Salado eliminated in season finale, 42-14 Posted On: Saturday, Nov. 7 2009 05:40 AM By Alex Byington
Killeen Daily Herald

ROGERS – Despite struggling much of the season, Salado entered its season finale against bitter District 25-2A rival Rogers still in control of its playoff destiny.

Needing to win by four points to lock up the No. 3 seed and assure a fifth-straight playoff appearance, Salado had no answer to Rogers' multi-faceted run game as the opposing Eagles rocked and rolled to a 42-14 victory Friday night at Eagle Stadium, locking up a share of the district title with Lago Vista.

"We wanted it so bad, and it's all we've been talking about. We came in and knew we had a chance to win, especially after beating Academy (two weeks ago), we had momentum going and we were ready to go," said Salado senior captain Caleb Little, who missed the playoffs for the first time in four years. "Some of the calls took us down and we couldn't get back up – we fell in a hole."

With nearly 400 yards on the ground, including 250 and five touchdowns from the duo of junior tailback Ryan Pierce and sophomore fullback Cody Weir, Rogers (8-2, 5-1) helped dig that hole with 35 straight points over a 25-minute period between the second and fourth quarter.

"They stayed out there (on offense) and if they stay at it long enough, they're going to pop 'em and they did," said Salado coach Jeff Cheatham.

Tied at 7-7 midway through the second quarter following a 24-yard touchdown run by Salado junior Cole Calder, Rogers went to work on the ground as Pierce broke through for a 10-yard score to cap a 10-play drive to answer and go up 14-7 with just under four minutes remaining.

Salado (3-7, 3-3) attempted to keep pace as dynamic sophomore tailback Austin Silva broke loose on a 44-yard run on the first play of the drive to set the Eagles up at the 23-yard line in Rogers territory.

But after appearing to tweak his left ankle while trying to avoid a tackle on the run, Silva had to be helped to the sideline and wouldn't return.

His replacement, fellow sophomore Peyton Best, fumbled on the next play as the momentum pendulum swung right back to Rogers, which wouldn't surrender it.

"We had a couple of critical errors on our end, and some personal fouls that kept their drives alive, and they ended up getting points off them," Cheatham said. "But when you can't get on the field, you can't score. And that's been their prescription for them all year."

Coming out at halftime, Rogers went back to the ground, controlling the game clock as Pierce scored his final two touchdowns in a lopsided third quarter in which Salado only managed two offensive possessions.

"We just needed to be a third quarter team and we couldn't do it, I guess it cost us," Little said.

Quickly down 28-7 entering the final period, Salado turned away from its ground game and instead depended almost solely on the pass, with junior quarterback Cole Brentham unable to hit his receivers on a consistent basis.

"We got into one-dimensional mode and we couldn't get out there and do what we needed to do," Cheatham said.

Contact Alex Byington at alexb@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7566.