SAN ANGELO With the game still hanging in the balance, the football hit the turf twice in the final minutes Saturday at San Angelo Stadium.
Each time, it bounced Albany’s way.
The No. 6-ranked Lions recovered two fumbles in the last four minutes — including one that was returned 86 yards for a touchdown — to put the finishing touches on a 35-18 win over No. 4 Wink in their Class 2A Division II regional semifinal playoff game.
Albany (11-2) will move on to the state quarterfinals where the Lions will play No. 7 Collinsville (12-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in Mineral Wells. Wink’s season ended with a record of 12-1.
“I’ve done this a lot of years, and if you want to go far in the playoffs then you’re going to have to get some breaks,” Albany head coach Denney Faith said. “That’s what I told the guys after the game.
“We’re not apologizing for any of them. We’ve had them bounce the other way against us, so we’re going to take it.”
Albany made its own luck much of the afternoon, forcing five turnovers while not committing a turnover of its own.
Even so, Wink still had a chance in the closing minutes.
Trailing 28-18, the Wildcats looked as if they were going to make it a one-possession game before they fumbled the ball on Albany’s 1 with 3:43 remaining.
Moments later, Albany quarterback Cole Chapman fumbled the ball as well, but wide receiver Branson Beal scooped it up and raced 86 yards for a score to end Wink’s hopes of a comeback.
“I’m kind of speechless right now,” Wink head coach Brian Gibson said. “It wasn’t our best day. We didn’t play well.
“We played very, very hard. Our kids got after it against a very good team. But you just can’t turn the ball over that many times and not create any on the other side and expect to beat a good team.
“Obviously, if we get that fumble at the end of the game and score, it could be a new game. But we didn’t get it and they did.”
Wink outgained Albany 375 to 338 in total yardage, but Albany’s defense intercepted two passes and recovered three Wildcats’ fumbles.
After Albany senior London Fuentes caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Chapman for a 14-6 lead late in the first quarter, Fuentes then had interceptions on back-to-back drives to help the Lions take a 21-6 lead into halftime.
“We’ve been behind I think two times this year, so it was kind of new ground for us, but we weren’t panicking,” Gibson said. “We knew at halftime what we could do and what we could accomplish.
“Albany is good defensively and gave us everything they had, and they stifled our offense a little bit today.”
Wink scored on the opening drive of the second half — a 13-play, 79-yard march capped by Kanon Gibson’s 1-yard scoring run on fourth-and-goal — but Fuentes popped up again to make another game-changing play.
He returned the ensuing kickoff to Wink’s 31, and Chapman scored on the next play to give the Lions a 28-12 lead.
Wink pulled within 28-18 heading into the fourth quarter on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gibson to Brandon Peters, but the Wildcats’ final two possessions ended in fumbles.
“That’s what we’ve been preaching all week,” Faith said of the turnovers his team forced. “The things they do offensively are so hard to defend, and we thought we had a good plan, but we knew we weren’t going to shut them down completely.
“We just had to make them drive the ball, and then score when we had opportunities to score.”
Wink had rarely been challenged this season, with its closest game coming in a 13-point win over Ozona.
The Wildcats hadn’t lost since this same round of the playoffs last year when they were knocked out by eventual state champion Stratford.
“We’ve been playing really good football every game, and then we hit that lull today and we just never could get our feet back underneath us and get going,” Brian Gibson said. “My heart breaks for the seniors. They’re a tremendous class.
“They won a lot of playoff games for us and a lot of football games overall. And more so than anything, they’re terrific human beings. They’re exceptional young men, and we’re going to miss them tremendously.”
Kanon Gibson rushed for 130 yards and a TD on 26 carries. He was also 17-of-24 passing for 180 yards and two TDs, including a 49-yard touchdown pass to Braden Denton.
Hudson Morgan added 11 carries for 71 rushing yards.
Chapman was 10-of-19 passing for 126 yards and three touchdowns to lead Albany, adding 92 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
This is the second consecutive year for Albany to reach the state quarterfinals. The Lions advanced as far as the state semifinals last year before also losing to Stratford.
ALBANY 35, WINK 18
Class 2A Division II Regional Semifinal
Saturday, San Angelo Stadium, San Angelo
Score by Quarters
Wink 6 — 0 — 12 — 0 — 18
Albany 14 — 7 — 7 — 7 — 35
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
Albany: Coy Lefevre 12 pass from Cole Chapman (London Fuentes kick), 5:57.
Wink: Braden Denton 49 pass from Kanon Gibson (kick failed), 5:07.
Albany: London Fuentes 6 pass from Cole Chapman (London Fuentes kick), 1:24.
Second Quarter
Albany: Adam Hill 41 pass from Cole Chapman (London Fuentes kick), 11:10.
Third Quarter
Wink: Kanon Gibson 1 run (run failed), 4:27.
Albany: Cole Chapman 31 run (London Fuentes kick), 4:00.
Wink: Brandon Peters 8 pass from Kanon Gibson (pass failed), :04.
Fourth Quarter
Albany: Branson Beal 86 fumble return (London Fuentes kick), 3:43.
Team Statistics
Wink Albany
First downs 20 12
Rushes-Yards 40-190 29-212
Passing Yards 185 126
Comp-Att-Int 17-24-2 10-19-0
Punts-Avg 2-23.5 2-43.5
Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-15 4-37
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Wink: Kanon Gibson 26-130, Bryan Wilcox 1-3, Hudson Morgan 11-71, Alex Soltero 1-6, TEAM 1-(-20);.
Albany: Coy Lefevre 10-36, Adam Hill 5-(-5), Cole Chapman 12-92, Branson Beal 1-88, Cason Fairchild 1-1.
PASSING
Wink: Kanon Gibson 17-24-2—185.
Albany: Cole Chapman 10-19-0—126.
RECEIVING
Wink: Jordan Tally 5-56, Braden Denton 2-46, Brandon Peters 3-29, Abram Bell 1-22, Zach Yactayo 3-11, Creed Frerich 2-14, Ethan Cahill 1-7.
Albany: Cason Fairchild 2-14, Coy Lefevre 1-12, London Fuentes 3-15, Adam Hill 3-72, Branson Beal 1-13.
