Scorewise, the second half didn’t happen for Palo Duro or Abilene Cooper on Thursday night at Dick Bivins Stadium.
Fortunately for Palo Duro, it all happened in the first half.
The Dons were just about perfect on both sides of the ball in the first two quarters against Cooper in a District 2-5A Division II game between two teams coming off district opening victories. That dominance overcame a second half in which the Dons seemed to be fighing disinterest as much as their opponents, as they cruised to a 35-7 victory to claim sole possession of the district lead for at least 24 hours.
Palo Duro (5-1, 2-0 in district) didn’t need to play a full four quarters to stay unbeaten in district. The Dons reminded everybody of why they’re the favorites to win the district in the first half, making Cooper (3-3, 1-1) seem fairly helpless along the way.
It was a win, if not exactly the complete game PD coach Eric Mims would have preferred.
“We were five-for-five with our first half drives, then we packed it up and went home,” Mims said. “We didn’t do anything offensively after the first five drives. It’s good for us to play with a lead and get out of here with a win but we’ve got to play better.”
For the first 23 minutes and 41 seconds of action, it’s hard to imagine anybody playing better than the Dons did. They literally ran over Cooper, particularly Raymond Johnson, who ran for Palo Duro’s last four touchdowns of the half. Only a Cooper score with 19 seconds left in the half made it look more respectable, as Palo Duro led 35-7 at the half.
PD quarterback Julian Reese had uncharacteristically modest passing numbers on the game, throwing for only 82 yards, but he made up for it with his legs early. Reese converted a fourth down run on his first carry of the game, and later ran 23 yards for a score to give the Dons a 7-0 lead.
After that, it was pretty much the Johnson Show. He scored on a 5-yard run midway through the first quarter to make it 14-0, then scored from 18 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 21-0.
While Reese and the receiving corps has often been the focal point of Palo Duro’s offense, against Cooper, the glory belonged to Johnson, who ran for a game-high 201 yards on 22 carries.
“We knew we had to come out here and run because we haven’t been running it well,” Johnson said. “It was a big deal this game. I was excited for it tonight.”
The most electrifying moment came on Palo Duro’s next possession when Johnson went up the sideline for an 88-yard scoring run to make it 28-0. That signaled the Dons weren’t going to be denied running the ball.
If he hadn’t done so already, Johnson put his stamp on the game that play.
“That’s my top run,” Johnson said. “Once I hit it that gap it was over. I feel like people have to defend the run, the pass and everything we do.”
Johnson concluded Palo Duro’s scoring with a 4-yard run late in the second quarter.
While Johnson was the star of the running game, he wasn’t the only Don to make it happen. Palo Duro racked up 337 yards rushing on the night and didn’t punt in the first half.
“Any time we run the ball that’s what we expect,” Mims said. “We expect to be able to make chunk plays and big gains in our run game. Raymond had a really good night and (Reese) scrambled well we just have to keep plugging away and getting better in all phases in the offense.”
Sophomore Caddyn Toombs-Jackson spelled Johnson off the bench and there wasn’t much dropoff, as he used his quickness to gain 74 yards on 10 carries. Reese also ran for 53 yards on six carries.
Meanwhile, Palo Duro’s defense kept Cooper in check most of the game, giving up only 92 total yards and five first downs. Defensive lineman Keanan Posey had six tackles with a sack and teammate Zachary Linton had seven tackles with a sack of his own. The Cougars took advantage of Palo Duro’s only offensive mistake of the first half when they sacked Reese late and Chris Battee recovered.
Jamarion Dunson cashed in with a 4-yard run to make it 35-7 with 19 seconds left in the half to avert a shutout and give Cooper some flicker of hope heading into halftime.
“The defense played extremely well,” Mims said. “We were disappointed at the touchdown we gave up because it was during a two-minute situation. We didn’t win the two-minute situation on offense or defense. If we win that two minute situation we get the shutout tonight and we didn’t do it, but the defense still did a great job.”
The Dons hurt themselves by committing 11 penalties for 100 yards, including three 15-yarders.
Palo Duro compensated for a lackluster offensive second half performance with a second half defensive performance which was perhaps even more dominant than the first half. The Dons had four takeaways on the night to thwart Cooper drives, and Noah Faragoza, Emlliano Castillo and Darel Vargas all recorded interceptions for Palo Duro.
The Dons return district action next Thursday with a road game at Lubbock Coronado, as they try to hold on to the district lead.
Photo gallery by Joe Garcia III:
