Bryan Chavira, Friona football, senior
On the field: In what might have been one of the all-time dominant rushing performances by a team in Texas Panhandle high school football history, Chavira was the featured runner in Friona’s 62-42 win over Tulia in a key District 3-3A Division II game which the Chieftains unbeaten in district at 2-0 and overall at 7-0. Friona ran for 673 yards and was naturally led by Chavira, the team’s leading rusher, who gouged Tulia for 266 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries. The Chieftains opened the game with 28 unanswered points, the last 21 coming on touchdown runs of 3, 66 and 3 yards by Chavira. Along with Jacob Bautista, who ran for 214 yards, and Mario Bautista, who ran for 166, Chavira led a rushing attack for the ages and is closing in on 1,000 yards for the season.
Coach Jimmy Arias: “Bryan Chavira’s our starting quarterback, but he also plays wide receiver, running back, safety, cornerback, he’s a do it all athlete. He’s definitely a senior leader. He got the ground game going (against Tulia) at quarterback and at running back. He’s been awesome. We try to make sure each of our backs has a certain amount of carries, but if one of them gets hot, we make sure we note it and give him the ball some more. This game he was just everywhere. It was probably his best game of the year.”
Chavira: “The game plan was pretty much run it down them and let them figure out how to stop us. It’s three main players and they have to figure out who they’re going to stop. It depends on the defense. Handoff isn’t really a main factor with two key backs. 266 yards, that’s a lot. My goal is just to get as much yardage as I can get and help out the team. It helps everybody else out a lot. If they key on me we got two other players who can carry it a lot.”
About Chavira
Favorite band or musician: Drake
Favorite social media platform: Snapchat
Favorite athlete: Peyton Manning
Bet you didn’t know: Doesn’t eat vegetables
Parents: Bertha Gomez and Wilfredo Regalado