Four Texas Panhandle teams took the field during the UIL Class 1A regional semifinal round Friday night. Miami was able to stun Sands in the final minutes, while Nazareth, Booker and Valley saw its seasons come to an end.

Miami takes down Sands in thrilling fashion

Great games are often labeled as classics and the game Friday night in Happy between Miami and Sands will go down as an instant classic as the Warriors survived a back and forth game with a 58-57 game that wasn’t decided until the waning seconds of the contest.

The win moves Miami (12-0) into the UIL Class 1A Division II state quarterfinals where they will take on second-ranked Klondike (12-0), at 6:30 p.m., on Friday night in Lockney.

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This game belonged in the storyline of Friday Night Lights with the ebbs and flows this game presented fans with. After Miami took a 58-51 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the contest on a Jack Kotara to Noah Homfeld 16-yard scoring strike, things appeared great for Warrior fans.  

After recovering the kick at their own 34-yard line, Sands’ Kane Ferguson danced around in the pocket, rolled right and launched a pass 40 yards downfield where he found Easton Sandlin behind the defense at the 10 and Sandlin strolled in from there to make it a one-point game at 58-57 with nine seconds remaining in the game.  

With the game hanging in the balance, the Mustangs’ Ryan Wall set up for the two-point conversion kick. The straight on kicker saw a strong push from Miami on the edges and lifted his kick wide right of the upright to truly signify the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

That sequence of events capped what was a topsy turvy night at the Cowboy Corral. 

Sands (7-5) held a 23-12 lead late in the first quarter when Kotara threw an interception at the Sands 13 which seemed to give the Mustangs an opportunity to widen the lead.  After driving into Miami territory, the Warriors defense stiffened and took back over at their own 29.  

Miami then marched downfield and cut the lead to 23-20 as Tyler Anderson strolled in from seven yards on a double reverse early in the second quarter.  Sands quicky moved back downfield but Kotara and Anderson made their mark by stopping Dylan Soliz at the eleven, three yards short of a first down.

Using a strong rushing attack, the Warriors moved into Sands end of the field and Kotara found Kris Gorecki from 22-yards out to give the Warriors a 28-23 lead late in the quarter.  Undaunted, Soliz raced 46-yards for a score as the Mustangs went to half with a one point lead, 29-28.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter, but the Mustangs converted a one-point conversion while Miami converted their two-point kick so the game was tied at 36.  Things then swung in favor of the Warriors. Facing a fourth and four at their own 30, the Mustangs’ Ferguson was sacked by Gary Lynch for a six-yard loss and ole’ momentum was back on the Miami sidelines as we ended the third quarter.

Taking advantage of good field position, Homfeld scored from eight yards out and the Warriors were back on top, 44-36. Sands answered right back on a Soliz two yard run to knot things back up at 44.

That’s when freshman sensation Chance White made his mark for Miami. The speedster busted out a 47-yard run down to the Sands ten and then took it from there on the next play to make 50-44.

Back came the Mustangs as Soliz scored once again, this time from three yards out, and the Mustangs converted on a one-point scoring pass to go up 51-50.  

This setup the historic drive for the Warriors late in the fourth. Kotara, the undersized signal caller with a big heart, refused to lose and took over the drive.  Four separate times the senior quarterback scrambled in the pocket and used his legs to amass 32 yards on the drive and put Miami in a position to win. Sitting at the Sands 16, Kotara finished off what he started with that pass to Homfeld and a victory for the undefeated Warriors.

Kotara finished the night 4-of-8 for 81 yards and two scores while rushing for all 32 yards on the last drive. White and Homfeld were the workhorses in the backfield combining for 250 yards rushing on 28 carries while finding paydirt four times.

Booker falls to Whiteface

Booker walked into Mitchell Zimmerman field in Lockney Friday night as heavy underdogs against Whiteface and, for a half, the Kiowas were hanging with the Antelopes.  However, Whiteface showed why they are ranked sixth in the state as they outscored Booker 30-14 in the third quarter enroute to a 98-48 win.

Both teams exchanged scores in the first quarter with the Antelopes holding a 16-14 lead heading to the second. Reydn Rosales caught a ten-yard scoring strike from Emmanuel Rosales with 8:03 left before half as Booker was keeping pace with Whiteface, trailing 24-20.  

On the next Antelopes possession, Jaxon Hodge raced to the outside and found paydirt to from 51 yards out to push the lead to 32-20.  Whiteface then got the ball back and Cesar Chavez raced ten yards on an end around to give the Antelopes a 38-20 lead.

Trailing 46-28 at half, the Kiowas took the opening kickoff with an opportunity to cut into the Whiteface lead, but the offense was unable to muster a first down and the Antelopes made them pay. Cash Crutcher darted in from 26 yards out with 6:48 to go in the third quarter as Whiteface moved the lead to 52-28 and never looked back from there.

Reydn Rosales was the star of the game for the Kiowas. The speedy senior caught 11 balls on the night for 158 yards and four scores while tacking on 68 yards rushing and a score. Emmanuel Rosales was dynamic in the passing game going 15-of-20 for 233 yards and three scoring strikes.

Booker finished off the year going 9-3 as they made their second straight appearance in the regional semifinal round.

Nazareth, Valley fall in Division I playoff action

It was a short night for both Nazareth and Valley in the regional semifinals Friday night. The Swifts met up with No. 8-ranked Rankin in Hermleigh and the Red Devils ran away from Nazareth, 60-14, in a game that ended in the third quarter.

The Swifts started strong as Rhett Ethridge found Blaise Snead deep down field for a 56-yard touchdown pass to give Nazareth an early 6-0 lead. Rankin (11-2) answered on the next drive as Matthew Ramos plunged in from a yard out to tie the game up at six.  

Nazareth found itself deep in Rankin territory facing a third down when a bad snap forced a sack in Swifts territory and a second bad snap on fourth down left Rankin with a short field to work with. 

The Red Devils went to work and scored quickly and that became the turning point in the game midway through the first quarter.  A scoring run early in the second quarter gave Rankin a 30-6 lead and they cruised to victory from there.  

The Swifts, after missing the playoffs last year, finished as District 2-1A champs and notched an 8-4 record on the season.

Valley faced off with Robert Lee in Borden County riding a five game winning streak and looking to pull off a big upset of the third ranked Steers.  However, the Steers (11-1) proved their ranking as they cruised to a 63-6 win at halftime.

The Patriots finished the year as District 5-1A champions and turned an 0-6 start into a respectable 5-7 finish and an appearance in the regional semifinals.