No. 8-ranked Panhandle finishes the year at 10-2 overall while the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs stay perfect at 12-0 advancing to play the Cisco-Abernathy winner in next week’s regional semifinals.
The Panthers had an opportunity to take the momentum early. On Stamford’s opening offensive play from its own 10-yard line, quarterback Christian Duran hit a swing pass to Caden Moreno. Panhandle defensive back popped Moreno forcing a fumble recovered by teammate Caden Armes setting the Panthers up at the Bulldogs nine-yard line.
However, the Panhandle offense stalled getting stopped by Stamford on four downs inside the five.
That’s where the game took a turn for the worse for Panhandle. Stamford immediately took the momentum from that point forward when Duran went deep over the top to Drew Faulks resulting in a 95-yard pitch and catch down to the Panthers one-yard line. On the next play, Duran kept it himself for the score putting Stamford up 7-0 with 5:54 left in the first.
On the Panthers next possession, turnovers started taking their toll. Quarterback Broxton Robinson fumbled a snap allowing the Bulldogs to jump on it. That miscue resulted in a 12-yard touchdown run from Duran as Stamford went up 14-0.
Stamford put the game out of reach by halftime taking a 35-6 lead into the locker room. Panhandle had four first half turnovers that gave the Bulldogs 21 first half points.
Stamford ended the game with 441 total yards with 290 of those coming by way of a powerful run attack. Vega paved the way chewing up the Panthers defense carrying the ball only 11 times for 166 yards scoring five touchdowns.
Duran rushed for 33 yards with a score and was 8-of-14 passing for 151 yards while Faulks snagged four catches for 116 yards.
Panhandle’s Robinson was 10-of-22 for 122 yards with a touchdown but did have three interceptions. The Stamford defense also limited Robinson to 26 rushing yards. Teammate Rush Waltersheid tallied 77 yards on 14 carries with a score.