Booker blasts Boys Ranch

On the first offensive play of the game, Boys Ranch star Isaac Acosta had trouble handling the snap and Booker’s Reydn Rosales jumped on the ball. That play highlighted how tough the night was for the Roughriders as they lost a key District 1-1A Division I game, 58-12, to the visiting Kiowas on Friday night.

When Axel Valdivia raced 18 yards for a score following the fumble, Booker held a quick 8-0 lead and showed how difficult it would be for Boys Ranch to shut down the high-power offense of the Kiowas.

After a quick four and out for the Roughriders, Booker was gifted with a short field starting at the Boys Ranch 22. Five plays later, Rosales bulldozed in over the left end from four yards out and a 16-0 lead for the Kiowas with half the quarter gone.

Finally finding a rhythm on offense, the Roughriders drove 60 yards for a score as Acosta found Zeke Holman wide open in the end zone for a 17-yard scoring strike that cut the lead to 10.

It didn’t take the Kiowas long to answer that score as Marco Flores connected with Rosales on a short pass that moved the ball 40 yards down to the Boys Ranch seven. Two plays later Rosales picked up his second short touchdown run, this one from the one, as Booker pushed the lead out to 24-6.

The high-octane passing game of the Roughriders moved quickly into Kiowas territory to the 16 when disaster struck again. Acosta, under heavy pressure, threw the ball behind his intended target and Valdivia picked off his first of two passes on the night. Skying to get the ball, the dynamic freshman came down at the four and raced down the sidelines in front of the Boys Ranch bench before being run down at the Roughriders five.

Two plays later, Heydn Rosales ran in untouched from the three to extend Booker’s lead to 30-8 early in the second quarter and erase any thoughts Boys Ranch had of making a comeback.  

Booker’s offense, which scored on every possession but one in the game, was spearheaded by Valdivia and Reydn Rosales. Valdivia carried the ball eight times for 83 yards and two scores while Rosales picked up 43 yards on eight carries and found the end zone three times.

It was a tough night for the Boys Ranch offense as Acosta came into the game averaging more than 300 yards through the air but finished with 131 yards on 14-of-21 passing and a score. Ethan Paulo grabbed six passes for 50 yards as the Roughriders leading receiver.

With the win, Booker moves to 6-2 on the season but, more importantly, 2-0 in district action as they are now in prime position for a playoff spot. The loss dropped Boys Ranch to 6-3 and 1-2 in district play.

Warriors decimate Panthers in key win

Weather impacted the start of this game, but it could not slow down the rushing attack of Miami as the Warriors picked up a big road win over Follett, 78-33, in District 1-1A Division II action Friday night.  

It’s been 27 years since Miami (8-0, 1-0) went on the road and took down their biggest rival in Follett. During that time, the Panthers have won 22 of the last 24 meetings while dominating most of those matchups. With those numbers in mind, it’s hard to blame Miami head coach Paul Hale for referencing this game at the start of the season.

The Warriors knew the road to a district title would run through Follett (4-5, 2-1) so they took that to heart and racked up 607 rushing yards to pound the Panthers at every turn of the game and put themselves in prime position for a district title.

Gunner Lackey, back after being out part of the year, put the Warriors on the board with an 18-yard run. Chance White then plunged in from a yard out to give Miami an early 16-6 lead.

Lackey found paydirt again on a 51-yard sprint to the goal line and Miami led 24-6 early in the first.  From that point forward, the teams exchanged scores throughout the second quarter, and the Warriors went to half up 48-26.  

Just as they did earlier in the year against McLean, Miami dominated the third.  Lackey made the most of his time off and came back looking strong with touchdown runs of 24 and 32 yards for touchdowns while White rushed one in from 26 yards away to extend the lead to 72-33.

Just needing one more score to enact the mercy rule, Miami turned to their all-state center in Kris Gorecki and the bulldozing lineman took it in from a yard away as the Warriors put an exclamation point on their victory in the third quarter.

Three Warriors rushed for over 100 yards led by Lackey’s 231 yards on 14 carries and those four scores.  White added 178 yards and Noah Homfeld tacked on 132 as Miami only put the ball in the air four times all night.

With the win, the Warriors are in the driver’s seat for a district title as they finish the season up with Lefors at home next week and travel to Groom two weeks from now.  Miami will be heavy favorites in those games and will likely finish as the only team in the Texas Panhandle who goes undefeated in Six-Man play.

Wolverines take down Cowboys, again

Past performance is not indicative of future success is a common phrase and one Springlake-Earth understood as they went on the road for a big matchup Thursday night at the Cowboy Corral in Happy.

Just a month ago, the Wolverines handled the Cowboys in a rare non-district matchup, 56-6, at home. Since that game, Happy made changes that propelled them to two straight wins and a ton of confidence heading into this matchup with significant playoff implications on the line for both.

The one constant in both games was the play of Froylan Agundiz as Springlake-Earth took down Happy 58-22 and put the Wolverines (4-5, 2-1) in prime position for a playoff spot next month.

In that first matchup, the lefty spread back tossed six touchdowns as he sliced up the Cowboys secondary in the victory. This time around it was his feet that carved up the defense as he registered 200 yards on the ground on 16 carries while finding the end zone four times.

Happy’s offense started slow as they went four and out on their first possession and gave the Wolverines the ball deep in their own territory where Agundiz went to work. A 14-yard pass to Robert Flores gave Springlake-Earth an early 8-0 lead.  

The teams exchanged possessions and Happy took back over and began to drive before being stopped in enemy territory late in the first quarter.  That’s when the running ability of Agundiz began to cause trouble for the home team. Looking more like a professional boxer, bobbing and weaving in the pocket, the southpaw finished off a drive with a 24-yard scamper on the first play of the second quarter then raced 51-yards along his own sideline with 3:44 left before half to give the Wolverines a 22-0 halftime lead.

Out of the half the Cowboys (2-6, 1-1) fought back as they held Springlake-Earth on four plays and only needed one play to score. Luke Dempsey broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and found clear sailing for a 17-yard score and the lead was cut to 22-8 with momentum building on the Happy side.

What momentum couldn’t do was contain Agundiz though. On the next possession, Agundiz scored for the third time on the ground from the 14 to answer the Cowboys score. The ensuing kickoff was an on-side kick which Happy couldn’t handle and the Wolverines took over.

Just over a minute after Agundiz had scored on the ground, he found Bryan Longoria at the goal line racing towards the left pylon and dropped in a rainbow pass for a seven-yard scoring strike that Springlake-Earth never relinquished.

Beside those 200 yards on the ground, the Wolverines senior leader was 12-of-16 for 164 yards and three scores while Bryan Longoria found the end zone on two of those passes and raced one in from 42 yards away in the fourth.

Dempsey led the Cowboys on the ground with 72 yards and a score while Kreid Cluck finished 10-of-21 for 101 yards and a scoring strike.

Division I recap

In the span of twenty-four hours, Claude moved closer to locking down their first ever Six-Man playoff berth out of District 1-1A. 

Thursday night, the Mustangs ran past Wildorado, 66-0, as Holden Tice had quite the night. The senior signal caller threw for 170 yards and three scores with Korbin Jackson hauling in three of those passes for 86 yards and a score.

With the Boys Ranch loss, Claude (7-2, 2-1) needs a win next week against White Deer to clinch a playoff spot for the first time in the programs eight years of play in Six-Man.

Nazareth found itself in a good ole shootout against rival Hart, but the Swifts outlasted the Longhorns Friday night, 89-69. Tradien Worsham for Hart (6-2, 0-2) had quite the game logging 190 yards on the ground and 110 receiving with a combined four scores.  

The Swifts (6-3, 3-0) remain undefeated in District 2-1A action with a 3-0 mark and can wrap up a district title with a win on the road in two weeks at the Cowboy Corral in Happy.  

Valley and Petersburg held serve in District 5-1A to set up a district title game in two weeks if Valley takes down Spur next week.

The Patriots (2-6, 2-0) made it 22 straight wins against Silverton (2-7, 1-2) with a 49-0 win at home Friday night. 

Petersburg (4-5, 3-0) stampeded into Spur and notched a hard-fought 58-34 win over the Bulldogs (0-8, 0-2) for their third straight win.

Division II recap

Lefors offense was in high gear Thursday night as the Pirates (5-3, 1-1) ran through Groom, 82-37, to notch their first District 1-1A game on the year.  

Hedley hosted Motley County Thursday night, and the Matadors (7-1, 1-0) made quick work of the Owls (0-7, 0-2), picking up a 64-0 win in District 2-1A play. That sets up a showdown next week between two top 10 teams as Paducah, ranked tenth, travels to Matador to take on the No. 8-ranked Matadors. The winner will likely be the district champ with the loser still needing a final week win to secure a playoff spot.

In District 3-1A, Amherst (3-4, 1-1) moved one step closer to a playoff berth with a 69-24 win over Anton Friday night. Anton (3-5, 1-1) hosts Whitharral (8-0, 2-0) next week and will need a massive upset win to keep their playoff chances alive. Otherwise, Amherst will secure the second playoff spot in the district regardless of their final game outcome in two weeks against Lazbuddie.

In TAPPS District 1 Division III, San Jacinto Christian Academy lost a tight one to Lubbock Christ the King, 32-28.  The Golden Lions (7-0, 2-0) remain undefeated on the season and in district action while San Jacinto fell to 4-4 and 1-1 in district play.  

The Patriots were led by Jaxon McKnight’s 85 yards rushing and two scores while Broxton Potter was 10-of-19 for 90 yards and a score.  Jacoby Leach led the defense with an eye opening 16 tackles.

Week 9 State roundup

The biggest game of the week was in District 8-1A Division I where Water Valley (8-0, 2-0), ranked No. 2 in the state, took down No. 3 Robert Lee, 67-30.  

Blanket and Zephyr had to push their pivotal game in District 13-1A Division II to Saturday night due to the inclement weather. Despite the delay, it was the Bulldogs knocking off the rival Tigers 30-20.  With the win, Blanket (7-1, 2-0) is now in the driver’s seat for the district title.

Eighth-ranked Newcastle took down Northside, 46-8, as London Martinez rushed for 125 yards and threw two touchdowns as the Bobcats (6-2, 3-0) moved one step closer to a District 6-1A Division I title.  

Bryson, Perrin-Whitt and Northside all have one loss in the district. This week, Bryson will travel to Northside while Perrin-Whitt goes on the road to Knox City in games that will have significant impacts on the district standings. 

Another big game will be in District 7-1A Division I where Ira will host Hermleigh. Both squads are 3-0 in district play. If Ira wins, they will wrap up a district title while the Cardinals will need to win and then beat Westbrook in Wildcat country in two weeks for a title.