Ryan quarterback Scotty Young slung the ball around for 297 yards through the air, and the Raider defense held Guyer to one touchdown in the second half on Thursday in a 50-29 win at C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.

With a Lake Dallas win over The Colony, the three teams would share the District 5-4A title. If Lake Dallas gets upset, Ryan would take the title outright.

Guyer, which came into the game as the No. 2-ranked 4A team in the state, had only one lead in the game, when the Wildcats went up 7-0 on quarterback J.W. Walsh’s 9-yard touchdown run on the team’s first drive. Meanwhile, the Raiders scored on six of their last eight possessions against what had developed into one of the most respected defensive units in the state.

After two quick sacks of Young from Taylor Bible and Jimmy Bean on Ryan’s first drive, the Raiders went three-and-out, and Guyer scored on its first play from scrimmage.

But from there, the Ryan offensive line gave Young all the time he needed to complete 24 of 31 passes and throw for five touchdowns with just one interception on the last play of the first half.

“They just settled down out there,” said Ryan head coach Joey Florence. “It was a big game, and Guyer came in with a lot of energy. Those things are going to happen, but I’m proud of all of these guys. They stayed calm no matter what.”

Late in the first quarter, with Guyer still up 7-0, Ryan running back Will Clark took a Zack Brewer punt back 47 yards for Ryan’s first score. Kaylon Alexander rushed the two-point conversion in, and Ryan never trailed again.

Young found Bud Sasser from 7 yards out on the Raiders’ next possession after a failed conversion on fourth down turned into a Ryan first down when defensive holding was called, giving the Raiders another shot at a score.

Walsh responded with a 23-yard rushing score on the ensuing possession that kept the Wildcats within one. After Young’s 38-yard touchdown toss to Michael Cudd down the sideline, Ryan was up 22-14 midway through the second quarter.

But Walsh continued to shred the Ryan defense, and on Guyer’s next drive, he fired an 8-yard touchdown strike to Quentin Gardener, and the score at the break was 22-21.

“We didn’t hold J.W. [Walsh] very well,” Florence said. “But everybody continued to play hard, and that’s a big key to defense is just to go after it hard.”

The game seemed eerily similar at the half to last year’s 42-28 Guyer win, but this time around, Young ruled the second half. Three of his five touchdown passes came in the second half, when the Raiders did not commit a turnover.

“If you don’t disrupt him, I’ve said it all along. He’s as good as there is in Texas high school football,” said Guyer head coach John Walsh. “We weren’t able to disrupt him, and he got his timing on. He was able to mix it up all across the field. We had a little trouble there.”

He threw his second touchdown to Sasser, a 56-yarder as cornerback Josh Stewart fell down in coverage with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. He followed that with two more to Antonio Anderson before the third quarter was out. The second to Anderson came from 17 yards out, over the middle, and put Ryan up 43-29 with 1:33 left in the third.

Ryan was just the second team to rush for over 100 yards against Guyer. Kaylon Alexander had 146 yards on the ground on just 15 attempts. J.W. Walsh threw just his third interception of the season late in the third quarter.

“They just outplayed us tonight,” John Walsh said. “They made the plays, and we didn’t. That’s how football goes. We’re good about learning our lessons, and we learned one tonight. We’ll make it work for us, and hopefully we can see these guys again.”

With the win, Ryan (9-1, 6-1) will meet Saginaw (4-5) on Thursday at Justin Northwest in the bi-district round of the playoffs. Guyer will face Saginaw Boswell (6-3) on Thursday at Southlake’s Dragon Stadium.

MATT MARTINEZ can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is mmartinez@dentonrc.com .

Ryan 50, Guyer 29

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

G – J.W. Walsh 9 run (Nick Leavitt kick), 10:30

R – Will Clark 47 punt return (Kaylon Alexander run), 1:39

SECOND QUARTER

R – Bud Sasser 7 pass from Scotty Young (Christihan Guifarro kick), 9:48

G – Walsh 23 run (Leavitt kick), 6:47

R – Michael Cudd 38 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 5:29

G – Quentin Gardener 8 pass from Walsh (Leavitt kick), 1:08

THIRD QUARTER

R — Sasser 56 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 7:00

G – Jaimaine Wilhite 26 run (Wilhite pass from Walsh), 4:18

R – Antonio Anderson 24 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 3:28

R – Anderson 17 passfrom Young (Guifarro kick), 1:33

FOURTH QUARTER

R – Alexander 39 run (Guifarro kick), 7:39

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – R: Kaylon Alexander 14-146, Will Clark 7-38, Scotty Young4-(-10) . G: J.W. Walsh 15-136, Jaimaine Wilhite 14-84, Luke Russell 1-17, Cameron Hunter 1-(-1), Sebastian Williams 1-15, Josh Allen 1-5.

Passing – R: Scotty Young 24-31-1 297. G: J.W. Walsh 17-25-1 129.

Receiving – R: Bud Sasser 4-94, Antonio Anderson 6-107, Trey Mohair 2-21, Michael Cudd 6-67, Will Clark 1-9, Kaylon Alexander 2-(-1). G: Luke Russell 6-53, Quentin Gardener 7-69, Josh Allen 1-2 , Brendan Wright 3-12.