In a showdown for sole possession of the District 2-5A Division II lead at Dick Bivins Stadium on Friday night, the Palo Duro Dons left no doubt as to who’s in charge.
Palo Duro and Abilene Wylie both came in with unbeaten district records and an opportunity to send a message to the rest of the district. Wylie struck an early blow, but most of the rest were struck by the Dons, as they completely dominated the last 40-plus minutes of the game to roll to a 53-10 victory.
The trajectory has been nothing but upward for Palo Duro (7-1, 4-0 in district) since the Dons lost their season opener to Amarillo High. Since then, they’ve showed their considerable strengths on both sides of the ball, culminating in a huge wave which crashed atop Wylie (4-3, 2-1) and served notice to the rest of the district that their primed for a second straight 2-5A DII championship.
“That first drive we had a couple of stops but also a couple of third down conversion penalties that gave them some momentum,” PD coach Eric Mims said. “Our defense settled in and had a big night. The offense clicked, we ran the ball well and we threw the ball well. All in all I’m very proud of these young men.
“Abilene Wylie had been back to back district champions the two years before we won last year so that’s a really good football team. We’re always happy to beat them and beat them handily. It says a lot about where we’re trending.”
The only fault that could be found with the Dons is how many yellow flags they drew, as they were penalized 14 times for 135 yards, which especially helped the Bulldogs on their first drive after the opening kickoff.
After Wylie put together an initial field goal drive (aided by two 15-yard penalties on the Dons), it was all Palo Duro in the first half. The Dons closed the first half with 26 straight points and ran that streak to 47 by the fourth quarter, and looked like they could do anything they wanted on both sides of the ball in taking a 26-3 halftime lead.
Wylie botched the opening kickoff and the Bulldogs took over at their own 9-yard line. Palo Duro appeared to have stopped them on third down, but an unsportsmanlike penalty kept the drive alive.
The Dons also committed a pass interference penalty later in the drive, which stalled at PD’s 16. Kannon Ruffin salvaged it with a 33-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead, taking 7:40 off the clock.
That only seemed to wake up the Dons. Less than two minutes later they were on the board, as quarterback Julian Reese II scored on a 13-yard run to make it 6-3.
“Play fast, play fast, play fast,” said Mims in describing his team’s offensive m.o. “We’re really talented offensively and the coaches do a great job on scheming and preparing our kids. They do a great job of executing our schemes. We had a great night where everything was clicking.”
As usual, Reese was the triggerman who made it happen. This time he did it on both sides of the ball, as in the second quarter, he had twice as many interceptions playing safety as he did incompletions, setting up two more PD touchdowns.
After Emiliano Castillo concluded Palo Duro’s second scoring drive with a 4-yard run to make it 13-3, it appeared the Dons had taken complete control. On Wylie’s next possession, Reese picked off Jadin Karleskint and returned it deep into Wylie territory.
That set up the first of two scoring runs by Raymond Johnson, who scored from a yard out midway through the second quarter to make it 20-3.
Another interception by Reese later in the quarter set up the Dons at the Wylie 47. Johnson again cashed in on a 12-yard run, giving Palo Duro a 26-3 lead with 1:05 left in the half.
“I think it’s going to happen more and more with the competition we have in district and in the playoffs,” said Reese of playing future defense. “I love playing defense. It’s like playing quarterback because I know where the quarterback is going by reading his eyes.”
While Reese didn’t throw a touchdown in the first half, he was still 7-of-8 for 128 yards. He finished the night 12-of-17 for 190 yards and threw a pair of third quarter touchdowns which helped punctuate the win.
Reese represents just one aspect of the Palo Duro offense of which opponents need to be aware.
“We just wanted to go out and execute the plan and dominate every play,” Reese said. “It was just keeping our head down and working and taking what the defense was giving us. We committed to the run game.”
Johnson led the ground attack as expected with a game-high 145 yards on 17 carries. That highlighted an evening where the Dons ran for 240 yards.
The final statistics didn’t lie in showing how dominant Palo Duro was on both sides of the ball. Palo Duro more than quadrupled Wylie in total yardage, outgaining the Bulldogs by a 435-106 margin. Wylie picked up 15 first downs, but seven of those came via penalty.
Wylie, perhaps sensing that settling for three points before halftime would make little dent in the margin, opted to go for it on the final play of the half from the PD 9, but the Dons sacked Karleskint to end the half.
Senior linebacker Zachary Linton was a constant presence in Wylie’s backfield all night. He had 15 solo tackles, five for a loss and sacked Karleskint four times.
“I feel about this game because with the coaches and the game plan everything came together,” Linton said. “I’ve been working on ghost rushes and disguises and that worked for me. The first drive definitely pushed our buttons. It’s just discipline with those unnecessary penalties we got.”
Linton’s most memorable play, though, might have come in the second half on an extra point of all things. Fellow senior linebacker Keanan Posey was supposed to hold for Yandel Barron-Sandoval’s kick, but the snap was low and Posey had to escape the rushers and got up from his holder’s crouch.
Posey then tossed the ball underhanded to Linton, who took it and raced to the corner of the end zone to give the Dons two points.
“We’ve never practiced that at all,” Linton said. “I’m not usually out there as a wing but there was an injury. I think that’s something we could definitely do in the future.”
Indeed, it seemed as if the Dons were toying with Wylie for most of the second half. The 6-foot-2, 270-pound Keimaure Rayford, who’s better known as a starting junior defensive lineman, caught a pair of short touchdown passes in the second half, including a 4-yard scoring catch from Johnson out of the wildcat formation on a fourth-and-goal in the fourth quarter.
Wylie finally broke Palo Duro’s 47-0 run on an 8-yard scoring pass from Karleskint to K.J. Villegas with two minutes left in the game. The Dons weren’t done even when their second team offense came out to end the game, as Caddyn Toombs-Jackson ran for a 28-yard touchdown as time expired.
Kyron Brown showed his big play potential for the Dons at receiver as well, with a game-high four catches for 119 yards, including a 36-yard scoring pass from Reese late in the third quarter.
Photo gallery by Carter Pirtle:
