Class 2A Division I 

Sunray blanks Olton 

Sunray got its playoff run off on the right foot shaking off a slow start shutting out Olton 41-0 during a Class 2A Division I bi-district game at Happy State Bank Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Bobcats stay unbeaten at 11-0 on the year and will now battle Hawley (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday night at Patriots Stadium on the campus of Lubbock-Cooper Liberty.

It wasn’t an ideal start for Sunray with the first quarter remaining scoreless. It was only the second time all season the Bobcats have been shutout in the opening stanza all season.

Olton (5-6) had opportunities in the first half getting the ball inside the Sunray redzone two times but the Bobcat defense stepped up with their backs against the wall keeping the Mustangs out of the endzone.

The Sunray offense got clicking in the second quarter. Lujan found Arnold Mendoza on a swing pass, with Mendoza going 39-yards for a score putting the Bobcats on the board up 7-0 with 4:29 to half.

In the final minute of the half, Lujan hit a deep ball to Ty McDowell setting up Sunray inside the Olton 30-yard line. That resulted in a Lujan fade pass to Dawson Bennett with only 14 seconds to play that gave Sunray a 14-0 lead heading into the locker room.

“We were out of routine,” Sunray head coach Wes Boatmun said. “I love that we were challenged and had to find a way. They took away some things that we love to do, so we had to figure some things out. Olton was here for a reason, and it was do or die for them too.”

The Bobcats found their groove blowing the game open in the third quarter posting 20 points to go up 34-0.

Known for his arm, Lujan dazzled with his feet rushing for a one-yard score then an 18-yard TD followed by another touchdown toss to Mendoza.

Lujan finished the game 11-of-19 for 190 passing yards with a pair of touchdowns and rushed for 151 yards on 11 totes with two more scores.

Mendoza ran tough going for 78 yards on eight carries with a rushing score and had two receiving TDs.

The Bobcat defense held Olton to 197 total yards. McDowell led the team with 13 tackles with Luke Grajeda making 12.

Panhandle pulls away from New Home 

New Home threw everything it had at Panhandle for a half, but in the end the Panthers had too much firepower to outlast the Leopards getting a 42-21 victory in a Class 2A Division I bi-district matchup on Friday afternoon at Happy State Bank Stadium.

The Leopards (5-6) took the fight to Panhandle taking an early lead and had the game tied up 14-14 at the break.

The second half was a much different story. Panhandle showed just how physical it can be and that showed pulling away in the third quarter and putting the game out of reach by the fourth outscoring New Home 28-7 in the second half.

Head coach Dane Ashley gave the Leopards defense a heavy dose of quarterback Broxton Robinson and running back Rush Waltersheid. Robinson ran right over New Home defenders stacking up 114 yards on 29 carries with five rushing touchdowns.

Waltersheid followed as a tremendous compliment chewing up a game-high 121 yards on 18 carries with a score.

Defensive back Caiden Crook was stellar on defense for the Panthers with 12 tackles.

Panhandle (10-1) advances to the area round for a big-time showdown with unbeaten Stamford (11-0) with that game set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Patriots Stadium on the campus of Lubbock-Cooper Liberty.

In two other Division I games, Abernathy downed West Texas High 35-18. The Comanches end a strong year at 7-4. Spearman hung with Post, however, fell to the Antelopes 42-33. The Lynx see their season end at 4-7.

Class 2A Division II 

Stratford crushes Crosbyton 

There was so little drama in the script delivered by the Stratford Elks on Thursday night at Dick Bivins Stadium that the second act had to be shortened.

Traditional powerhouse Stratford wasted no time establishing itself against Crosbyton in a Class 2A Division II bi-district playoff game which was never really a contest.

Only a pair of turnovers stopped the Elks, who never punted and dominated the Chieftains,  69-8.

Stratford (7-3) will face Wink in the area round to battle Wink (10-1) set for 7 p.m. Friday at PlainsCapital-Park at Lowrey Field in Lubbock.

Nobody can predict how that game will turn out for the Elks, but they should know what to expect from them next week. They did pretty much what they wanted against Crosbyton (4-7).

“We make this a big point of emphasis this time of year, but this season with everything we’ve gone through we just want to be ourselves,” Stratford coach Jon Murphy said. “”We just want to be as good as we can be. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is ior the situation and we did that. I think we were exactly our best self.”

On the first play from scrimmage, Bryce Braden took a pitch around the right side, and after getting some blocks, went practically untouched for a 55-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

After that, though, it was basically the Chase Lantelme show the rest of the half. The sophomore quarterback was involved in every one of Stratford’s touchdowns after that.
Stratford took advantage of a short field after a Crosbyton punt and Lantelme cashed in with a 35-yard scoring run and a 14-0 lead.

The Elks had to go further to the end zone on the next possession, but that was no problem. Lantelme rolled left and threw the ball back in the flat to the right, where Darius Jones was all alone, and took it 75 yards for a score and a 21-0 lead.

That was the first of two long connections between Lantelme and Jones in the first half, as they hooked up on a 59-yard scoring play in the second quarter. In between, Lantelme returned an interception 29 yards for a score to make it 28-0 late in the second quarter.

For the half, Lantelme completed 7-of-9 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. That led a Stratford effort which rolled up 383 total yards in the first half.

To seemingly rub it in, on the last play of the first half, Lantelme hit Julio Valdez on a screen pass for a 23-yard touchdown to make it 48-0.

Stratford was almost perfectly balanced offensively for the night. The Elks passed for 283 yards and ran for 278.

Nobody who was involved in gaining yards or putting up points for Stratford in the first half saw the field in the second half, which featured a running clock due to the large margin.

Still all three Stratford quarterbacks who saw action were involved in scoring plays, as freshman Hunter Lee completed a 30-yard scoring pass to Yenmsi Rodriguez in the third quarter and sophomore Tate Hudson ran 24 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to conclude the evening’s scoring

Crosbyton’s lone offensive highlight of the night came when Kevon Coleman-Cruz scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter. The Elks otherwise throttled the Chiefs defensively, allowing only 104 yards of offense.

Unbeaten Gruver gets going in second quarter to rout Morton

It seemed as if the most pressure the Gruver Greyhounds encountered Friday night at Dick Bivins Stadium came from within.

Gruver entered the Class 2A Division II bi-district playoff game against Morton with an unbeaten record, making the Greyhounds a juicy target for anybody they’ll face for the remainder of the season. The burden was big, and it showed a bit early.

However, the Greyhounds then showed why they were perfect going into the evening, as they dominated from the second quarter forward to roll over Morton 49-6 and advance to the area round.

Gruver moves on to face Iraan (10-1) in an area round matchup set for 7 p.m. Friday night in Levelland.

There might have been a little tightness for Gruver (11-0) early and some rust as well, since they drew an open week to end the regular season and hadn’t played in two weeks. The Greyhounds maybe should have been dominating 3-8 Morton more than what they were, but occasionally seemed like they couldn’t get out of their own way.

“There was for sure some self-inflected pressure with that and with the bye week coming into the bi-district game we needed to knock the rust off pretty early,” Gruver coach Kurt Haberthur said. “I felt we played some pretty good defense to set ourselves up.”

Gruver didn’t look like a team rolling into the postseason with a perfect record for a little over a quarter, but the Greyhounds flipped a switch early in the second quarter by scoring 29 points and led 36-6 at halftime.

The Greyhounds were never in serious trouble in the first half, but were unable to dominate Morton as the team’s respective records would indicate. They led 13-0 early in the second quarter after a 52-yard scoring run by Walker Maupin, the first of two scoring runs of over 50 yards for Maupin in the second quarter.

Morton quickly looked primed to make a game of it though. Only 81 seconds after Maupin’s first score, Morton quarterback Brayden Villareal kept the ball up the middle, and somehow squirted through the pile and ran 50 yards for a score to cut it to 13-6.

Whatever the momentum the Indians built up, though, was immediately snuffed out on the two-point attempt. Gruver’s Brock Butler intercepted Villareal in the end zone and returned the ball up the sideline to give the Greyhounds two points and a 15-6 lead. Morton never seriously threatened after that.

Despite committing two turnovers, Gruver’s offense looked firmly in command. The Greyhounds took control of the game with three touchdowns in a span of less than four minutes late in the second quarter.

Maupin scored on a 57-yard run and Dax Conyers ran in from 24 yards to make it 29-6. Then the Greyhounds forced a fumble by Villareal on a sack and recovered the ball at Morton’s 25-yard line. The next play, quarterback Briggs Satterfield hit Stephen Cowan on a scoring pass to make it 36-6 before the half.

It was more of the same to start the second half. On the second play after the second half kickoff, Satterfield kept it himself and ran 50 yards for a score.

When the Greyhounds got the ball back on their next possession, Maupin capped his evening with a 24-yard scoring run to make it 49-6. After that, the officials used a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Maupin led Gruver’s rushing attack with 212 yards on only 12 carries. Overall, the Greyhounds ran for 362 yards.

Other than Villareal’s scoring run, Morton did next to nothing against Gruver’s defense, as the Greyhounds gave up only 103 total yards.

Bi-District quick hits 

• It was a big night for Farwell to open the postseason as the Steers handled Sudan 41-20 on Friday night during a Division II bi-district contest. Farwell (5-6) will now play Ropesville (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in Sundown in the area round. Quarterback Jonathan Armstrong led the way against Sudan throwing for 107 yards while rushing for 48 yards with a combined three touchdowns.
• Wellington was dominant on both sides of the ball blanking Petrolia 36-0 in a Region II Division II bi-district game in Lawton, Okla., Thursday. The Skyrockets (9-2) advance to play Collinsville (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Iowa Park in the area round. In the win over Petrolia, Travon Lewis toted the rock 25 times for 115 yards rushing with a score.
• Wheeler kept a great season going knocking off Electra 44-14 in a Region II bi-district round battle. The Mustangs (9-2) have their handsful next week taking on Muenster (9-2) at 7 p.m. Friday in Burkburnett. Running back Julius Atherton tore up the Tiger defense in the bi-district matchup rushing for an incredible 230 yards on 27 carries with six touchdowns.
• Archer City was too much for Shamrock getting a 51-14 victory. The Irish season comes to an end at 6-5.
• Hale Center jumped all over Bovina for a 61-6 victory. The Mustangs season comes to an end at 3-8.