SAGINAW — Thanks to a little bit of luck and some big offensive plays in the fourth quarter, Lake Dallas rallied past Birdville, 35-27, on Friday night in a wild playoff game at Rough Rider Stadium.

Birdville missed a game-tying extra point with a little more than two minutes left in the game, and Lake Dallas tagged on a late touchdown to pull out the Class 4A Division II Region II bi-district win.

The Falcons will face Everman in the area round at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pennington Field in Euless.

“We played well enough to win, but if anybody deserved to have a play like that, it was us,” Lake Dallas coach Michael Young said. “It was hard luck for [Birdville] because they played well tonight also.”

The missed extra point wasn’t like most one-point tries. Birdville had to kick it from 30 yards out after a holding penalty negated a successful kick that would have tied the game.

“I was thinking it was going to get blocked on the first try, and then the holding penalty gave us another chance,” Lake Dallas quarterback James Franklin said. “Then he missed it. I was thankful for that, and we feel a little lucky.”

The wacky finish capped a wild second half, after both offenses were slowed to a 7-7 tie at halftime.

The Falcons took their first lead of the game with 4:13 left when Franklin rushed in from 6 yards out. It was his third rushing touchdown of the game. He finished with four rushing touchdowns and one through the air.

On the go-ahead drive, Lake Dallas rushed the ball on 10 consecutive plays to eat up the clock. Running back Tyler Waller picked up key gains. He finished with 155 yards rushing.

“We challenged our offensive linemen there and told them to go win the ballgame,” Young said. “We wanted to go score and not leave a lot of time left. We just didn’t want to make a mistake.”

But then Birdville had an answer with starting quarterback Josh Dorman — a quick answer.

In less than two minutes, the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s leading passer marched the Hawks down the field by making big connections to get Birdville inside the Lake Dallas 10-yard line.

After three consecutive stops, Birdville faced fourth and goal from the 9. Dorman, who threw for 409 yards, hit Clarke Renfro to set up the potential tying extra point.

“We knew coming in Birdville was going to be tough,” Young said. “They had an off night last week, but I still think they are one of the best offenses in the area.”

After the missed extra point, Birdville failed on an onside kick, and a penalty put Lake Dallas in Birdville territory at the 31. Franklin scored from 31 yards out on a weird play; Birdville let him score with 2:24 left so the Hawks could get the ball back with an eight-point deficit.

But Birdville couldn’t find any late magic.

Dorman was sacked on second down and threw two consecutive incompletions to end the game.

“I bet it was a fun game to watch,” Young said. “It wasn’t as fun on the sidelines. Wow, what a game.”

The first half was not nearly as exciting, as both teams struggled to find the end zone despite putting up a combined 396 yards of total offense.

Lake Dallas had more chances, though. On their first possession, the Falcons fell two yards short of converting a fourth and long to turn the ball over on downs inside the Birdville 20-yard line.

On Lake Dallas’ next possession, Franklin threw an interception in the end zone, three minutes after Birdville scored on its opening possession on a Dorman-to-Jonathan Dents 5-yard touchdown connection.

The interception came two plays after Franklin’s 2-yard touchdown run was negated by a holding penalty. 

Lake Dallas finally found the end zone midway through the second quarter when Franklin rushed in from 3 yards out. During the drive, he rushed for 42 yards. He finished with 179 yard rushing on the night.

The drive was set up by an interception by Lake Dallas linebacker Logan Waller.

Lake Dallas will now turn its attention to Everman, which beat Fort Worth Dunbar on Friday night.

“The last time we played them in the playoffs, I think, it was about seven or eight years ago,” Young said. “They beat us 77-3. So we have to be ready.”

MATTHEW MUENCH can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is mmuench@dentonrc.com.

Lake Dallas 35, Birdville 27

Birdville               7              0              14           6              —           27

Lake Dallas         0              7              7              21           —           35

Scoring summary

First quarter

B—Jonathan Dents 5 pass from Josh Dorman (Anthony Bardon kick), 3:01

Second quarter

LD — James Franklin 3 run (Adam Goodnight kick), 6:17

Third quarter

B—John Alvarez 11 pass from Dorman (Bardon kick), 7:23

LD—Franklin 2 run (Goodnight kick) 4:26

B—Clarke Renfro 75 pass from Dorman (Bardon kick), 4:07

Fourth quarter

LD – Tyler McGee 34 pass from Franklin (Goodnight kick), 11:23

LD – Franklin 6 run (Goodnight kick), 4:13

B—Renfro nine pass from Dorman (kick failed), 2:31

LD – Franklin 31 run (Goodnight kick), 2:24

Team statistics

                B             LD

First downs        15           22

Rushing yards    16-41     46-353

Passing yards     409         137

Total yards          450         490

Comp-att-int     29-39-409            13-16-1

Fumbles-lost     0-0          1-0

Punts-avg            1-28       2-79

Penalties             2-25       6-50

Individual statistics

Rushing — B: John Alvarez 14-55, Josh Dorman 2-(minus 14). LD: James Franklin 27-171, Tyler Waller 13-155, Raymond Thelemaque 6-27.

Passing — B: Josh Dorman 29-39-1-409. LD: James Franklin 13-16-1-137