Cardiac Cowboys grab late victory
For the second straight week, the Happy Cowboys found themselves in trouble deep in the fourth quarter but a long pass with five seconds remaining helped them grab a big 48-42 homecoming win Friday night over Springlake-Earth.
The Wolverines (2-1) led 36-34 with 2:55 left after JJ Jaramillo, playing on a bum ankle, gutted out an 18-yard run for paydirt. Happy then marched down the field and Cutter Hodges plowed ahead on a 1-yard score to give the Cowboys (2-1) the
lead back, 40-36 with 59 seconds left.
Springlake-Earth then turned around and scored 26 seconds later as Jaramillo hit Tyler Tanaro from 18 yards out to put the Wolverines back in front 42-40. After a nice kickoff return by Jaxon Stoker into Springlake-Earth territory, Happy found itself 36 yards away from victory.
Noe Juarez, who finished the night 10-of-16 for 202 yards and four scores, made his best pass of the night to Kole Gibson, who got behind the green and gold, for a victory.
Quay Hodges was the recipient of Juarez’s other three touchdown passes hauling in four balls for 62 yards and three scores. Jaramillo was a pain for the Cowboy defense all night amassing 137 yards rushing and four scores on the ground while going 5-for-5 through the air for 76 yards.
Panthers get revenge on Owls
After losing 34-31 to the Silverton Owls last year, Whitharral head coach and Silverton alum Jeremy Holt couldn’t wait for the rematch and Holt and his Panthers walked away with a 44-39 victory at home Friday night.
Both teams started out hot and went to the half with the Owls (2-1) holding a narrow one-point margin, 31-30. Defense was the story in the second half, though, as the Owls were unable to hold a three-point lead after three and fell to the former hometown hero as the Panther defense was able to shut down Sawyer Francis in the final quarter for the victory. Whitharral stays perfect on the year at 3-0.
Kiowas fall on the road
Facing the No. 7 team in Division II, Booker found the road tough against Amherst as the Kiowas fell 56-21 on Thursday night in Wildorado.
After making the decision to drop to Six-Man in May, the Booker community has found the new type of football to their liking as head coach David Biddler’s squad started the season with two straight wins. However, facing a ranked squad in a neutral site game, the Kiowas (2-1) found out how good Joel Garcia for the Bulldogs is.
The talented sophomore ran and passed Amherst (3-0) to victory as Booker lost its first game of the year. Still, a strong start to the season has lifted the spirits of those in Booker. The Kiowas will be heavy favorites next week against Hart before squaring off in two weeks against their long-time rivals, the Follet Panthers.
News and notes
Freshman spread back Zane Schulte was a force rushing for 190 yards had two interceptions and tallied six touchdowns for Nazareth (2-1) as the Swifts finished off Groom (1-2) in the third quarter with a 65-16 win in front of a packed homecoming crowd.
Three straight games, three straight mercy rule wins for Miami (3-0) as they manhandled Wildorado (1-2) 54-6 on Friday. Haiden Thompson continues to rack up the stats completing 7-of-8 passes for 200 yards and five scores plus a rushing touchdown. After a solid freshman campaign, Micah Hinshaw continues to help Thompson by grabbing two passes for 110 yards and two scores.
Follett (1-2) grabbed their first win of the season over Lefors (0-3) with a 53-6 victory, McLean (2-1) blanked San Jacinto 45-0, White Deer’s “dirty dozen” is now 2-1 with a 51-6 win over Amarillo PCHEA and Claude (1-2) found Borden County (3-0) in a foul mood, falling 46-0.
100 years of football
Gordon and Strawn met Saturday night to celebrate 100 years of playing against each other. The No. 3-ranked Longhorns had no problem with the Greyhounds picking up a 46-0 win early in the third quarter.
Despite the loss, Strawn still leads this bitter rivalry 39-34-3 on the back of an 8-0 record as both teams played 11-man ball. The Greyhounds have put up a ton of points on Gordon at times winning 82-0 in 1924 and 80-0 in 2018 when they won a state title, but the worm has turned and now a young Longhorns team is considered a strong contender to make the state title game this year.
If you want to know about this rivalry and Six-Man football then watch the Paramount Network documentary, Texas 6, that followed Strawn for two seasons with lots of discussion on this rivalry.
State recap
According to the rankings, No.1 Rankin and No. 2 Westbrook matched up Friday night for what many have thought would be a great game. Well, the two-time defending state champs weren’t interested in a great game as they shellacked the Red Devils 54-0.
After an opening season loss, the Wildcats seemed to have found their swagger and are poised for another deep playoff run. Meanwhile, No. 4 Knox City, who beat Westbrook to open the year, is in full gear as well knocking off No. 6 May 64-14.
Head coach Clint Linman led McLean to back-to-back appearances in the state finals in 2018 and 2019 while grabbing a title in 2018. He’s now at Whiteface and the No. 8 Antelopes continue to impress as they had no problem knocking off Valley 54-8 on the road.
Loraine made the Division II finals last year where they fell to Benjamin and the start of this year hasn’t been kind to the Black and Gold. The Bulldogs are now 0-3 on the season and have been outscored 220-102.
Things don’t get easier this week for Loraine as a top twenty team in Ira comes calling. Runge, who started the year as an 11-man team, just dropped to Six-Man and will play an outlaw schedule for the remainder of the year before joining the Six-Man ranks full-time in 2024.