Malakoff running back Keevie Rose (10) runs the ball into the end zone for a touchdown during the high school football Class 3A Division 1 state championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

ARLINGTON — An emotional season came to an emotional end for the Malakoff Tigers on Thursday night at AT&T Stadium.

Grandview scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take a 35-21 victory over Malakoff in the Class 3A Division I championship game.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Malakoff head coach Jamie Driskell said. “They fought hard. We didn’t play our best game. We made some mistakes, but we’ve been through a lot this year. The kids grew from it. It will make them better men one day. Your heart goes out to them because they played hard.”

In a season where three people related to the program died (Karen Adams — the younger sister of senior tight end/defensive end Caleb Adams — died of cancer at the age of 15; Michael Voyles — one of Malakoff’s biggest fans — died in a vehicle crash on his way back from Malakoff’s district win at Dallas Madison on Oct. 26; Kenneth Hayes — the grandfather of senior offensive lineman/defensive end Kyler Dalrymple — died in early November), the Tigers won 12 games and advanced to the state title game for the first time in program history.

But on Thursday night, the Zebras were victorious over the Tigers for the second time in 2018.

Grandview took a 28-7 win over Malakoff on Sept. 20.

“It was two different teams,” Driskell said. “When we played them back in Week 4, they were a different team, and so were we. It was two different teams playing again tonight. They beat us tonight, too.

“They’re better than us. They did a good job. Their kids played better; their coaches coached better. Hats off to them, and congratulations to them.”

Elijah Golden scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 9:15 remaining to give Grandview a 28-21 lead. With 23 seconds remaining on fourth down, Dane Jentsch threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dametrious Crownover for the finishing touch on Grandview’s first state crown.

Jentsch finished 15-for-26 for 171 yards and three touchdowns with one interception through the air and 89 yards and a score on the ground to earn Offensive MVP honors. The sophomore also had seven tackles to be named the Defensive MVP as well.

Early in the contest, Everardo Garcia intercepted a Jentsch pass, but the play was overturned.

Malakoff’s second interception wasn’t overturned, and Ka’derrious Thomas returned it 32 yards to the end zone to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 3:34 left in the first quarter.

Grandview tied the game on the first play of the second quarter with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Dane Jentsch to Cooper Deans. Less than two minutes later, Keevie Rose put Malakoff back in front with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Grandview answered right back with a 1-yard run by Jentsch to make it 14-14 with 7:09 on the clock.

Malakoff had Grandview backed up to its own 5-yard line for a punt late in the second quarter, but the ball hit the foot of Nathan Jones, and Grandview’s Hunter Spradlin recovered the ball. The Zebras scored 28 seconds later with a 53-yard touchdown from Jentsch to Jacob Patterson on a screen pass, giving Grandview a 21-14 halftime lead.

“It was big,” Driskell said. “It was tied at the time, and we got a good stop down there, and we were going to have good field position. Nathan has fielded every one of those and had a great year. It’s just one of those bad bounces. It happens. It just happened to happen at the wrong time for us.”

Malakoff tied the game with 2:49 left in the third quarter on a 44-yard pass from Darion Peace to Andreas Garrett.

Grandview answered with a 13-play, 66-yard drive that lasted 5:24 and ended in Golden’s touchdown run.

Golden had 103 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries for Grandview (14-2).

Malakoff got to the Grandview 45, but was stopped on fourth-and-4 with 3:17 remaining, and Grandview marched the field for Jentsch’s final touchdown pass.

Malakoff finished the season at 12-3.

“It’s been a fun year,” Driskell said. “The kids are upset right now. They’ll have time to reflect on it and think about what we’ve done and the accomplishments we made.”

Peace was 9-for-21 for 206 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. R.J. Carr rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, and Garrett caught five passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Parker Busch had 8.5 tackles and two tackles for loss for the Tigers.

——— 

Grandview021014—35Malakoff777  0—21First Quarter

MAL_Ka’derrious Thomas 32 interception return (Hector Romero kick), 3:34.

Second Quarter

GV_Cooper Deans 4 pass from Dane Jentsch (Landon Seale kick), 11:53.

MAL_Keevie Rose 1 run (Romero kick), 10:01.

GV_Jentsch 1 run (Seale kick), 7:09.

GV_Jacob Patterson 53 pass from Jentsch (Seale kick), 3:30.

Third Quarter

MAL_Andreas Garrett 44 pass from Darion Peace (Romero kick), 2:49.

Fourth Quarter

GV_Elijah Golden 3 run (Seale kick), 9:15.

GV_Dametrious Crownover 15 pass from Jentsch (Seale kick), :23.

A_18,233.

___

GVMAL

First downs

21

12

Total Net Yards

363

308

Rushes-yards

45-192

19-101

Passing

171

206

Punt Returns

0-0

2-11

Kickoff Returns

2-37

5-40

Interceptions Ret.

2-12

1-32

Comp-Att-Int

15-26-1

9-22-2

Sacked-Yards Lost

1-15

0-0

Punts

7-34.4

4-33.2

Fumbles-Lost

0-0

2-1

Penalties-Yards

9-53

7-44

Time of Possession

26:29

21:31

___

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_Grandview, Elijah Golden 23-103, Dane Jentsch 22-89. Malakoff, RJ Carr 15-69, Darion Peace 8-22, Keevie Rose 4-7, Team 2-(minus 18), Andreas Garrett 0-22.

PASSING_Grandview, Dane Jentsch 15-26-1-171. Malakoff, Darion Peace 9-21-2-206, Andreas Garrett 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING_Grandview, Jacob Patterson 4-95, Austin Boyd 4-33, Cooper Deans 3-27, KC Black 3-1, Dametrious Crownover 1-15. Malakoff, Andreas Garrett 5-101, Nathan Jones 2-77, Parker Busch 1-28, Ka’derrious Thomas 1-0.

MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.