Joshua picks up first win of the season, hands Southwest first loss in one-point game

The Joshua Owls (1-2) didn’t let the records intimidate them.

They put up a good fight against Fort Worth Southwest (2-1) and after spending most of the night as a one-point game, the Owls got their first win and won 34-33 at Clark Stadium on Thursday.

“I finally got to see us dig down and find something in an empty tank,” Joshua head coach Danny DeArman said.

RJ Brown scored the first touchdown of the night at the 5:45 mark in the first quarter, giving the Owls the lead 7-0. However, with 1:58 left in the first, Southwest’s Raylon Carter returned a touchdown tying the score at 7.

The next touchdown came from Joshua when Ayden Groce brought the score to 13-7 after a blocked kick with 10:07 left in the second quarter. A 41-yard run by Donovan Nolden gave the Raiders the 14-13 lead with 8:17 left in the second quarter. Martivous Boswell’s 30-yard rushing touchdown put the Raiders up 21-13 with 6:47 left in the second quarter. This would be the last score of the half.

The excitement continued in the second half with 4:09 left in the third quarter as Brown ran it in for a touchdown. This brought Joshua within one point of the Raiders 21-20.

Nolden had his second touchdown of the night with seconds left in the third quarter. The Raiders were then up 27-20. The action continued throughout the fourth quarter. Groce scored his second touchdown of the night with 8:28 left on the clock. The Owls took the lead 28-27 when they made the two-point conversion.

Southwest answered that touchdown with one of its own by Jaylyn Ferguson with 4:18 left in the game. The Raiders decided to go for two, but it was shy by just a few inches. That made the score 33-28.

The Owls made the final touchdown of the night and brought the score once again within one point. The Owls led 34-33 with 1:43 remaining in the game. The Raiders kept trying to make gains on the field, but they were unable to make a final score after a penalty overturned a nearly 50-yard touchdown by Nolden with 21 seconds left on the clock. The game would end 34-33 Owls.

“I knew if we came into the game and didn’t play a clean football game, it was going to be hard for us to win,” Southwest head coach Phillip Tanner said. “If we come out and play clean football, we can beat anyone in our district now and that is our mindset going into our bye-week…sticking together and just playing clean football.”