L.D. Bell battles but falls to Colleyville Heritage

GRAPEVINE — The Colleyville Heritage Panthers may have put themselves ahead in the race for one of the District 5-5A playoff spots with a 45-28 win over Hurst L.D. Bell Friday night, but don’t try convincing the Panthers that this was a lopsided win.

The Panthers (6-1, 3-1) got all they could handle from the Blue Raiders (5-2, 2-2), and needed three time-consuming second-half scoring drives to shake off a valiant challenge from Bell.

Trailing 28-24 in the third period after watching their 24-0 first-half lead dwindle to 24-21 at the half,

Heritage quarterback Steven Hill guided his team on drives of 34, 78 and 77 yards, using 30 plays and almost 10 minutes off the clock to rally the Panthers for the win.

But Bell had turned what looked like an early laugher into a game.

The Raiders, in fact, thought they had reclaimed the lead once again when, down 31-28, Quincy Jones raced 95 yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown that would have put Bell up. But a holding penalty brought the return back and the Raiders never scored again.

Hill put together a 328-yard passing night, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another; and had his team up 24-0 before the second quarter was even 7 seconds old. But Bell, which had just 13 yards of offense on its first three possessions, bounced back, scoring three times before halftime to pull within 24-21 at the half. Cameron Duval, who had five catches for 134 yards, scored twice in the rally.

The two teams combined for 984 yards of total offense with Heritage’s Bryan Head accounting for 119 yards on 20 carries. Bell quarterback Lehi Tonga threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns.