The Teague Lions rolled up nearly 400 yards of offense in the first half and cruised to a berth in the final four of Region III in the 3A Division I state playoffs.

Teague dominated the East Chambers Buccaneers on Friday night at Woodforest Stadium in Shenandoah and will move on take on the Franklin Lions Friday night at Waco ISD Stadium.

The Lions never trailed and controlled the line of scrimmage the entire night. The running game piled yard upon yard for 421 yards on the night, led by senior Tayvis Coleman with 281 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns.

East Chambers punted twice in the first quarter and the Lions fumbled in their first possession for a shaky beginning for both teams. Teague took over after a Buccaneer punt went into the end zone. A couple of runs set up a third down for the passing game. Zack Satterwhite tossed to Rodney Kuykendall for the first down. The second third down of the drive was a handoff to Coleman and he raced through the East Chambers defense for a 54-yard touchdown and an early Teague lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, Ernest Ceasar took the ball on a bounce and broke through the Teague coverage team. From there it was a footrace and Ceasar ran for the 75-yard kickoff return and the game was tied 7-7.

Not to be outdone, the Lions had possession at their own 30. Coleman took the handoff again and took the same path to the end zone and the game was tied for 11 seconds. The point after was no good and the Lions led 13-7. All in all, it was three touchdowns scored in 21 clock seconds.

Early in the second quarter, the Buccaneers missed a 43-yard field goal and the Lion offense took the field. Gelico Green had a pair of runs for 13 and 18 yards to move into Buccaneer territory. A 15-yard penalty put the ball inside the 30. From there, the Lions went backwards with a loss from Coleman and a jet sweep to Antonio Heard. Facing a fourth and 14, Satterwhite dropped to pass and found Tyrese Heard behind the Buccaneer secondary. A leap from the defender missed and Heard made a diving catch for the touchdown. Roberto Escobedo added the extra point and the Lions led 20-7.

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Lions committed their second turnover of the half and East Chambers had the ball at their 31-yard line. The Buccaneers went to the passing attack, Kordell David caught a 20-yard pass and followed that with a 44-yard pass to the Teague 22. The score came on a 22-yard pass to Kaevon Harmon and the Buccaneers cut the Teague lead to 20-13.

East Chambers had a short kickoff and the Lions had 52 yards to go and 1:26 remaining in the half. Satterwhite hit Antonio Heard for a 36 yard catch and run to the East Chambers 16 yards. Teague had a couple of incompletions and a big penalty. Facing a fourth and 25 from the 31, Satterwhite connected with Tyrese Heard for a touchdown. It was his second touchdown and the second fourth down conversion of the night and the sixth time they had successfully converted on fourth down in the first half of the playoffs. The Lions led 27-14 at the half.

The teams exchanged punts in the third quarter. Midway through the third, the Lions put some distance in the score. Green and Coleman exchanged turns in the backfield and put the Lions inside the East Chambers 30. Again, on fourth down, Satterwhite tossed to Dayveon Dixon and he found the end zone for the 27-yard score.

The game returned to the model of the first half on the next play. Sophomore running back Nolton Shelvin weaved through the Lion defense for a one play highlight reel 63-yard run and cut the lead to 34-21.

It took only two plays for the Lions to match the score. On second down, Coleman took the sweep and made his third touchdown a big one on a 48-yard touchdown. This was three touchdowns in 1:08 on the clock and the Lions had a 41-21 lead.

Ceasar added a touchdown run and Escobedo kicked a 25-yard field goal to set the final score at 44-28.

Teague had 558 yards off total offense and Satterwhite completed seven of 13 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns.

The Teague team, and their fans, will travel to Waco this Friday, December 1st to face off against Franklin.

(Photos by Monte Calame)