Meeker was done in by the right arm of quarterback Asher Link and Metro Christian’s swift corps of wide receivers Friday.
Link threw for 440 yards and connected on six touchdown passes as Metro ended the Bulldogs’ season in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs with a 42-20 decision.
Meeker finished the season at 8-4. The six Bulldog seniors - Jacob Martin, Xavier Masquas, Dakota Gabbert, Jarrett Marks, Nick Redding and Kyle Cousins - finished their careers with four straight playoff appearances.
“I’m just very proud of them,” coach D.J. Howell said of his seniors. “The three years I’ve spent with those guys, they’ve accomplished a lot of things. They’ve done a lot of things and overcome a lot of things and I’m just very proud of them “Like I told them, when the football part is all said and done, hopefully the lessons they’ve learned will help them become good fathers, good men, good husbands.
“The victories on the football field - you’ll remember those and they will be great memories, but hopefully the lessons we’ve learned will carry forward.”
The game was played in chilly, drizzly weather, but Metro’s turf field assured good playing conditions.
The Patriots took a 21-0 lead, but sophomore Cam Holt got the Bulldogs on the board with a 15-yard touchdown reception with 1:39 left in the first half. Holt was hit at the two, but lunged backward and reached the ball across the goal line.
On the Patriots’ first snap after the kickoff, Link hit Blaze Munoz for a 75-yard touchdown to restore the 21-point lead, which Metro stretched to 35 in the second half.
The Bulldogs trimmed it to the final 22-point margin on a six-yard run by Caden Wolford in third quarter and another sixyarder by Martin with 1:11 left in the game.
“We came into the game and thought maybe we could get some turnovers, which we did,” Howell said. “Thought we could get to the quarterback, which we did. “But at the same time, we knew they were going to take some shots over the top and that we would have to do a good job taking those things away. We did at times, and times they hit them and that was a lot of the difference in the game.”
“It seemed like we were always a play or two away from making a tight ballgame out of it. I always say ‘tip your hat to the other guys,’ because they practice hard, too. I thought our guys kept playing hard and we did a lot of good things. In the end, we just came up short.
The season ended with Meeker’s first playoff appearance in the second round of the playoffs since the 2015 season.
Meeker started off 2-3 after losing to Luther, Perry and Jones, but the Bulldogs peeled off six straight wins in district play and the first round of the playoffs.
Howell said the Bulldogs’ season was a successful one and they were able to accomplish much.
“As a team, we were able to keep getting better,” he said. “I am very proud of that. It was a very successful season.
“It was absolutely a success. We accomplished a lot of things - we won a lot of games, we advanced in the playoffs, we were able to beat our rival.”