Perryton edges Canyon in shootout
It may or may not have been the game of the week in the Texas Panhandle’s opening week of high school football, but Friday night nobody made a bigger statement than the Perryton Rangers.
Hosting Canyon in a game where they were a 17-point underdog, the Rangers sent notice to the area that they should be a force this season.
Perryton scored on a 4-yard run by Raider Rodriguez with 22 seconds left to pull within a point, then opted to go for two and the win, making the gamble pay off on a quarterback sneak by Cooper Schilling to pull off a 45-44 win in the first game for head coach Josh Hernandez.
That capped a wild night in which the two teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense.
Schilling showed that he might be one of the area’s top dual threats at quarterback against Canyon. He completed 12-of-20 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 184 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
Canyon certainly did enough offensively to win. Boston Bell completed 16-of-20 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns and Colt Cruth ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
Noah Sanchez had four catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles.
Hereford rolls past Lubbock
Hereford’s offense was as good as advertised to open the season, as the Whitefaces moved the ball consistently from start to finish to beat Lubbock High 49-28 at home.
Lubbock actually took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Herd scored 21 straight points to take the lead and never looked back. Brylyn Lopez gave Hereford the lead for good on a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to make it 14-7.
Lopez ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Kalub Ramirez completed 11-of-18 passes for 118 yards and two touchdown passes to Tell Bryant.
Dumas routs Caprock
Dumas let host Caprock get the upper hand early then dominated the rest of the way, closing the game with 42 unanswered points to roll to a 42-7 victory.
Caprock got on the board on a 24-yard scoring pass from Stevan Ulibarri to Xayvion Gonzalez for a 7-0 first quarter lead. But that was about it for the Longhorns, as Dumas held them to five first downs and 93 yards total offense for the game.
Dumas took control with three touchdowns in the second quarter for a 28-7 halftime lead. Colton Mills threw three touchdowns in the first half, the last two to James Coaly.
Mills completed 9-of-14 passes for 176 yards and Coaly had four catches for 94 yards. Johnny Marquez ran for two touchdowns.
Defensively, Dustin Coey was a force for the Demons, making nine tackles and blocking two punts.
Pampa outlasts Iowa Park
Pampa showed its considerable offensive potential on the road to open the season, rolling to a 42-28 victory at Iowa Park to give Floyd White his first win as Pampa head coach.
The Harvesters benefited from the return of junior running back Max Neff to the lineup. After missing his sophomore year to injury following a phenomenal freshman season, Neff ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Pampa’s Jarren Hill had a solid game at quarterback, throwing two touchdown passes and running for 137 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.
While the Harvesters ran the ball well, they kept the Hawks from doing the same. Iowa Park ran for only 83 yards against Pampa.
Seminole routs West Plains
Even after two successful seasons, the West Plains Wolves are still looking for a win in a season opener, as they fell to former district rival Seminole 56-21 on the road, suffering their third straight season opening loss.
West Plains quarterback Reid Macon completed 20-of-30 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Slade Russell. However, the Wolves couldn’t stop Seminole, who piled up 480 yards of offense.
Seminole’s Wyatt Holmstrom completed 24-of-29 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns and Caton Cramer ran for 111 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries.
