With a playoff spot on the line Friday night, the Frenship Tigers didn’t mess around against the Lubbock Monterey Plainsmen.
The two teams met in a District 2-5A Division I game in which both could have stayed alive at the end of the evening yet further muddled the playoff picture. Instead, everything was cut and dried when the night ended.
Frenship got off to a fast start and Monterey strained to keep up. The Tigers made two first quarter touchdowns hold up en route to a 35-7 victory at Peoples Bank Stadium in Wolfforth which set the district playoff field in stone going into the last week of the regular season.
With the win, Frenship (5-4, 4-2 in district) completes the contingent of district playoff teams, with seedings still to be decided. Amarillo High will be the No. 1 seed while the order of the other three remains uncertain.
What is known is that Amarillo High, Abilene High and Frenship will round out the district’s playoff representatives. Monterey (3-6, 2-4) has been eliminated.
Frenship and Tascosa are tied for third in the district behind Amarillo High and second place Abilene. In next week’s regular season finale, Frenship and Abilene square off, and the Tigers could claim the No. 2 seed and a first round home playoff game, but they have to beat Abilene and hope things fall into place.
There was no doubt against Monterey of where the Tigers were headed. They took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of touchdown passes from James Ordonez to Maddux Archibald of 46 and 32 yards.
Monterey’s lone score came early in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Jonah Reed to cut it to 14-7. There were few offensive highlights for the Plainsmen, as the Tigers outgained them by a 449-215 margin.
Noah Gonzales ran for Frenship’s last three touchdowns. He also had a game-high 10 catches for 108 yards.
Ordonez completed 18-of-27 passes for 264 yards.
Photo gallery by Chase Seabolt:
