West Plains routs Brownwood

There’s nothing “new” about the West Plains Wolves anymore, especially when it comes defining postseason success.

For the third straight season in only their third year as a varsity program, the Wolves have won at least two playoff games in a season. They accomplished that feat Friday night at Snyder against one of the more storied programs in the state, routing Brownwood 49-14 in the Class 4A area round.

West Plains (9-3) will now play Lampasas (10-2) in the regional round next Friday at 7 p.m. at the Mustang Bowl in Sweetwater.

The Wolves have been showing little mercy in the postseason against far more experienced opponents. Brownwood (6-5) became the latest opponent to find that out the hard way.
West Plains simply rolled over Brownwood in every conceivable fashion offensively. It’s no surprise that quarterback Reid Macon was the leader of the onslaught.

Macon, a junior who has started every game in the brief history of West Plains, is clearly a seasoned veteran by now. He completed 14-of-19 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns and is now proving himself as a dual threat, as he ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries.

Sophomore Slade Russell is another underclassman who has established himself as a playmaker for the Wolves. Russell led West Plains against Brownwood with 123 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Lawson Betancourt caught two touchdown passes for West Plains.

The Wolves were balanced offensively, as they piled up 512 yards of total offense. Defensively, they never really let Brownwood get in the game.

West Plains will play Lampasas next week in an attempt to get to the state quarterfinals for the second straight season after reaching them in 4A Division II last season. Lampasas advanced by beating Dumas 55-21.

Hereford falls in second half to Stephenville 

The Hereford Whitefaces showed they could play with traditional power Stephenville for 75 percent of the game Thursday night.

It was that last quarter, though, which caught up with Hereford.

The Herd couldn’t have started the game any better, taking the opening kickoff and scoring on the first possession of the game, and was tied with Stephenville after three quarters. However, the Yellowjackets dominated the final quarter, closing out the game with 28 straight points to end Hereford’s season with a 35-7 victory at Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium.

Hereford finished the season 8-4. Stephenville is now 11-1 and will face Hereford’s District 2-4A Division I rival Randall next Friday at 7 p.m. in Snyder in the regional round.
The Herd took the opening kickoff and marched 78 yards in 11 plays, concluding the drive on an 18-yard scoring pass from Kalub Ramirez to Tyi Duque for a 7-0 lead. Hereford was smelling upset very early.

That early highlight, though, was a mirage for Hereford’s offense. The Herd had only 227 yards of total offense and Ramirez threw four interceptions.

Hereford hung in the game defensively, allowing only seven points in the first three quarters. Stephenville’s lone score was a 31-yard run by Sawyer Wilkerson early in the second quarter to tie it 7-7.

That’s the way it stayed until early in the fourth quarter, when the Yellowjackets took the lead for good on a 73-yard scoring pass from Ryan Gafford to Tristian Gentry. Only 12 seconds later, Hudson Butchee picked off Ramirez and returned it 27 yards for a score to make it 21-7 and permanently claim momentum.

Gafford completed 16-of-26 for 343 yards and two touchdowns to Gentry, who was almost exclusively Gafford’s passing target, catching 14 passes for 310 yards.

Dumas falls to Lampasas

After one quarter Friday night, Dumas had a good reason to think it could get by Lampasas and play West Plains in the area round next week.

The second quarter spoiled all those plans for the Demons.

Dumas took a first quarter lead, but Lampasas wiped that out with a huge second quarter, scoring 34 points to take over the game and rout Dumas 55-21 at Andrews. The Demons finished the season 5-7.

After Lampasas took a 7-0 lead, Dumas responded with a pair of touchdown passes by sophomore Colton Mills to take a 14-7 lead. But that was the peak of a rough night for Mills and the Demons, as Mills completed only 5-of-19 passes.

The other quarterback, Reed Jerome of Lampasas, seemed to do anything he wanted to. Jerome completed 15-of-18 passes for 295 yards and six touchdowns and ran for 104 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. He threw four touchdowns and ran for another in the second quarter as Lampasas led 41-14 at halftime.

Bryson Roberts had eight catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns for Lampasas. Teammates Ty Johnson and Heagan Oncken also caught two scoring passes each.