TEXARKANA, Texas -- Texas High remained undefeated and officially clinched a playoff berth on Senior Night Friday.
The 7th-ranked Tigers scored 21 unanswered points to close out the game, extended their district win streak to 15 in a row and posted a 42-9 victory over Jacksonville at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park.
Texas High compiled 365 yards of total offense -- 191 passing and 174 rushing -- while limiting the Indians to 128 yards, including minus-6 on 19 rushes.
"Offensively, we were able to play on short fields tonight, and a lot of that was our defense kept plugging away; they had to play a lot of snaps tonight," Tigers head coach Gerry Stanford said. "The defensive score was a huge momentum swing."
Brayson McHenry connected on 18-of-31 passes for 191 yards, two touchdowns and an interception -- his first of the year. Braylon Stewart had 15 carries for 87 yards and two scores, and Blake Rogers and Cody Reese each had seven receptions for 69 and 68 yards, respectively. Rogers also had a TD catch.
Ahead just 14 points at halftime, Texas High (7-0, 5-0) broke open the game in the second half.
The Tigers surrendered a safety to Jacksonville (1-7, 1-4) on their first possession after intermission, but they scored 21 straight points from that point.
Texas High's third drive of the second half started at the Indian 35, and in four plays the Tigers were looking at goal-to-go. However, Jacksonville's Tony Penson made a diving interception in the end zone for a touchback.
THS' defense forced a 3-and-out, and a blocked punt resulted in the punter being tackled at the 1-yard line, giving the offense the shortest possible field.
Stewart covered that 1 yard on the first snap for his second TD of the game, this one with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter.
"We blocked a punt -- the second one this year -- gave our offense, which was actually playing fairly poorly at that time, a chance to put some points on the board in some uncharacteristic ways," Stanford said. "When we can find other ways to score, and the offense comes around, it gives us a chance to be a really good ball team. Those are the things we've got to improve on."
On the second play of the ensuing Jacksonville drive, Javarous Tyson intercepted a pass and ran it back 30 yards for a Pick-6 with 1:47 left.
McHenry, who had thrown two first-half touchdowns, capped the Tigers' next drive with his 10-yard run, finishing off a 9-play, 71-yard campaign with 8:07 remaining to play.
Stewart scored on a 10-yard run for the game's initial points with 5:42 left in the first quarter.
On the next Tiger drive, Rogers caught a 4-yard TD to make it 14-0 with 2:52 left.
Derrion Hinton scored the Indians' lone touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the first on a 1-yard run around the left side.
T.J. Gray snagged a 29-yard strike from McHenry to regain the 14-point lead with 8:48 left before intermission, and the Tigers took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
"Defensively, we played a great game all night," Stanford said. "We played a lot of snaps, and a lot of guys made a lot of plays. We made some great adjustments at halftime which put them in a bind and put them playing behind the chains the rest of the night."