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Nazareth's long drives bring the Swifts an upset in Class 1A

By CHARLES RICHARDS / Associated Press Writer

Cameron McLain was running, says Nazareth head coach Rick Price, "like a man possessed."

McLain rushed for 172 yards on 21 carries as the Swifts ended the regular-season winning streak of Springlake-Earth, Class 1A's third-ranked team, at 16 games, 20-7, Friday night.

Standing in the shadow of your own goalposts against the Springlake-Earth defense is not recommended. But Nazareth made it work, putting together scoring drives of 95, 99 and 93 yards.

Elsewhere on Friday night, all the No. 1-ranked teams in Texas high school football continued to roll.

-- in 5A, top-ranked Tyler John Tyler beat Nacogdoches 24-6, while No. 2 Austin Westlake stunned Austin Crockett 42-0 and No. 3 Longview stopped Tyler Lee 42-25.

-- in 4A, Denison celebrated its first week atop the rankings by racing past Burkburnett 66-0. No. 2 Sweetwater beat Fort Stockton 37-14, and third-ranked Calallen beat Kingsville 34-7.

-- in 3A, it was Sealy over Edna 40-0, Commerce over Princeton 40-0 and Crockett over Teague 42-0.

-- in 2A, No. 1-ranked Elysian Fields beat Harmory 74-0, but No. 2 Alto had an ever larger margin, whipping Joaquin 75-0. Third-ranked Italy beat Axtell 52-0

-- in 1A, No. 1 Wink and No. 2 Runge advanced to 7-0. Wink beat Fort Davis 60-0 and Runge beat Agua Dulce 27-7.

There were several upsets. Highland Park, ranked fourth in 4A, suffered its first loss, a 37-8 shellacking to Grapevine. Ninth-ranked Lufkin lost in 5A, dropping a 14-7 decision to Marshall.

Fifth-ranked George West and eighth-ranked Winnsboro lost in 3A. Geroge West was nipped by Bishop 28-27 and Winnsboro was a 21-7 loser to Mount Vernon.

Things looked pretty good for Springlake early in the second half against Nazareth. James Williams gave Springlake-Earth a 7-6 lead when he returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards.

Nazareth then muffed the ensuing kickoff, fumbling out of bounds at its own 1. But after a pair of rushing first downs, junior quarterback Mitchell Brockman hit senior tight end Barry Hoelting on a 61-yard pass to the Springlake-Earth 16.

Four plays later, Brockman scored from the 4, and Matthew Kern's two-point conversion run put Nazareth ahead to stay.

Sophomore running back Gabriel Cantu went 51 yards to the Nazareth 16 with less than four minutes, but the Swifts stopped Williams a yard short on a fourth-and-four play at the Nazareth 10.

McLain sealed the win with a 46-yard run and then a 45-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds left.