Swifts hold off Mustangs in final seconds
After a high-scoring first half, it was the Nazareth defense that made the biggest play of the night sealing a 54-47 victory over Claude at Mustang Stadium Friday night.
Will Young knocked down a pass at the goal line intended for Will Thompson with one second left to give the Swifts the exhilarating win and to move Nazareth one step closer to a playoff spot out of District 2-1A Division I.
Down 40-38 at half, the Swifts (3-6, 1-1) turned the momentum early in the third when they forced a fumble on a fourth and three at their own 35-yard line. After driving to the Claude eight-yard line, Zane Schulte punched in one of his six touchdowns on the night on fourth down to put the Swifts back in front, 46-40. After a stop on defense, the Nazareth offense went back to work and Schulte finished off the drive with a five-yard run with 8:51 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 54-40.
Claude (3-6, 1-1) refused to go away by answering back. With 5:01 remaining, Braygon Conrad faked a toss right and rolled left and found a streaking Thompson with a 35-yard scoring strike to pull the Mustangs back to within one score. With the help of two costly penalties, the Mustangs forced Nazareth to punt at its own 35-yard line which they boomed into the endzone giving Claude 60 yards to drive with 2:04 remaining to tie or win the game. The Mustangs then chewed up forty yards and most of the clock to get down to the Swifts 20 with 10 seconds remaining. Just as he had done on the scoring strike earlier in the quarter, Conrad rolled left again and had Thompson open before Young closed the gap quickly and knocked the pass to seal a win for the road team.
Jayden Blandford had a productive night for Claude rushing for 111 yards and three touchdowns but, more impressively, the stocky senior amassed 19 tackles on the evening. Thompson racked up 45 yards rushing and 59 receiving while finding paydirt twice. Thompson and T.J. Ivy helped out Blanford combining for 18 tackles and a forced fumble.
The win was a crucial one for the Swifts as they even their district record at 1-1 but they now hold the win over Claude with one week left in the season. Nazareth will host Wildorado next week while Claude will try and force a three-way tie atop the district with an upset win at the Cowboy Corral over No. 9 Happy. A loss next week by Claude coupled with a Swifts win would give them the number two spot and a playoff spot.
Tigers long pass sinks Pirates ship
Greyson Peet found Noah Wood over the top of the Lefors defense for a 73-yard touchdown pass as Groom rallied to beat the Pirates Friday night at home, 82-78.
The pass, which Peet made from his own endzone, was perfectly placed to Wood who turned to catch it at the midfield stripe and then outran the Pirate defender for the score.
Groom’s defense then held the Pirates (2-7, 1-2) for one of the few times in the second half to seal a victory and put the Tigers into the playoffs as the second seed out of District 1-1A Division II.
Groom (5-5, 3-1) appeared to be in control holding a 54-26 halftime lead, but Lefors had no intentions of folding up shop early. The Pirates offense, behind Kade Parks and his seven rushing touchdowns, cut the lead to 68-56 headed to the fourth. After a Parks score cut it to 74-72, the Tigers went on the prowl and found itself deep in Pirates territory at the 17. That’s when Peet rolled right looking for Bryson Schuck in the endzone and launched a pass that Ben Schroeder for Lefors grabbed five yards deep. Schroeder actually circled two yards deeper in the end zone to avoid the tackle from Schroeder and then ran it out and cut to the sideline in front of the home crowd and raced 87 yards for the score and a Pirate lead.
Lefors then appeared to be ready to punch its ticket to the playoffs when they recovered the ensuing kick after the Groom returner was stripped. The Pirates found themselves with a first and goal at the 2:11 mark. However, Parks pass fell wide of his intended target with 1:26 left to play. Three plays later, Peet found Wood and eventual victory.
On the night, Peet finished with five passing touchdowns while Schuck found paydirt four times on the ground. The winning score was one of two on the night for Wood who also registered a pick six for the Tigers defense.
Patriots put scare into Greyhounds
In a physical, smash mouth game, No. 1-ranked Knox City (9-0, 2-0) escaped Valley with a 60-46 win on Thursday night at Patriot Stadium.
The win leaves the Greyhounds unbeaten record intact at 9-0 and more importantly 2-0 in District 4-1A Division I action. Valley (4-5) is now 1-1 in district and will need a win over Vernon Northside on Thursday to grab a playoff spot.
Valley found itself down 44-40 with 3:43 after a 26-yard touchdown run behind the powerful blocking of Tucker Schlueter. The Greyhounds answered though taking almost three full minutes off the clock before Cameron Hernandez scored from 11-yards out to extend the Knox City lead to 52-40 with 1:03 left. The home team wouldn’t back down though. After the kickoff resulted in a touchback, the Patriots found Cade Martin on a dump off pass and Martin did the rest breaking tackles and racing down the sideline 60 yards for a score and cutting the lead to 52-46.
On the ensuing squib kick, Greyhound Devin Guillory scooped it up and split the defenders and took it to the house to end any chance Valley had of pulling off the upset. With the win, the Greyhounds are in the driver’s seat for a district title only needing to beat Spur Friday night.
News and Notes
Miami (9-0, 2-0) continued its choke hold on District 1-1A Division I with a 50-6 drubbing of McLean (6-3, 1-1) on Friday night.
Haiden Thompson had another stellar evening passing for 172 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 131 yards and three scores. The night was also extra special for the senior gunslinger as Thompson passed the 10,000 career offensive yards mark with 10,181 yards.
No. 9 Happy (8-1, 2-0) had no problem with Wildorado (2-7, 0-2) at Mustang Field on Friday night logging a 48-0 win. Cutter Hodges paced the Cowboys offense with 114 yards on the ground on only seven carries while scoring once. Ryan Cox for the Mustangs went 11-25 for 79 yards as the Happy pass defense was able to shut down the spread offense of Wildorado.
Follett (6-3, 1-1) had no problem with White Deer (3-6, 0-2) as they cruised to a 64-12 win. Darrouzett (1-8, 1-2) picked up its first win of the year as they were leading Hedley 26-6 in the third quarter when the Owls (2-7, 0-3) had to forfeit due to a lack of healthy players.
Changes on the horizon
Friday’s snapshot day gave us an early look at what the landscape might look like once realignment is announced by the UIL in February. That landscape could see some significant changes in both divisions. The cutoff between Division I and II was 59.5 for the 2022-2024 realignment period. Based on those figures, Follett will be moving down as they turned in an enrollment number of 53. Silverton is likely on the way up after reporting 72.
That cutoff number could be moving up, though, based on early numbers that have been reported. If so, then McLean could be on the move as they turned in 60. Miami has not reported their number but did so they would be close to the cutoff line. That could mean as many as three teams are on the way down while Silverton would be joined in Division I by Hart and Booker who already made the move this year.
Things get even more interesting when you look at a school like Boys Ranch. The Roughriders turned in an enrollment figure of 93 and is considering the move to Six-Man football. The UIL will announce cutoff lines in December which will provide better clarity on where teams will be, but the early thoughts are we could see significant district changes in the next two years.
State Recap
In Division I, a matchup of top 10 teams saw No. 8 Borden County (8-1, 3-0) take down No. 5 Rankin (6-3, 2-1), 42-30, on the road Friday night at Red Devil Stadium. The Coyotes can capture the District 7-1A crown this week with a win over Grady.
No. 7 Jonesboro captured a hard fought 48-22 win over May to grab the District 14-1A crown with the Tigers grabbing the second seed.
Highland (6-3, 2-2) grabbed a crazy 76-60 win over Hermleigh (6-3, 2-2) as Cooper Bowen and Tylan Balthrop combined for 244 yards with 10 touchdowns. The Hornets win could make a mess of District 8-1A. Hermleigh faces Ira next week and a Cardinals win coupled with a Highland win over Roby would leave all three teams with a 3-2 district record behind district champ Westbrook.
In Division II, No. 5 Richland Springs (10-0, 4-0) grabbed the District 16-1A title with a 68-0 win over Lohn (0-9, 0-3). No. 8 Cherokee (7-1, 2-1) can wrap up the second spot in that district with a win this week over Lohn.
In District 8-1A, No. 9 Newcastle (8-1, 2-0) won a scoring fest with Gold-burg (6-3, 1-1) on the road capturing a 78-74 win and the inside track to a district title. Newcastle can win the district with a win over Forestburg while Gold-burg battles Strawn for a shot at the two seed assuming a Bobcats win.