The Texas High School football playoffs bi-district round continued Friday with a couple of surprises coming out of the Texas Panhandle and the South Plains. Here’s a recap of first round action that saw Lubbock-Cooper Liberty blank Monahans, Lubbock Monterey outlast El Paso Americas and Bovina stunning Hale Center.
Class 2A Division II
Bovina put its name on the map with one of the bigger wins across the state in the bi-district round and did it thanks to a fast start that led to a 36-24 victory over Hale Center on Friday night at Happy State Bank Stadium.
The Mustangs win their first gold ball since 2017 and are one of the very rare No. 4-seeds to earn a victory in the opening round.
“This is huge for us,” Bovina head coach Wade Wilson said. This was a community-wide win as much as a win for the team. Everyone in Bovina backs the school whether they have kids or not. I had players crying, adults crying after the win and it took us forever to get out of the stadium because everyone wanted to greet the players and celebrate.”
Bovina (4-5) advances to the area round and will play Seagraves (7-4) at a time and place to be determined. Hale Center, the District 2-2A Division II champions, see another great year end at 9-2.
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Playing with an underdog mentality, Bovina looked anything but, jumping all over Hale Center in the opening quarter. After the Owls had scored to open a 6-0 lead, the Mustangs exploded for 24 unanswered points highlighted by a 58-yard pass from Elijah Rocha to Fernando Lopez and an Angel Lara 43-yard pick six.
The Mustangs pushed the lead to 36-12 before the Owls did threaten, cutting the deficit to 36-24, but Hale Center was never able to catch up.
The Bovina defense did its job holding Hale Center to negative rushing yards while forcing three interceptions.
Lara, the senior leader of the Mustangs, was all over the field on defense, and ran for 78 yards on 23 carries. Rocha not only threw for a score but ran for two touchdowns.
“We’re getting better every week,” Wilson said. “This team is buying in and we believe. I have to credit the coaches on this staff for this win. They had a great game-plan and everything that we drew up worked. I also want to talk about Angel Lara. That guy makes us go and he is a special player. I’ve coached a lot of great players and he’s up there with them. He is very underrated and we are lucky to have him.”
In another Division II bi-district clash, Farwell was able to outscore Sudan for a big 56-42 victory on Friday night at Bobcats Stadium in Dimmitt.
The Steers (7-3) are headed to the area round and will take on Ropes (10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Wildcats Stadium in Littlefield. The Steers posted 551 yards of offense in the win showing plenty of balance. Farwell rushed for 280 yards while passing for 271.
Quarterback Kolson Allen was clutch for Farwell in the victory, going 12-of-19 for 271 yards with four touchdown tosses, and chewed up the Hornets for 99 yards rushing with two more scores.
Andrae Pullen had three of those snags for 126 yards with a pair of TDs and Hudson Agee had a touchdown on five catches for 113 yards. Coy Miller carried the ground game with 140 yards on 20 carries with two scores.
Class 2A Division I
The West Texas High Comanches opened the UIL Class 2A Division I playoffs how they finished the regular season by getting a 43-14 victory against Abernathy during a bi-district game Friday at Whiteface Stadium in Hereford.
The Comanches broke the game open in the second half. Trailing 14-13 at the break, WT High scored to open the third quarter on a quarterback Cayde Winters 12-yard run. The Comanches then started to pull away behind Winters, who added two more scores giving the Comanches a comfortable 37-14 advantage.
Winters gave the Antelopes fits the entire night, carrying the ball 23 times for 219 yards with four touchdowns. He also threw for 62 yards. Running back Kelby Sherwood punched two touchdowns in, adding 106 yards on 19 carries.
The Comanches (11-0) will head to the area round for a date with Hawley (8-3) at 6 p.m. Thursday at PlainsCapital-Park on Lowrey Field in Lubbock. Abernathy ends its season at 5-5.
Class 4A Division I
The Dumas Demons joined the 80-plus club in the postseason, as they were unstoppable in routing El Paso Riverside 83-35 at Seminole.
Dumas (8-3) faces a major challenge in the area round next week against Stephenville (11-0) at 7 p.m. Friday on Leo Brittain Field at Lions Stadium in Vernon. a
It was actually a close game early, as Riverside (8-3) matched two Dumas touchdowns to tie it at 14 in the first quarter. However, Dumas hit the gas after that, putting together 42 points in an epic second quarter to take a 63-21 halftime lead and cruise from there.
The Demons racked up 659 yards of total offense. Colton Mills completed 15-of-19 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns.
Dumas had two 100-yard receivers, as Blake Robinson had nine catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns and Colt Fox had three catches for 105 yards. Robinson broke the school’s career receiving record and has 78 catches for 1,355 yards.
In addition, ZJ Jara ran for five touchdowns.
It was a highly familiar scene for Randall, as the Raiders put up another stifling defensive performance and showed a revitalized passing game to roll past El Paso Austin 49-0 at Wink.
Randall (9-2) will face Burnet in the area round at a time and place to be determined next week.
Quarterback Braylon Preciado continued to show why the Randall coaching staff made the decision to start him late in the season. Preciado completed 14-of-16 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns.
Phoenix Sherwood was Preciado’s favorite target with four catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns. It’s a testimony to the democratic nature of Randall’s passing game that three players threw touchdowns, with Drayden Ray and Kaison Benton also throwing touchdowns.
All told, 11 Raiders caught passes, as Randall rolled up 500 total yards in only 41 plays. Defensively, they posted their fourth shutout of the season.
Class 4A Division II
Lubbock-Cooper Liberty made an auspicious playoff debut, crushing Monahans 49-0 at Andrews to make a statement as a second-year program,
Liberty (10-1) will face Graham (8-3) at 6 p.m. Friday at Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium in the area round.
Quarterback Colton Bichard was superb in the win. Bichard picked apart Monahans going 10-of-11 for 144 yards with a touchdown, and ran for 47 yards with two more scores. Running back Talon Wilcox was very effective rushing for 101 yards on 15 carries with a pair of TDs.
Defensively, the Patriots were dominant, not allowing Monahans (1-9) to score while forcing five turnovers. They also put points on the board as Lane Miller returned an interception for a touchdown.
Class 5A Division I
A big second half lifted Lubbock Monterey into the next round of the playoffs in El Paso.
Monterey came back from a 14-point second quarter deficit to beat El Paso Americas 50-32 at the Socorro ISD Student Activity Center. The Plainsmen (7-4) will face Fort Worth Arlington Heights next week at a time and place to be determined.
In a span of just over four minutes in the second quarter, Americas scored 22 straight points to take 29-15 lead and Monterey appeared in trouble. However, the Plainsmen showed that they didn’t pile up 534 total yards for nothing.
They cut the margin to 29-22 just before halftime on a 44-yard scoring pass from Jonah Reed to Noah Alexander. Reed was 17-of-22 for 252 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which was a 78-yard bomb to Quarren Boyd which gave Monterey the lead for good at 36-29 midway through the third quarter.
Boyd had five catches for 109 yards and Alexander had six for 102.
Deuce Moore, meanwhile, carried things on the ground for Monterey. He ran for 247 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries.
Reed clinched the game by running for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
In the game of the night in El Paso, the Amarillo Sandies experienced a season’s worth of drama in the past week, and in their playoff game at El Paso El Dorado, they had what seemed like a season’s worth of offense.
It still wasn’t enough to win.
After having six wins wiped out due to using an ineligible player and needing a win and a fortunate coin flip to make the playoffs, the Sandies had an offensive game for the ages against El Dorado. But the Aztecs showed why they were undefeated, overcoming a 28-point deficit and outlasting the Sandies in overtime of 77-76 season to end Amarillo High’s season in heartbreaking fashion.
The Sandies (2-9) lost despite piling up 753 yards of offense. Quarterback Jett Lopez had another huge game, throwing for 453 yards and six touchdowns, giving him 20 touchdown passes over the last three games of his career.
Austin Sluder, Oliver Parsons and Tate Blackwell all caught two touchdown passes apiece for the Sandies. Parsons (six catches) and Blackwell (two catches) both had 114 yards receiving.
Jude Dunavin continued to add to his single season rushing record as well, as he ran for 278 yards and five touchdowns on 21 carries.
El Dorado is now 11-0.
Bi-district quick hits
El Paso Eastwood used a huge second half to roll by Frenship 45-30 in a Class 6A Division II bi-district contest. The Tigers end the season struggling at 4-7.
Perryton saw its season come to an end with a 59-20 loss to undefeated Midland Greenwood in Plainview. The Rangers finished the season 4-7.
Lubbock Estacado kept going by beating Fort Stockton 31-17 at Andrews. Estacado is now 8-3 and will face Brock next week in the area round.
Denver City blanked River Road 49-0 during a UIL Class 3A Division I bi-district clash Friday. The Wildcats see the year come to an end at 1-10.
Friona fought hard, but came up short to Slaton 34-21 in a UIL Class 3A Division II bi-district game. The Chieftains go 3-8 on the season.
Clarendon saw its season come to an end, falling to Windthorst 55-14 in the UIL Class 2A Division II bi-district round. The Broncos end the year at 2-9.
Motley County dismantled Follett 71-22 in the UIL Class 1A Division II bi-district round. The Panthers see their season halted at 4-7.
