New Home shrugged off a slow start, taking control in the second quarter to pull away from New Deal for a convincing 29-7 victory in a key District 2-2A Division I matchup Friday night at Leopards Stadium.
District 2-2A Division I has been quite the roller coaster ride through the last few weeks, and New Home made things take another strong turn in the league race.
New Home (7-2 overall), New Deal (5-3) and Post (7-2), all sit at 3-1 in district with one week left in the regular season. However, with the Leopards beating the Lions by more than eight points Friday, New Home has its destiny in its own hands for the No. 1-seed in 2-2A with a win at Olton next week.
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“We talked about responding all year long,” New Home head coach Jon Ward said. “We challenged the guys what needed to be done and we knew what was in front of us and they did a great job of responding and got it done.”
A New Deal win next week against Floydada puts the Lions in the postseason as the No. 2-seed.
This was a defensive slugfest most of the night. The Lions totaled 187 yards with New Home posting a total of 208 yards of offense.
The Lions scored their lone touchdown in the first quarter on a Dalton Martin seven-yard run giving New Deal its only lead 7-0. The Leopards got off to a slow offensive start along with the Lions controlling the ball getting only three first half possessions. In the second quarter, New Home was finally able to get on the board with a quarterback Brayson Beck five-yard score tying the game up, 7-7.
That would be the score going into halftime, but in the second half, the Leopards defense took over and the offense got clicking.
Running back Ryder Starkey put New Home on top for good at 14-7 on a two-yard run. In the fourth quarter, the Leopards started getting insurance on Beck’s second touchdown on the night, calling his own number on a four-yard scamper, making it 21-7. The final nail in the coffin then came on a Beck defensive play taking an interception 48-yards back for a pick-six, capped off by a Parker Liles two-point conversion.
“We didn’t have many opportunities in the first half,” Ward said. “New Deal did a great job of keeping the ball away from us, but we got it going in the second quarter and played a complete team game in the second half. Hats off to our coaches and our players. We had some players out and had some guys step up and plug away.”
On top of Beck’s 48-yard interception return for a touchdown, he did rush for 47 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns. Starkey carried the run game, piling up 103 yards on 10 carries with a score.
New Deal’s Jonah Rodriguez did have a solid effort knifing his way for 108 yards rushing on 19 carries. Martin added 61 yards rushing.