The Galveston County Daily News

The O’Connell Buccaneers clinched their first home playoff game since 2001 with a thrilling 21-14 win over The Woodlands Christian on Friday.

James Jones scored the winning touchdown for O’Connell (5-4, 3-1) on a 3-yard run with 53 seconds remaining. It capped off a 96-yard drive that took eight minutes off the clock.

Jones finished the night with 170 yards rushing and had a 70-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Corey Lee rushed for 115 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown. Drew Rios also had a 38-yard score.

The Bucs also forced four turnovers. Ryan Ross and Christian Grimoldo had interceptions, while James Mayville had a fumble recovery.

O’Connell will host its playoff game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

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Clear Lake 28, Clear Creek 20

The Wildcats played themselves out of playoff contention with their second straight loss to a team with a sub-.500 record.

The Falcons (3-7, 2-5) ran over Creek (4-6, 3-4) with 419 rushing yards and 22 first downs, and the Wildcats offense struggled without C.J. McElroy. Jarryd Garza completed 15-of-23 passes for just 128 yards and a touchdown run. Tevin Jones caught eight passes for 88 yards. Marcus Mata scored twice and ran for 136 yards.

Creek still had a chance to win the game in the final minutes, but the usually explosive offense couldn’t get it done. Lake stuffed the Wildcats cold with less than a minute to play and made Creek miss the playoffs for the first time since 2004

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Dickinson advances

With the loss by Creek, Dickinson clinched the third playoff spot from 24-5A.

The Gators had lost to Springs, 33-21, on Thursday night, but advanced with a 4-3 district record.

Dickinson will take on Fort Bend Willowridge in the first round of the Class 5A, Division II bracket.

Texas City 23, Brazosport 6

The Stings couldn’t sneak their way into the playoffs for a second straight year. After getting in on point differential last season, they lost the three-way coin toss.

Texas City (4-6, 3-4) did, however, run over Brazosport to force the coin flip. Justin Branch rushed for three touchdowns, including an 80-yard run and a 67-yard run, to end the Stings season on a high. Da’Lynn Rice scored the other touchdown on a 47-yard pass.

The Texas City defense forced two fumbles, including one at the goal line. Kaleb Apffel stood up the Brazosport runner at the line of scrimmage and Rice recovered.

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Hitchcock 70, Boling 50

The two teams combined for 69 points in a wild second half.

Devante Provost had a monster night with five touchdowns. He scored three rushing touchdown, along with a 42-yard scoring reception and an 86-yard kickoff return for a score. He also had 204 yards rushing on just seven carries.

Not far behind was Darius Dotson, who rushed for 145 yards and two scores. He also added 32 yards receiving and a score.

Morris Tuck finished 11-for-12 passing for 190 yards and two scores. Frank Garner also scored on an 87-yard fumble return.

Hitchcock (4-4, 4-1) will play Taft in the first round of the Class 2A, Division I playoffs at 6 p.m. Saturday at El Campo.

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Bay Area 24, Brazosport Christian 7

Codie Henriques rushed for more than 200 yards for the second consecutive week, and the Broncos (5-5, 4-1) scored the game’s first 24 points.

Henriques finished with 210 yards on 12 carries to pace Bay Area with 303 total yards on the ground. He also scored two touchdowns.

Kody Howard caught the other score on a 14-yard pass from Jared Fuqua. Justin McLain hit a 24-yard field goal.

The Broncos defense allowed just 198 total yards to Brazosport.