Aurora Christian rolls over Plano

Six points. It has been Aurora Christian's motivation all year.

That is how many points the Eagles lost to Plano by in last year's state semifinals, so it was no surprise the Eagles came out and established early that things would be different this year.

The Eagles went for it on fourth down twice on the game's first drive, the second time resulting in a touchdown when Matt Morse made a spectacular diving grab in the end zone.

"We had a running play called but Jordan (Roberts) read the defense and called an audible," said Morse. "We were on the same page for that pass, we saw single coverage and we tried to take advantage of that. It worked out pretty well."

It worked out so well that Morse and Roberts would hook up three more times for touchdowns, as the No. 1 seeded Eagles rolled to a 41-0 victory over the Reapers in Class 4A playoff action.

The Aurora Christian (10-0) defense also made a statement early in the game. Plano (5-5) drove the length of the field on its first possession and had 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line but Eagles senior Ryan Perik blew up the third down play. The Reapers tried to run it right up the middle on fourth down but Peter Kariotis and Lewis Gaddis were there for the stop.

"That's the thing with playing against this offense, it is so hard to read where the ball is going because they are so good at faking," said Kariotis. "That is where we ran into problems last year. This year we stepped it up and were able to find the ball and hit the right guys we were supposed to hit and good things happened."

"We got lucky," said Aurora Christian defensive coordinator Dave Beebe. "We slanted the right way and we got lucky. We've done that all year, I tell the kids all the time, teams don't get points for getting to the 1-yard line and they know it's not over until it's over. We're senior dominated and these kids have so much heart and they refuse to lose."

Roberts, who threw for 368 yards and 5 touchdowns, hit Morse in stride streaking down the sidelines just two plays later for a 91-yard touchdown to push the lead to two scores.

"The defender was right up on him shaded inside so Matt went deep," said Roberts.

"Tonight was probably Jordan's best game," said Eagles coach Don Beebe. "It's more than just the statistics, it's the reads he's making, and the audibles and the sharpness of his throws and just the command he is taking in the huddles. He knows exactly what he has to do. And Matt Morse, I was very excited to see them in a bump and run situation on Matt with no one over the top, Matt is a phenomenal receiver."

Jake Van Gilse, the Aurora Christian kicker, connected on field goals of 43 and 40 yards before the half ended to extend the lead to 27-0. Van Gilse was also 5-for-5 on PATs and recovered an onside kick in the second half.