CRAWFORD — With 11 minutes left in their home opener, the Crawford Pirates looked like dead men.

Then, in an instant, the EKG flashed, and the Pirates showed they still had a heartbeat.

A mighty resounding one, at that.

Crawford quarterback Jake Talbert rolls out while looking for an open receiver as McGregor’s Dylan Brown gives chase in Friday night’s game at Pirate Stadium.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Down 16-0 with 11 minutes remaining, Crawford charged back with a captivating and improbable comeback, stunning rival McGregor, 22-16, Friday night at Pirate Stadium.

The Pirates (2-0) went from dead in the water, seemingly on their way to a humbling shutout defeat, to living the high life.

“I can’t say enough about this bunch of guys,” Crawford coach Delbert Kelm said. “We’ve had some great comebacks here, but that one has to be right amongst them.”

Meanwhile, it was a devastating turn of events for McGregor (1-1), which until the fourth quarter had limited Crawford to just 66 yards of offense and three first downs.

When McGregor’s Marcus Irons bounced into the end zone from three yards out with 11 minutes to play, the Bulldogs seemed to be in complete control, up 16-0.

Then, in one play, everything turned.

Crawford quarterback Jake Talbert executed a perfect pump fake and then found a streaking Daniel Post down the sideline. Post stumbled momentarily, but managed to stay on his feet to complete a momentum-swinging 67-yard touchdown.

“That lit a fire under us,” Post said.

“That was the turning point in the game,” McGregor coach Tim Seward said. “But we’ve got to be able to respond offensively. They get one big play, and we’ve got to be able to drive the ball back and respond. We didn’t step up and respond at that point.”

Instead, the Pirate defense pillaged McGregor quarterback Keith Reineke, swarming him twice for sacks on the Bulldogs’ next possession. That prompted a McGregor punt attempt, which worked out nicely for Crawford when the snap skidded across the turf and rolled loose in the end zone. A swarm of players from both teams dived for the ball, which bounced out of the end zone for a safety that cut McGregor’s lead to 16-9 with 8:52 to play.

The Pirates took advantage of prime field position, finally finding an offensive rhythm in zipping 55 yards for the tying touchdown. Cameron Kendrick picked up the score on a three-yard run off a sharply-designed toss sweep.

The game was now tied 16-16 — but not for long. On McGregor’s second play of its next possession, Reineke hit Chris Alaman in the flat, and Post pounced. The senior stripped the McGregor receiver of the ball, then scooped up the fumble and darted 20 yards for the go-ahead TD while the Pirate faithful went bananas.

What was Post thinking as he sprinted to paydirt? “Just hang on to the ball,” he said, grinning.

Crawford missed the point-after kick, but now inexplicably held a 22-16 lead with 3:26 to play.

McGregor still had one final chance to play spoiler to Crawford’s comeback. Behind the gritty running of Reineke, the Bulldogs marched down field to the Crawford 15. But Pirates safety Jake Talbert intercepted a high-arcing Reineke toss in the end zone with 10 seconds left, and Crawford escaped.

“Our guys just feel like until it hits that final second, we’re still in the ball game,” Kelm said. “That’s why I love coaching them. They may not be the most talented, but dadgummit, they’re going to play hard.”

Throughout the first half, neither team found many cracks in the opponent’s defense. Both sets of tacklers played sound, fundamental defense, ganging up on ball carriers to limit most plays to short gains.

McGregor amassed just eight first downs in the first half, while Crawford, which fumbled the ball away on its first play of the game, picked up only one.

Nibbling little morsels of yardage instead of biting off big chunks, McGregor manufactured a 57-yard scoring drive on its second possession that included a pair of clutch fourth-down connections between Reineke and his slippery receiver Keiran Wilson.

The Bulldogs made the drive pay off when Pancho Trejo squirted a 32-yard field goal just over the uprights for a 3-0 lead with 3:37 left in the opening quarter.

The teams took turns thwarting each other’s scoring opportunities for much of the remainder of the first half. For a while, it appeared no one would ever cross the goal line on this night.

But then the Bulldogs stiffened their backs, and put together a crisp scoring march to finish off the first half. Running back Marcus Irons displayed some heavy mettle, bursting for 35 yards on seven carries on the drive, and the Bulldogs again came through on fourth down, twice converting in those do-or-die opportunities.

Finally, with the clock ticking away, Reineke plowed across the goal line from a yard out with just eight seconds left before halftime, giving McGregor a 9-0 edge. Though Crawford’s Post swooped in for a sweet block on the extra-point, McGregor still took some deserved momentum into their halftime respite.