History was on the verge of repeating itself for the Amarillo High Sandies on Friday night at Shotwell Stadium, and it was something they probably would have preferred to forget.
In the end, they made it a night to remember, and they came back home all alone atop District 2-5A Division I.
For the second straight year, the Sandies jumped out to a big first half lead over Abilene High, the defending district champion. This time, though, they made sure they kept it, as they withstood a late challenge to beat the Eagles 24-14 and establish themselves as the leader and now favorite to win 2-5A DI.
Amarillo High (6-1, 4-0 in district) now sits a game ahead of Abilene High (4-3, 3-1) and Tascosa atop the district. With three games left in the regular season, the Sandies are in prime position to host a playoff game in the first round by taking care of business.
“I think it’s a big win,” Amarillo High coach Chad Dunnam said. “First and foremost you go into Abilene High at home with the respect we have for their program and we beat them. Our kids showed up and were ready to go tonight.”
Ready enough to score the first 24 points of the game and put Abilene in a hole. The Eagles rallied late, but it was far too little, too late.
The Sandies used big plays to score and take an early. Late in the first quarter, Sy Richardson scored on a 65-yard run to give Amarillo High a 7-0 lead.
With only 1:25 left in the first half, sophomore quarterback Callaway Skipworth threw the first of his two touchdown passes, hitting Caden Virden on a 31-yard score to give the Sandies a 17-0 halftime lead. Late in the third quarter, Skipworth hit Deuce Patterson on a 33-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-0.
It wasn’t as if Amarillo High hadn’t been in this position before. Abilene rallied from a three-touchdown deficit against the Sandies last year for a 24-21 win.
“Last year it was 21-0 when we went in at halftime and we ended up getting beat,” Dunnam said. “We were up 17-0 at halftime this time and we told our kids we’d been here before so we knew exactly what to do.”
Abilene scored in the final minute of the third quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Tristan Beal to John Rangel to cut it to 24-7. That was one of the few offensive highlights for the Eagles, who managed only 117 yards against Amarillo High’s stout defense.
“We traded punches with them” Dunnam said. “There was a strong wind and we were running the ball well but we fumbled early. We played really, really good defense.”
With under three minutes left in the game the Sandies appeared to be cruising to a win with the ball inside the Abilene 10-yard line. But Skipworth’s pass was picked off by Champ Hines, who returned it 94 yards for a touchdown to cut it to 24-14 and give the Eagles a fighting chance.
Amarillo High fans had to cringe even more when Abilene recovered an onside kick at the Amarillo High 45. However, the Sandies responded defensively, as they sacked Beal twice, and on a longshot fourth-and-17, Gaetan Veazey intercepted Beal to clinch it.
Richardson had another big game running the ball with 139 yards on 20 carries. The interception was the only major mistake by Skipworth, who completed 13-of-23 for 202 yards.
