Happy thumps Knox City
In a highly anticipated matchup between top 10 teams, No. 5 Happy used a smothering defense and pounding running attack to pull off a surprising 50-0 blanking of No. 8 Knox City in the Class 1A Division I regional semifinals on Friday night at Titus Stadium in Matador. Happy (11-1) held the Greyhounds (9-3) on their opening possession and took over in Knox City territory where they used a Joey Blackmon 1-yard plunge on fourth and goal to go up 6-0. On the next Knox City possession, the Greyhounds had a fumbled snap, a theme all night for the visitors, that pinned them on their own 1-yard line where they were forced to punt. A couple of plays later Happy quarterback Camden Sperry found Kyton Johnson for a 15-yard scoring strike to extend the lead to 14-0. Another defensive stop in Knox City territory gave Happy the ball at the Greyhound 35 where Tryce Johnson took care of the rest. Johnson, who has missed the last three games, took the handoff up the middle, found a crease in the defense to the right side and burst through for the first of his three scores on the night to help start icing this game away.
The Cowboys rushing attack ran for 230 yards with Tryce Johnson accounting for 158 of that and Joey Blackmon tacking on 67 and two scores. Defensively, Happy held Knox City to 54 total yards. The Greyhounds potent rushing attack was held to (-) 5 yards and the Cowboys registered three sacks in the game. The Cowboys advance to the state quarterfinals for the third straight year where they will take on district rival from Nazareth at 6 p.m. Friday night in Tulia.
Nazareth runs away from Wolverines
All year long Nazareth has quietly sat in the wings winning game after game while the rest of the state looked past them. That’s no longer the case as the Swifts used a punishing ground game to run all over Springlake-Earth in the Class 1A regional semifinals, 62-28, on Friday night in Petersburg.
This game was tight throughout much of the first half with Nazareth holding a 16-12 lead with 5:36 left in the second quarter. At that point was when Luke Schulte scored one of his six touchdowns in the game to put the Swifts up 24-12 and then scored with no time left on the clock to head to half up 32-12. In the second half, the rushing attack led by Schulte and his game high 268 yards continued to wear down the Wolverines as they raced out to a 62-20 lead and the eventual victory. The Swifts now move into the state quarterfinal round against district foe Happy at 6 p.m. Friday in Tulia.
Division II
Groom falls to Balmorhea
After starting the season 1-4, Groom reeled off wins in five of their next six contests, but the Tigers run fell short Friday night in wherever as No. 4 Balmorhea made quick work of No. 5 Groom, 60-14, in the regional semifinals. The Bears (11-1) jumped out early on the Tigers building a 30-6 first quarter lead. The Tiger defense held strong in the second quarter only giving up one score, but Groom (6-6) was just unable to muster anything on offense. Balmorhea then put the Tigers down in the third outscoring them 22-8 for the win. The Bears now move on to the state quarterfinals to face Whitharral at a time and place to be determined.