Plano clinches playoff berth, beats West, 27-17

Connor Michelsen hooked up on touchdown passes in each half with Steele Hoetger and Collin Brence had an interception in each half Friday as a group of seniors accustomed to living on the edge came through again.

Steele Hoetger had a pair of touchdown receptions Friday as Plano won the city championship and clinched its fourth straight playoff berth. / Thad Fenton

Plano (7-3, 4-3) defeated Plano West, 27-17, at John Clark Field to win the city championship and with it came a playoff berth for the fourth straight season. Plano will meet Coppell at 1 p.m. Saturday at Coppell in a bi-district playoff game.

For consecutive seasons, Plano used a late season rally to qualify for the playoffs. A year ago it took consecutive wins over McKinney Boyd and Jesuit Prep. This time, Plano rolled through Lewisville, Plano East and Plano West, all at John Clark Field, and clinched a playoff berth as it got some help from Flower Mound Marcus.

Plano was in trouble early, needing to defeat Plano West and get a Marcus win over Hebron to clinch a playoff berth. Plano West drew a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and Marcus got down to Hebron.

Then Plano began a run to keep its season alive. Michelsen capped a 9-play, 57-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to cut the lead in half with 1:23 left in the first quarter. Sam Morell and Brence interceptions helped give Plano the halftime lead. The Morell interception was turned into a 33-yard Moore field goal and Brence’s pick resulted in the first touchdown pass from Michelsen to Hoetger for a 17-14 halftime lead.

But, Marcus was still trailing.

Plano swept games against Plano East and Plano West, part of a three-game swing that swept it into the playoffs. / Thad Fenton

Plano West’s bid at upsetting Plano’s chances at a playoff berth – a feat that would have left all Plano ISD teams out of the playoffs for the first time since 1989 – seemed to get a boost when Leon Taylor connected on a 38-yard field goal to tie the game, 17-17, with 11:50 left to go.

Michelsen found Hoetger on a 4-yard touchdown pass – their second of the night – with 7:39 to go and Moore iced the game with 4:04 left when he connected on a 31-yard field goal. For good measure, Collin Brence hauled in his second interception to stop any thoughts of a rally.

At about the same time that Plano was putting the final touches on the victory, Marcus was rallying at Hebron. It was down 7-0 at halftime. Hebron got up 14-7 and again 21-14. But Marcus scored a late touchdown and was successful on the conversion run to help lift Plano into the playoffs.

Plano 27, Plano West 17

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