West Plains showcased just how powerful its offense can be which resulted in a 39-10 victory despite a gritty effort from rival Canyon during a District 2-4A Division I opener Friday night at Happy State bank Stadium.
This rivalry game, named the “Boss Bowl”, and played for the golden pig “Boss Hog Trophy” was overshadowed a bit following chaos early in the week at Canyon High School.
On Monday, Canyon ISD announced the removal of head coach Todd Winfrey, and named offensive coordinator and Canyon graduate Matt Lovorn as the interim. It was Lovorn’s first time in four years to be the head man on the sideline since his days at Stratford where he led the Elks to the 2021 UIL Class 2A Division II state championship.
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The Eagles left it all on the field for Lovorn and though the score doesn’t look like it, Lovorn is extremely proud of his team’s 48-minute effort.
“I promise you the guys will play hard no matter opponent or the situation,” Lovorn said. “We did that in this game. We have a lot of confidence we can take with us after this loss. We know who we are and what we believe in. We had mistakes but I think all of those are fixable and I know we can compete with anyone.”
This is the third straight year for the Wolves to return the coveted trophy back to West Plains High School. Something head coach Adam Cummings and his team take great pride in.
“You have to earn that trophy and we take that seriously,” Cummings said. “This is always a big win for us and we’ve been able to hold on to this thing for three years in a row.”
Canyon’s strategy was simple. Ground and pound the ball behind a physical offensive line and don’t allow the Wolves potent offense on the field. That formula worked for most of the first half. The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage giving West Plains a heavy dose of quarterback Brox Hacker and running back Austin Turner. However, short yardage mistakes came at a price for the Eagles and Canyon wasn’t able to post points on the scoreboard.
West Plains didn’t have that problem. On the first offensive snap, quarterback Reid Macon swung a screen pass to running back Slade Russell who caught the corner and turned on the speed for an 18-yard touchdown giving West Plains a 7-3 lead. Following a Canyon second quarter field goal, the Wolves marched down in six plays where the screen game came in handy once again with Macon finding Kaden Hooker who took off on a 29-yard score for a 13-3 advantage.
Canyon had one last chance to get back in the game off a Turner touchdown cutting the advantage 13-10 with 1:32 left in the first half until West Plains immediately responded answering right back in under a minute that saw another sprinting drive capped off by a six-yard quarterback sweep from Macon. That pushed the lead at 19-10 and it was all West Plains from there.
“There is never an easy win in district,” Cummings said. “Canyon played hard and showed a lot of fight. Give credit to our players though. We fought and had our hands full with their line play. I was proud of the fight we showed, I think the defense bent but never broke, and the offense clicked most of the night.”
Running back Slade Russell scored two more second half touchdowns giving him three on the night as the junior tailback finished the game 129 yards on 11 carries. Macon was efficient going 10-of-15 for 245 yards with three touchdowns and rushed for another. Kane White-Tinsley was the go-to weapon snagging four catches for 145 yards and a TD, while Hooker added 50 yards with a score.
As for the defense, linebacker Cash Lofton tallied 21 tackles, two of those for a loss and Bentley Chandler added 15 tackles.
“We had a great week of practice,” Cummings said. “We were discpilined most of the time and showed are game speed in this win. The guys stepped up to the challenge and we just have to consistently play championship level football and keep working towards our goals.”
Canyon’s Turner ran hard the entire game going for 91 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown. Hacker added 98 yards on 23 carries.