TULIA – Stratford wasted no time taking care of business, dominating both sides of the ball and jumping out to a quick lead during a 35-0 blanking of Tahoka in the UIL Class 2A Division II area round at Younger Field on Friday night.
The tradition-rich Elks (10-2), who fell in this round a year ago, are back in the third round and are now set for a rematch with District 1-2A Division II foe, Bovina (5-5) in the regional semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Dick Bivins Stadium.
“It sets everything right for us,” Stratford head coach Jonathan Murphy said. “Getting beat in the second round was difficult for our program. It hurt to not play on Thanksgiving. Making it back to this holiday week feels normal and that’s important to us. Being back in this situation is huge. We’re healthy and we’re playing with confidence and we’re excited to keep going.”
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The Elks offense came out fast scoring on the first two drives of the game. Marching right down the field on the opening possession, quarterback Chase Lantelme scrambled and found Alex Romero for an eight-yard pitch and catch putting Stratford up 7-0.
On the ensuing drive, the Stratford offense continued to cook going only two plays, highlighted by a 49-yard connection from Lantelme to Romero making it 14-0 in the first six minutes.
The score stayed that way until late in the second quarter, when the Elks put the nail in the coffin. After yet another defensive stop, Lantelme tossed a screen pass to Darius Jones. Jones used his speed to catch the edge and take off 29 yards that had the Elks cruising 21-0 at the half.
“We knew we had to start fast and get on them early,” Jones said. “Tahoka is a good team, so we were able to get going on offense and the defense was awesome.”
Stratford tacked on two more touchdowns in the second half to put away the contest.
The Elks defense was equally if not more impressive in this victory over the Bulldogs (7-5). The Elks didn’t allow Tahoka to ever get in a rhythm offensively, constantly getting in the Bulldog backfield.
Stratford limited Tahoka to two first downs in the first half and six for the game. The Elks held the Bulldogs to 129 total yards, 30 which came in the last minute of the game, and Stratford also didn’t allow a third down as Tahoka was 0-for-9 on third down conversions.
“We liked the matchup coming in against Tahoka,” Murphy said. “On defense, we liked how the defensive ends matched up with their offensive line. We felt like the linebackers were going to be able to make plays and we did that.”
Jones echoed his coaches comment.
“We were very motivated to get past this round,” Jones said. “I think we all wanted that Stratford tradition of Thanksgiving hot dogs after the holiday practice. We have been playing really well and playing mad. We have a lot to prove and we want to keep showing it.”
The Stratford offense tallied 400 yards of offense. The Elks were very good in short yardage going 4-for-5 on fourth downs and 5-of-13 on third down chances.
Jones finished the game catching five passes for 91 yards with a score, and ran the ball six times for 69 yards with another TD. Quarterback Chase Lantelme was on target, going 11-of-18 for 195 yards with four touchdown tosses and Romero ended the evening with 63 yards receiving and a pair of TDs.
Defensively, Hudson Holland had a game-high 10 tackles for the Elks with Abe Goss getting nine tackles.