The Palo Duro Dons found what they were looking for Friday night at Dick Bivins Stadium, and the Tascosa Rebels couldn’t keep them from getting it.
After two games of seeing a highly touted offense struggle without explanation, Palo Duro clicked from the get-go with the ball. The Dons scored touchdowns on each of their first five possessions and never gave Tascosa a chance to get into the game in rolling to a 41-14 victory.
Palo Duro (2-1) entered the season with lots of returning offensive talent but hadn’t put it together in splitting a pair of games. Unfortunately for Tascosa (1-2), the Dons did so on this particular night.
Knowing that his team is only three weeks into the season with one nondistrict game left, Palo Duro coach Eric Mims was measured regarding his team’s impressive offensive performance.
“We played a little better tonight on offense in the first half,” Mims said. “I wasn’t satisfied with our second half offensive performance. We’ve got to put an entire game together but I’m proud of our guys. Our defense was outstanding all night long.”
The root of whatever dissatisfaction Mims may have had with his team’s second half performance offensively is probably based on how good Dons were in the first half when the Rebels had no answer for them. Palo Duro had an almost perfectly balanced offensive night statistically, throwing for 222 yards and running for 217.
There wasn’t a facet in which Palo Duro didn’t dominate the first half. The Dons started the game with touchdowns on their first five possessions to take a resounding 34-0 halftime lead.
Quarterback Julian Reese was a huge factor, as he was involved in four of Palo Duro’s five scores. Reese threw two touchdowns and ran for two more.
The Dons wasted no time in scoring on their first possession for the first time this season. Reese hit Tayv’on Cantly on a 33-yard scoring pass only 91 seconds into the game for a 6-0 lead.
That was just the state of Reese’s big night. He completed 17-of-25 for 222 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 95 yards and two more scores, which also led the Dons.
“I took it very personally because everyone had us losing this game and that was very shocking,” said Reese of pregame motivation. “I think we just made a statement that we’re still the Palo Duro Dons. The first two games we were just trying to make big plays and we weren’t holding the ball and we just made too many mistakes. We’re going to get rolling for the rest of the year.”
Tascosa hurt itself with a pair of first half fumbles which Palo Duro turned into a pair of touchdowns. The first one came on Tascosa’s first possession when a botched pitchout to Jake Hastings resulted not only in a 13-yard loss, but with PD’s Keenan Posey recovering the loose ball. Two plays later, Raymond Johnson scored on a 23-yard run to give the Dons a 13-0 lead.
That was the last Palo Duro score of the first half which didn’t involve Reese. The quarterback later scored on a 15-yard run late in the first quarter to make it 19-0.
Reese made an even more impressive scoring run 90 seconds into the second quarter, going 18 yards and hurdling a defender to score and make it 26-0. Palo Duro’s first half scoring concluded on a 4-yard pass from Reese to Johnson which made it 34-0.
“Not much they did the first half they’ve shown this year,” said Tascosa coach Ken Plunk of Palo Duro’s offense. “That’s no excuse because we should get lined up better. We had a lot of trouble getting lined up in the first half. We’ve still got a long ways to go.”
It helped in the first half that the Dons got Johnson back from an ankle injury after he’d missed a game-and-a-half. His 62 yards on six carries doesn’t look overwhelming until you consider that he sat the entire second half as a precaution with the Dons holding such a big lead.
The key, though, remained Reese and how the offense runs through him. He showed the ability that led him to commit to Delaware the afternoon of the season opener.
Reese ran more than he had in the first two games, which Mims said was intentional.
“We game planned in a couple of more quarterback runs,” Mims said. “(Reese) did a great job running the ball and he did a great job throwing the ball and as a result he had a great first half tonight.”
Palo Duro’s big play ability was fairly evident, as Reese did have three completions of over 30 yards. Cantly has also emerged as a major threat in the passing game, as he had six catches for 100 yards.
For the most part, though, the Dons moved the ball steadily, getting most of their yardage in smaller chunks in moving toward scores.
“We had a meeting to take what the defense gave us and I was just taking what they gave me,” Reese said. “We just kept making plays. I think our future is very bright if we keep doing this and executing drives.”
Tascosa’s future appeared less certain after the game, but there might be some wrinkles the Rebels developed in their final nondistrict game which could put opponents on their toes.
The Rebels are noted for their ground-oriented flexbone offense and throwing the ball only when absolutely necessary. They had only 75 yards rushing against the Dons, but threw for 186, albeit mostly in the second half while playing catch-up.
J’Kavien Moore scored on a 3-yard run to get Tascosa on the board late in the third quarter, which was set up after he caught a 75-yard pass from Brayden Lineman. The Rebels ended the scoring with 57 seconds left in the game on a 67-yard pass from Lineman to David Gordon.
“I thought we played better in the second half,” Plunk said. “I certainly wish we would have played better. We’re going to try to throw the ball. It’s an option we needed to use tonight because in the first half we couldn’t get anything going. Throwing is probably something we can do more.”
Tascosa has an open week next week before starting District 2-5A Division I play. Palo Duro will conclude its nondistrict schedule next Friday with a trip to Dumas finally carrying some offensive momentum into the game.
“We’ve got to be consistent week after week,” Mims said. “It’s both sides of the ball. We’ve got a great coaching staff and the offensive guys keep swinging the axe. We’re seeing that progress.”
Photo gallery by Carter Pirtle:
