Byrnes 2023 season comes to shocking end in OT vs. Hillcrest

The Rebels held a 24-10 second-half lead, but 17 straight points from Hillcrest ended Byrnes’ season early.

With one swing of a leg, hundreds of dreams were crushed at Nixon Field on Friday night.

An overtime field goal lifted Hillcrest over Byrnes, 27-24, in the second round of the Class 5-A playoffs. The Rebels’ historic season came to a shocking early end. They finished 10-2 on the year.

“I really expected us to still be playing right now,” said Byrnes head coach Reggie Shaw. “I thought this was the team to make a run.”

After going up 17-10 at halftime and pushing their lead to 24-10 at the start of the third quarter, the Rebels took their foot off the gas offensively. Stalled drives and a blocked field goal attempt helped the Rams ease back into the game. They’d tie it at 24 in the fourth quarter to send it to overtime.

“We didn’t seize the opportunities we had to put the game away,” said Shaw. “14-point lead, and we let them slip back in the game with some poor pass coverages on number seven.”

“Number seven” is Hillcrest star wide receiver Avery McFadden. McFadden did damage to the Rebels in every possible way.

The senior wideout ran for, threw for, and caught a touchdown pass to provide nearly all of the Rams’ scoring on the evening. He also had several big returns, including one on a blocked field goal that would’ve put the Rebels up 27-10.

“Their plan was to get the ball to [McFadden], and it worked. And they played some great defense. Hats off to them. They never quit. They found a way.”

Shaw said his team was “eating the rat poison” at practice during game week, not focusing on the task at hand and instead looking ahead to a potential state championship.

But the responsibility, Shaw said, falls on him and his staff.

“This hurts, and it’s going to hurt for a while because you know the potential this team had,” he said. “You feel disappointed and you feel like you let down some folks. And that all starts with me. I’m the commander of the ship, so I take responsibility for that.”

The Rebels will return a large portion of this year’s region-winning squad next season, but they’ll also lose plenty of talent in this year’s senior class. Players like quarterback Andrew Stevens, defensive end Chris Foster, and linebacker James Oates all played their final games at Byrnes on Friday night.

Shaw will “miss every single one” of his seniors, but the future is bright at Byrnes, he said.

“It’s a great time to be at Byrnes, man. Our middle schools have been very successful, and our C-team and JV have both been very successful,” he said. “There are a lot of new players coming up and a lot of good players coming back. It’s a good time to be a Rebel.”