The whole "Tale of Two (fill in the blank)s" has been done to death. But if ever a game begged for the cliche to be dusted off, it was Friday's Region IV-3A Division II bidistrict clash between Edna and Luling.

The first half belonged to the emotional Eagles, an overachieving team on a mission. The second belonged to the Cowboys, a talented, athletic team with something to prove.

In the end, there were two constants in Edna's 54-40 win at Cougar Stadium in New Braunfels:

Luling's inspiration.

And Edna's quarterback.

The Eagles prepare to return as halftime winds down.

First half

They walked, silently and slowly even as the fight song urged them on, onto the Cougar Stadium field in New Braunfels. They did the same as halftime wound down.

The noise the Luling Eagles made in between was loud, unmistakable and frankly remarkable.

A 5-5 team that nonetheless earned a tri-championship with San Antonio Sam Houston and La Vernia in District 27-3A, the Eagles were prohibitive underdogs against the explosive Cowboys.

Instead, Braxton Allen threw six touchdown passes. In the first half. Craig Mager caught four of them, in addition to setting up a score with a 56-yard run on the first play from scrimmage and later setting up another with an interception.

Braxton Allen displays 'RD' sticker.

Even with five missed extra points (four of them 2-point tries), the Eagles went to the locker room at halftime up 40-33.

Could they do it? Could they honor "Deano" one more time?

"There wasn't any lack of effort; they played until they didn't have anything left," said Gene Scoggin, one of Luling's two interim co-coaches since the Oct. 8 death of head coach Robert Dean. "And that's what you saw there at the end. We were just totally exhausted.

"But so were the Cowboys. They were out of gas, too. That's why you saw the score slow down."

The first half, relatively speaking, was a sprint relay. With Mager frequently in single coverage, Luling all but abandoned any pretense of a running game. Allen received just enough protection to fire deep ball after deep ball: Mager's TD receptions covered 67, 66, 62 and 33 yards.

"My hat's off to the Luling staff on how well they prepared their kids and got their kids ready to play," Edna coach Mike Pierce said. "They have a good football team and they played with a lot of emotion."

That emotion naturally spilled into the stands, where many Luling fans wore T-shirts with this message on the back:

Many Luling fans wore these T-shirts.

Fly Like An Eagle

You taught me determination.

You gave me the skills

to persist in life's game,

and for that I will always

give thanks for you

and look back and boast

that  I had the privilege

to call you Coach.

"Deano"

There was just one thing wrong from a Luling standpoint. No matter how often the Eagles scored, that guy on the other side wearing No. 7 seemed to have an answer.

The final scoreboard tells a different story.

Second half

If the first 24 minutes were a track meet, the final 24 were like a Dean Smith basketball team running the four corners.

Running the show on both sides of the line of scrimmage was Kam Jones, a senior coming off an epic performance in Edna's Week 10 loss to Cuero: 217 rushing yards and two touchdowns, 216 passing yards and three TD throws.

Although yardage totals were not immediately available Friday, Jones outdid even himself in terms of TDs. He accounted for all eight Cowboys scores: five runs (3, 3, 12, 18 and 21 yards), three passes (77, 56, 79).

"We're playing with lots and lots of injuries — we lost three starters to grades, we lost two starters to injuries — but we found a way," Pierce said.

"As long as I've got No. 7 back there pulling the trigger. He's the real deal; he's the best player I've ever been around."

Kam Jones and Colten Clay (21) look to the Edna sideline.

Jones not only accounted for 18 of Edna's 21 second-half points — and in the process expertly controlling the tempo and milking the clock once the Cowboys took the lead —  but he was a major factor in a tactical shift that left Luling at 40 the whole second half.

"No. 5 (Mager) was straight killin' us," Jones said. "So we went in at halftime, and our defensive coordinator, coach (Wade) Birchum, told us that he wanted me to lock down No. 5 over the top, so that's what we did. We came out in the second half and he didn't really do too much."

Part of that was the bracket coverage, part was leg cramps and a "knee problem" Mager battled, and part was the relentless pressure Allen faced on every second-half throw once it became obvious Luling was not even going to pay lip service to a running game.

Edna QB/S Kam Jones

Whatever the reason(s), Edna totally dominated the second half. If not for a fumble inside the Luling 5, followed once the Cowboys got the ball back by a steady diet of runs up the middle while milking the clock, Edna almost certainly would have threatened the 70-point mark.

"A lot of it was them being able to keep the ball with No. 7, Kam, being able to run the ball as well  as he did," Scoggin said. "We just couldn't hem him up the second half.

"Not that we did a great job in the first half."

0:00

The Cowboys celebrated, but not raucously. Forgive them for not being in practice: Friday's win was Edna's first in a playoff game since 1992; coincidentally, against Luling.

"Hopefully, we just get well, and we'll be ready to go," said Pierce, whose 8-2 team will take on 9-2 La Grange in the second round.

As Scoggin noted, the Eagles left the field with the heads held high, and with fewer tears than one might expect. Now comes time for coming to terms with Dean's death, something the Eagles — who defeated Sam Houston the next day to open district play — simply haven't had time to do.

"I pretty well wore out all my emotions weeks ago," he said. "I'm pretty much  emotionless now. So now it's time to just take some time and reflect on some things. As a coaching staff, we really haven't. We just kept diggin'."