 67 yards on six plays as Brisbon scored on a 1-yard run to give Chapel Hill a 14-0 lead with 1:37 left in the first quarter.

“We just had to get it started early and get the flow going,” Stewart said.

The Bears (11-3) then had a 15-play drive that was stalled on fourth down at the Chapel Hill 23-yard line.

On the ensuing drive, Brisbon was injured and had to leave the game for three plays. McGregor took over at quarterback and completed a 28-yard touchdown pass on the drive. Stewart also had to be tended to on the training table on the drive. Both players did return.

Chapel Hill added to its lead with 3:05 left in the half when LCM fumbled, and Willis picked the ball up and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown to make the score 21-0.

“He fumbled, and I picked it up,” Willis said. “I just knew I had to get the touchdown.”

The Bears got to the Chapel Hill 1-yard line in the final minutes of the second quarter. The Bears had four plays from the 1, and Chapel Hill stood tall, getting one final stop on the final play of the half to go into the locker room with a 21-0 lead.

Chapel Hill got the ball first in the second half and lost a fumble with Dwight Davis recovering for LCM. The Bears turned it into an 18-yard touchdown pass from Dean Reynolds to Da’Marion Morris. With 5:37 left in the third quarter.

After Chapel Hill missed a 29-yard field goal late in the third quarter, LCM had a 16-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a 1-yard run by Morris with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Morris finished with 153 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries for LCM.

The Bulldogs quickly responded with a 33-yard touchdown run with 5:17 remaining in the contest.

After Chapel Hill got a fourth-down stop thanks to some key defensive plays by Keviyan Huddleston, Adolfo Tamayo added a 29-yard field goal with 1:05 on the clock to extend the score to 31-14.

Huddleston, Willis, Brack Dyer, Ladainian Mosley, JK Davis, Jatavion Watson, Daniel Waddleton and Solomon Macfoy were among the defensive standouts for the Bulldogs.

“We’ve got some soldiers, some kids that play both ways and give up their body for the team,” Riordan said. “Our defense played out of their minds. They played like their hair was on fire with relentless effort, almost like controlled chaos out there. They were flying around, and they were physical. Coach (Craig) McFarlin and the defensive staff to a great job, and those defensive guys just played their butts off.”

Chapel Hill (11-3) advances to face the winner of Austin LBJ and Fredericksburg.

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Chapel Hill 31, Little Cypress-Mauriceville 14

LCM            0       0       7       7 — 14

Chapel Hill  14     7       0       10 — 31

First Quarter

CH — Deuce McGregor 3 pass from Demetrius Brisbon (Adolfo Tamayo kick), 4:22

CH — Brisbon 1 run (Tamayo kick), 1:37

Second Quarter

CH — Samari Willis 57 fumble return (Tamayo kick), 3:05

Third Quarter

LCM — Da’Marion Morris 18 pass from Dean Reynolds (Justin Rainey kick), 5:37

Fourth Quarter

LCM — Morris 1 run (Rainey kick), 6:55

CH — Brisbon 33 run (Tamayo kick), 5:17

CH — Tamayo 29 FG, 1:05

LCM           CH

First Downs         20             17

Rushes-Yards      51-241       44-275

Passing Yards      113            71

Comp.-Att-Int.    9-23-0       6-9-0

Punts-Ave.          2-33.5       1-27

Fumbles-Lost       1-1            1-1

Penalties-Yards    8-73          5-33

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — LCM, Da’Marion Morris 33-153; Dean Reynolds 13-63; Carson Peet 1-21; Dwight Davis 2-8; Ashton Landry 2-(-4). Chapel Hill, Demetrius Brisbon 17-119; Rickey Stewart 20-134; Samari Willis 6-21; Solomon Macfoy 1-1.

PASSING — LCM, Dean Reynolds 7-15-0 104; Ashton Landry 2-8-0 9. Chapel Hill, Demetrius Brisbon 5-8-0 43; Deuce McGregor 1-1-0 28.

RECEIVING — LCM, Keaton Rives 3-64; Da’Marion Morris 3-24; Jacob Pollock 1-12; Carson Peet 1-7; Andy McDown 1-6. Chapel Hill, Deuce McGregor 4-37; Tyson Berry 1-28; Ahstin Watkins 1-6.