Midway downs Rider, 54-34

Rider's Josh Price looks for room to run during the kickoff of Friday's Region I-4A quarterfinal playoff in Mansfield. Steven Schaffner / Special to the Times Record News

Steven Schaffner / Special to the Times Record News Raider quarterback J.T. Barrett tries to find a hole in the Midway defense in Mansfield Friday night during the Region I-4A quarterfinal playoff.

photos by Steven Schaffner/Special to the Times Record News Above Raider defenders Cody O'Donnell (left) and Dylan McDorman take down Midway quarterback Jordan Darling in Friday's game. leftRaider receiver Anthony Wagner finds room to run for Rider's third touchdown of the Region I-4A quarterfinal playoff game in Mansfield.

Steven Schaffner / Special to the Times Record News Raider receiver Anthony Wagner finds room to run for Rider's third touchdown of the Region I-4A quarterfinal playoff game in Mansfield.

MANSFIELD — Rider started this game of big plays — gaining 58 yards on a reverse on the first play — but it was Hewitt Midway that proved to be the master of explosive plays.

The Panthers scored 30 points in the second quarter alone and finished the night with a Rider playoff opponent-record total in a 54-34 victory over the Raiders in the Class 4A Division I Region I final at Vernon Newsom Stadium.

Midway dazzled with its defense a week ago in a 19-7 win over Denton Ryan, but this show was full of wide-open offense.

Five Midway players scored in the 30-point second quarter. Four of the seven touchdowns came from 44 yards or longer. The Panthers piled up 562 yards of offense.

Rider (10-3) couldn't keep up or even make up for the 14 points lost on two early turnovers.

The Panthers (11-2) pounced on everything and advanced to take on Tyler John Tyler in the 4A Division I semifinals next weekend.

Even when the Raiders scored, as they did to close to 21-13 early in the second quarter the momentum went back to Midway as the Panthers blocked the extra point and got two points on the return.

Rider fought back to 30-20 on J.T. Barrett's second touchdown pass, with less than two minutes left in the first half. But that momentum lasted 63 seconds as Midway answered with a long touchdown pass for a 37-20 halftime lead.

It was a season high in points allowed by the Raiders, eclipsing the 51 scored by Little Elm in an overtime loss.

The Raiders bounced back from that game and made it look like the exception in another exceptional season. They had won six straight for the second consecutive season as they advanced to the regional final again, making it five appearances in this round since 2004.

"I'm very disappointed in the outcome," Rider coach Jim Garfield said. "It was a good year, but golly, that's a good team over there. And we got a good team we just ended up on the short end of the stick.

"They had the momentum the whole time. Defensively, we didn't tackle them. We had the gaps closed down, but we just didn't make tackles."

Two Midway juniors who made it hard to finish off tackles were running back B.J. Kelly and quarterback Kramer Robertson. Kelly, who Garfield compared to Rider's 2010 star Deron Royster, gained 197 yards on 20 carries and he didn't play in the fourth quarter.

Robertson, part of a rotation at quarterback, was 7-of-11 passing for 146 yards and three touchdowns. He also scrambled away from trouble to pick up big first downs and gained 71 yards on 11 carries.

Hunter Jarmon added two first-half touchdown catches where he just went over his defender. He had six catches for 62 yards.

Rider countered with Anthony Wagner and Barrett, but couldn't match the number of Midway playmakers.

Wagner scored the first four Rider touchdowns on runs of 3, 2 and 6 yards and a 59-yard reception from Barrett. That gave him 26 touchdowns on the season.

Wagner, one of the few skill position seniors for Rider, had 109 yards receiving on four catches and rushed for 98 yards on nine carries.

Barrett rushed for 105 yards on 21 attempts but Midway kept him from breaking a long one. The junior quarterback was 7-of-20 passing with two touchdowns and a costly interception on a first-quarter screen pass.

The Raiders couldn't have started the game any better — gaining 58 yards on the game's first play — and scoring on an 82-yard drive to begin the game.

The defense followed with a nice stop thanks to back-to-back plays from Cody O'Donnell.

But the game turned when Rider fumbled the punt and Midway recovered at the Raider 20-yard line. The Panthers turned that into the first of two first-half touchdowns by the 6-foot leaper Jarmon.

Midway later returned the favor by fumbling a punt to the Raiders' O'Donnell at the Panthers' 15-yard line.

But the Midway train was rolling full speed ahead by then as it scored 30 points in the second quarter to lead 37-20 at halftime.

Kelly scored on runs of 9 and 50 yards — both out of Midway's box formation — and Jordan Darling and Robertson each tossed touchdown passes out of the spread.

While Kelly's 9-yarder was a simple play on the first snap of the second quarter, the period had a game's worth of big highlight-film plays. Midway gained 212 yards of offense in the second quarter and had five players score points.

Robertson, who had the early TD pass to Jarmon, tossed a long ball as he was being hit that Gary Goode was able to run down for a 51-yard touchdown in the final minute of the 57-point half.

Wagner was the first-half offensive story for Rider with 152 combined yards and three touchdowns.

He scored his fourth on the first possession of the third quarter — a touchdown set up by D.J. Arnold's blocked punt — but Midway answered by scoring the next 17 points.

Rider had given up only 48 points in the first three rounds of the playoffs, but saw Midway nearly set the opponent record, which stands at 56, in this one. The Panthers' backups fumbled inside the Raiders' 10 late in the contest.

at Vernon Newsom Stadium, Mansfield

Rider 7 13 7 7 — 34

Midway 7 30 7 10 — 54

First Quarter

Rider — Anthony Wagner 3 run (Cal Johnson kick) 10:03

Midway — Hunter Jarmon 17 pass from Kramer Robertson (Drew Owen kick) 7:38

Second Quarter

Midway — B.J. Kelly 9 run (Owen kick) 11:57

Midway — Kelly 50 run (Owen kick) 8:44

Rider — Wagner 2 run (kick blocked) 5:50

Midway — Shakiel Randolph return of Orion Stewart's blocked PAT kick 5:50

Midway — Jarmon 13 pass from Jordan Darling (Owen kick) 3:22

Rider — Wagner 59 pass from J.T. Barrett (Johnson kick) 1:51

Midway — Gary Goode 51 pass from Robertson (Owen kick) 0:48

Third Quarter

Rider — Wagner 6 run (Johnson kick) 7:48

Midway — Robertson 44 run (Owen kick) 4:23

Fourth Quarter

Midway — Owen 38 field goal 10:57\

Midway — Courtney Washington 47 pass from Robertson (Owen kick) 6:58

Rider — John Hatch 6 pass from Barrett (Johnson kick) 3:36

Rider Midway

First downs 17 26

Rushes-Yards 40-245 48-379

Passing 136 183

Comp-Att-Int 7-20-1 10-17-0

Punts 4-46.3 2-18

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 5-2

Penalties-Yards 5-65 11-95

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Rider — Barrett 21-105; Wagner 9-98; Dominic Thrasher 7-36; Ty Branch 1-9; Chase London 1-(-1); Parker Baird 1-(-2). Midway — Kelly 20-197; DeCharr Greer 7-83; Kramer Robertson 11-71; Deandre Ford 2-19; Justin Richter 1-17; Goode 1-11; Darling 3-(-4); Xavier Hailey 1-(-7); Team 2-(-8).

PASSING: Rider — Barrett 7-20-1, 136. Midway — Robertson 7-11-0, 146; Darling 3-6-0, 37.

RECEIVING: Rider — Wagner 4-109; Hatch 3-27. Midway — Jarmon 6-62; Washington 3-70; Goode 1-51.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Rider — Cody O'Donnell 1, Kiegan Hart 1. Midway — Chavoun Childers 1, Jacob Cavasos 1.

INTERCEPTIONS: Midway — Wesley Abercrombie 1.