Arlington Heights football beats Birdville in Thursday night thriller

by Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

Arlington Heights erased a 14-point halftime deficit to edge out Birdville 35 to 34 at Farrington Field.

Steve Hale made his debut as head coach for the Arlington Heights Yellow Jackets Thursday night, August 28, and he made it a successful one.

Senior RB Adonnys Wright scored two touchdowns in the second half as Heights erased a 14-point halftime deficit to beat the Birdville Hawks. With 1:38 left in the game, Birdville QB Josh Doorman tossed a nine-yard touchdown pass making the score 35-34 in favor of the Jackets. Birdville coach Jim Skinner elected to go for the two-point conversion to win the game, but came up short after an illegal procedure penalty placed the ball at the seven. Arlington Heights recovered the following onside kick attempt and ran out the clock to pick up the win.

In the first half, Heights struggled to slow down the potent Birdville spread attack, giving up 28 points. However, in the second half, their coaches made adjustments and limited the big plays, holding Birdville to only six points through the final two quarters. Meanwhile, the Jackets eliminated their first-half offensive mistakes, which limited them to 14 points. The Jackets running game began to roll behind the senior-laden offensive line.