Prestonwood Christian Academy takes command in second half to roll past Addison Trinity Christian

Behind play of QB Maguire Martin, Lions win their Homecoming game, 39-14

By Cody Thorn 

PLANO, Texas - Maguire Martin didn’t spend halftime listening to his coach go over halftime adjustments.

Instead, the Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy quarterback was standing next to his mom on the sidelines as he was part of the Homecoming court.

The words coming out over the speakers blared, but Martin was still thinking about a tough first half. His Lions held the lead, but by a slim margin.

Martin made sure that changed in the second half with two touchdown passes and running for another in a 39-14 victory against Addison Trinity Christian Academy on Friday night at Lions Stadium.

“I was like this shouldn't be happening,” Martin said of his halftime thoughts. “It should not be happening, we got to figure something out. And we came out and second half and I even told (his mother), I was like we're dominating in the trenches. ... We just got to finish our drives; we got to make some stops on defense.

"And we did that; we got three picks in the second half. It was big for us to, I think, impose our will. And let them know that the first half wasn't what it was going to be like in the second half and that we were a different football team.”

The Trojans (1-6, 0-1 TAPPS Division I-1) held the lead twice in the first half, 8-3 and 14-11, before AJ Sibley’s 57-yard run gave the Lions (5-1, 1-0) the lead for the final time.

Clinging to an 18-14 lead at the break, the Lions still had to fend off the upset-minded Trojans. Prestonwood blanked the Trojans in the second half and created four turnovers and overcame some of its own miscues to dominate.

“It’s a good learning lesson for our team to come out of the gate and play,” first-year Prestonwood coach Donnie Yantis said. “Our kids competed you know. ... We made some halftime adjustments on both sides of the ball and played a lot better in the second half but you can't do that down the road. That will hurt you.

"So it's a good learning experience. We will watch the film (Saturday), see all our mistakes and take care of those hopefully.”

The Lions got the ball to open the second half and quickly faced a fourth-down situation at their own 30-yard line. Prestonwood went for it and got it on a run by Martin.

The drive continued and saw a touchdown run called back because of a hold. Martin made up for it by scoring on a 10-yard run.

Caleb Bowers then made the first of a few big second-half plays on defense. He recovered a fumble forced by Carter Stoutmire on the Trojans’ first offensive play.

Later in the third quarter, Stoutmire, a senior, picked off a pass that would lead to a score early in the fourth.

Twice on one drive, Martin hit Bowers for a touchdown. A hold called back the first one and then the almost same play was run to perfection again.

Martin rolled to his left and found Bowers going toward the home sideline and made a short pass. Bowers then did the rest, as he scored an 8-yard touchdown with 8:57 left.

“We scored two or three times and a penalty brought it back each time we still scored, so I'm proud our kids persevered and didn't allow that to get them down and I didn't allow it to get me down,” said Yantis, who worked as the recruiting coordinator at Arizona State under then-head coach Herm Edwards and then was 20-2 in two years at Valor Christian in Colorado before coming to Prestonwood this season.

An 11-yard scoring strike from Martin to Bowers capped the scoring in the game.

The Lions ran for 408 yards on the ground, 322 of those by Sibley, who had 40 carries and one score. Martin ran for 62 yards and two scores while passing for 100 yards and two second-half touchdown passes.

The win was the fifth in a row for Prestonwood, which plays at Fort Worth Nolan Catholic next week.

Trinity Christian entered this game off a 39-21 win last week and built an early advantage. 

Aidan Mills threw a 25-yard touchdown to Chance Snyder in the first quarter and Snyder ran in the conversion. With 2:27 left in the first half, Jack Harwell’s 2-yard run gave the visitors a 14-11 lead.

Next week, the Trojans play at Dallas Bishop Lynch.