By Zach Duncan
WICHITA FALLS – Palo Duro came to Memorial Stadium Friday night looking to start district strong.
The Dons left with much more than that. They made an emphatic statement to the rest of 2-5A Division II, trampling Memorial 48-6 thanks to Julian Reese II’s four first-half touchdown passes and a suffocating defense.
It was not only a dominant showing on the road, but the Dons (4-1, 1-0) also handed the Mavericks their worst loss in the program’s brief history.
“We sent our district a notice for sure. Everybody’s on notice,” said Darian Lewis, who hauled in a 45-yard touchdown catch for the game’s first score. “We’ve always been looking forward to district, and we didn’t win last year, so anytime we get a drive, we want to go punch it in.”
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Palo Duro took control of Friday’s matchup with three straight touchdown passes in the first half. After finding a streaking Lewis down the visitor sideline for a score, Reese II hooked up with Kyron Brown from 26 yards out and then hit Keanan Posey out of the backfield for a 20-yard TD catch that came on third and goal.
Even when Memorial scored quickly on its next drive, Palo Duro responded with Brown’s 12-yard TD catch that helped stake Palo Duro to a 28-6 halftime lead.
That three-score advantage was as good as gold thanks to the Dons’ defense that held Memorial (4-2, 0-2) to 35 points below its season average. The Mavericks only rushed for 61 yards and Palo Duro picked off Joe Castles twice as the Abilene Christian commit was under constant duress.
“Our defense knew what the challenge was for them tonight,” Palo Duro coach Eric Mims said. “They were physical in the box, and they played well in the secondary. All in all, everybody did their job, and that’s what our defensive coordinator always talks about – keeping it simple and doing your job.”
Mims wasn’t happy with how Palo Duro squandered a couple scoring chances early in the third quarter, but the Dons kept running the football and wearing down Memorial to the tune of 303 rushing yards.
Raymond Johnson V notched a pair of second-half rushing touchdowns, while Tayv’on Cantly scored from 4 yards out to end the scoring. Reese II did most of his damage in the first half, finishing with 223 passing yards and four scores, while Amariyea James led the Dons with 107 rushing yards.
Only Palo Duro, Abilene Wylie and Plainview are undefeated in a challenging 2-5A Division II race two weeks in. The Dons host Abilene Wylie in an integral matchup that will play a key role in the district’s playoff picture.
“You can’t be satisfied on the previous week’s performance,” Mims said. “That’s how you get beat is when you look arrogant and you get conceited. People don’t care what you did last week.”
The drive back to Amarillo isn’t a quick one, but the Dons had plenty to rejoice about afterward, including winning the yardage battle 526-222 as Memorial struggled with their team speed.
“We’re going to definitely celebrate tonight, but flip the page tomorrow and get right back to work,” linebacker Keima’j Barnes said. “Me and my brothers have been working this whole summer, and it feels good to get our first district win and get started like we did.”
In the two other District 2-5A Division II games, Abilene Wylie picked up a huge 29-22 win over rival Abilene Cooper and Lubbock-Cooper bounced back from a loss to Plainview to knock off Wichita Falls Legacy 49-26.