Jason Witten’s Argyle Liberty Christian team handles West Plains in unique non-district clash

Things will only get better for the West Plains Wolves after Friday night, or at least that’s what they had to hope when all was said and done at Happy State Bank Stadium.

In their final game before starting District 2-4A Division I play next week, the Wolves can’t honestly say they’ll take any “momentum” into next Friday night’s district opener against Canyon. Argyle Liberty Christian took care of that by closing out the game with 49 unanswered points to hand West Plains a lesson in humility, 56-7.

The good news is that pride isn’t what matters to the Wolves (2-3) after five non-district games, at least not as far as coach Adam Cummings is concerned. He scheduled Liberty Christian (4-1), coached by former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, as a challenge to his team to get answers before district.

West Plains got those answers, whether they were positive or negative, and has to move forward after the weekend.

“There’s nothing to be pessimistic over and that’s kind of what we talked about,” Cummings said. “I thought they fought for four quarters and never laid down. I’ve been saying since day one that those are the types of teams we want to play and that’s the type of team we want to be.”

It would be hard to blame the Wolves for wanting to be like Liberty Christian, pedigree of that school’s coach not withstanding. The Warriors did just about everything right after the first quarter with the type of offensive balance and defensive dominance that rarely comes out of one team in one game.

Both teams started slow offensively, but Liberty Christian broke out of it faster. The Warriors closed the first half with 28 unanswered points to take a 35-7 halftime lead.

Liberty Christian got the better of field position early thanks to a couple of poor West Plains punts. The Warriors got on the board first on a 15-yard scoring pass from Quinn Murphy to Jaylon Hawkins to go up 7-0, the first of three scoring combinations between the two.

West Plains woke up offensively on the next possession, scoring only 73 seconds later to tie the game. The Wolves had a pair of 37-yard completions in the drive, the second of which went from Reid Macon to Kane White-Tinsley for a score to tie it 7-7.

That sequence concluded the most successful offensive series of the game for the Wolves. West Plains had 112 yards of offense for the game and only eight first downs, half of which came via penalty. It didn’t help that an 88-yard scoring pass from Macon to Kaden Hooker was called back due to a holding penalty.

“It wasn’t like we were playing a bunch of cupcakes up front,” Cummings said. “It has a lot to do with who you’re playing. We played a really good football team. When you’ve got a team who’s young and inexperienced and you’re working through a nondistrict schedule it tends to not lead to the production you’d like to have.”

With 36 seconds left in the first quarter, the game turned when Hawkins scored his second touchdown on a 51-yard punt return to give Liberty Christian a 14-7 lead. The Warriors clicked offensively after that.

“With school all week and a long road trip, that was good for us and that was the plan,” Witten said. “I knew (the Wolves) were a good team last year and would be a good challenge for us. I was worried there for a little bit because there were some self-inflicted wounds and we just needed to settle in. Once we did that we kind of found our rhythm.”

Chase Garnett ran for a pair of touchdowns on runs of 18 and 1 yard in the second quarter. Garnett was a thorn in the side for the Wolves most of the evening, running for 152 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.

The Warriors concluded the first half deluge on a 38-yard scoring pass from Murphy to Brady Janusek with 42 seconds left in the half to go up 35-7 at halftime.

It’s hard to say whether Liberty Christian burned the Wolves more on the ground or through the air. Murphy completed 20-of-27 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Hawkins, who had eight catches for 114 yards.

Witten got used to long road trips with the Cowboys and one year with the Las Vegas Raiders, so coming to Canyon wasn’t so intimidating.

“I think the first thing I try to tell our guys is enjoy it,” said Witten, who coaches two of his sons on this year’s team. “It’s high school football in Texas. I have so many great memories of going on the road and staying at a buddy’s house, doing all that stuff on the bus and the pregame meal. The other part of it is don’t get caught up in distractions.
“These are moments and relationships they’re going to have for the rest of their lives, and I remind these kids that as they get older, these are going to be the guys you call. That’s something I think I learned through playing.”

Camaraderie is something that Witten knows all about as a coach and a player, and it’s something which could come in useful for the Wolves. Their predistrict record might not reflect that, but all seasons are a work in progress, and West Plains is, at best, only halfway finished with the work to be done.

Cummings knows there are bigger games ahead as well.

“Ultimately this was not our Super Bowl,” Cummings said. “We’re not going to make or break our season based on that game. We feel like we’re battle tested and we’ve got the strongest nondistrict schedule in our district and I’ll stand by that.”