AHS routs Caprock; Randall downs Dumas, Hereford rallies past Plainview

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Amarillo High quarterback Brock Wade looks for an open receiver during a District 2-5A Division I contest against Caprock at Dick Bivins Stadium on Friday night. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]

AHS routs Caprock in 2-5A D-I opener

For the second straight night, an Amarillo ISD crosstown showdown to open District 2-5A Division I play at Dick Bivins Stadium turned into a rout, as Amarillo High closed the game with 27 unanswered points to crush Caprock 34-3.

Amarillo High (4-1, 1-0 in district) dominated in every fashion imaginable, outgaining Caprock (1-4, 0-1) by a 370-121 margin. The Sandies never trailed, although it was close early.

Ethan Cowan gave AHS a 7-0 lead with a 2-yard scoring run in the first quarter. Caprock’s Joel Gijon kicked a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter to cut it to 7-3, but after that it was all Amarillo High.

Pius Vokes became the third Amarillo High runner to go over 100 yards in a game this season, as he had 124 yards on only seven carries and concluded the scoring with a 68-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Brock Wade completed 13-of-20 for 179 yards and a touchdown for the Sandies.

Amarillo High’s defense also got in on the scoring, as Tyreese Molden returned an interception 23 yards for a score in the second quarter. Luke Laminack kicked two field goals of over 40 yards for the Sandies.

Amarillo High 34, Caprock 13

Amarillo High 7 17 0 10 — 34

Caprock 0 3 0 0 — 3

Class 4A

Randall’s Nathan Baker makes a catch for a touchdown against Dumas on Friday night at Demons Stadium. [Tom Carver/ Press Pass Sports]

Randall downs Dumas

DUMAS — Getting too caught up in what happened a week before can impact a team with the week at hand.

Friday night, the Randall Raiders were able to put that behind them and the Dumas Demons couldn’t live up to that week.

Using a series of big plays from the outset, Randall got the upper hand over Dumas in the first half and took control of the game. The Raiders got a comfortable halftime lead behind quarterback Braxton Burd and rode the rest of the way to a 38-19 win to successfully conclude their predistrict season.

For Randall (3-2), it was a big bounceback win after two straight losses to take into District 3-5A Division II play in two weeks. Last week the Raiders squandered a 21-point fourth quarter lead in a 29-28 loss at Pampa, but were able to shake that off fairly quickly against Dumas (2-2).

“I think it’s big,” Randall coach Gaylon Selman said. “Being on a positive note after playing good against Amarillo High and coming up short and with happened at Pampa last week the kids responded great. They played hard all night and made plays when they needed to make plays.”

And nobody made more plays than Burd, especially in the first half. Burd had two big scoring passes and a mammoth touchdown run to give Randall a 24-7 halftime lead.

Dumas got the opening kickoff and marched inside the Randall 10-yard line. But when the drive stalled, Hugo Morales missed a 26-yard field goal attempt to give the Raiders the ball at their own 20.

They wasted no time getting on the board, as Burd hit a streaking Isayah Hernandez over the middle for an 80-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

“I was late getting on the field and I ran out there and (Burd) told me the play and I knew they were playing man coverage and I just had to beat my guy one-on-one and luckily it went my way,” said Hernandez, who had four catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. “All of us receivers and Burd have just working to get the ball to where we need it to be and he put that on the dot and we scored the touchdown.”

The Demons didn’t appear to be demoralized on their next possession, and moved the ball well in the first half. They tied the game on a 50-yard scoring pass from Grayson McCurley to Oliver Ortiz to tie the game 7-7.

But Randall took the lead for good for the rest of the half, as with five seconds left in the first quarter, Burd hit Nathan Baker on a quick post pattern to give the Raiders a 14-7 lead. Burd completed his first six passes in the first half for 161 yards.

However, the biggest play Burd made came with his feet. Dumas faced a fourth down at the Randall 35 and McCurley executed a quick kick which pinned the Raiders at their own 3.

Three plays later, on fourth-and-nine, Burd dropped into the end zone and looked as if he’d be sacked for a safety. But he escaped, found his way to the left sideline and simply ran past the Dumas defense for a 96-yard touchdown to make it 21-7.

“I knew we had to turn up this game because we had a bye week going into district,” Burd said. “I was just making sure I wouldn’t get a safety and my center Bryce Melton picked up a great block for me on a blitz and I just found a hole and I just took off. Right when I made that last dude miss and there was no one in my view I said ‘All right, that’s a touchdown.’”

Burd was as effective as a dual threat could be, providing for the majority of Randall’s offense. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 144 yards on nine carries.

That tells the story of how balanced the Raiders were offensively, as they ran for 226 yards and didn’t punt until the final three minutes of the game, well after the issue had been decided.

The game was actually a little closer than the final score might indicate. Dumas had a productive night offensively, as McCurley completed 18-of-30 passes for 227 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

But unlike the previous week’s 48-14 win at Plainview, the Demons got burned too frequently on defense.

“We did get big played,” Dumas coach Aaron Dunnam said. “We got outplayed tonight regardless. We didn’t do enough things. Big plays defensively is something that’s hurt us this season.

“I don’t know that (offensively) we played good enough to win, but we did play well.”

Randall had only two receivers catch passes all night, but they both had over 100 yards, as Baker had eight catches for 118 yards and also scored Randall’s final touchdown on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter to give the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 38-13.

“We’ve got a good group of seniors who are good leaders,” Selman said. “They didn’t get down the past couple of weeks. They kept the team up and I think it just showed tonight.”

Randall 38, Dumas 19

Randall 14 10 7 7 38

Dumas 7 12 19

Canyon nabs fourth straight victory

MIDLAND— The Canyon Eagles made the long drive south to the Permian Basin worth it by coming away with a 38-19 win over the Greenwood Rangers in a nondistrict game Friday night at J.M. King Memorial Stadium.

It was the fourth consecutive win for a Canyon team (4-1) that has been making strides since after losing its first game of the season to Randall a month ago.

“We knew coming in this season that we were tired of hearing about how young of a team we were but we were a young team and we had to grow up,” Canyon head coach Todd Winfrey said who is in his first season in charge of the program. “It’s like shaking dominoes or putting a puzzle together. We were trying to find pieces early. Slowly but surely, we’re starting to get some people in the right spots. We’ve had an injury or two but we’ve had kids step up from JV and I think we’re just growing up. We’re growing up as a new staff and as a young football team. We’re just trying to build. The goal was to take these nondistrict games and get ready for district.”

After their season-opening loss, the Eagles have now registered wins over Burkburnett, Lubbock Estacado, Caprock and Greenwood.

The Rangers, who play in District 1-4A Division II, fell to 2-2 for the season with the loss.

“It’s tough,” Greenwood head coach Rusty Purser said. “It’s hard to swallow that one because we played really hard. We played a good football team in Canyon and they did a lot of things. They were able to take advantage of depth and that was one of the things. That’s what you want to get out of these nondistrict games. You want to play schools that are bigger than you. Our guys had to keep plugging along. I was proud of their effort. We just know we have to take the next step the next time we get on the field.”

Canyon never trailed, building a 24-6 lead in the second quarter.

However, Greenwood didn’t go away as the Rangers cut to a 24-19 deficit in the third quarter before Canyon scored two unanswered touchdowns to put the game away in the fourth.

The Eagles scored on their first offensive possession when running back Dario Bressler found the endzone on a 13-yard run.

Canyon Quarterback Derrek Clements found Jeffrey McDonald for the 2-point conversion to give the Eagles an 8-0 lead with 7:19 left in the first quarter.

Greenwood responded with a 69-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Flowers to Zane Ogle. The 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete with 4:45 on the clock.

Bressler added another score with a 6-yard touchdown run and Clements took the ball in for the 2-point conversion for a 16-6 Canyon lead with 7:56 before halftime.

Another Eagle touchdown by Bressler followed, this time on a 67-yard pass and Clements found Christian McGuire on the 2-point conversion for an 18-point lead at the 3:39 mark.

The Rangers responded before the end of the half with a 28-yard touchdown run by Flowers before his 2-point conversion pass was picked off.

A quick third quarter saw the Eagles only have possession once which ended in a fumble inside their own 19 and the Rangers came up with the ball.

Greenwood burned time of the clock and Flowers scored from 2-yards out on the run before Rance Purser’s PAT made it a five-point game with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

“Kudos to coach Purser,” Winfrey said. “That is a great, physical football team. They played hard and they played fast. They hit us hard. I was really impressed with them. I thought we just settled in as a team. we struggled a little bit with our zone. We started running the power and that really opened up some windows. When we run the football, good things happen for us.”

The Eagles made their next offensive drive count as McGuire hauled in a 12-yard touchdown reception from Clements. Bressler added the 2-point conversion with his run with seven minutes remaining in the game.

Canyon running back Samuel Johnson added to the Eagles’ advantage with a 25-yard touchdown run with 1:30. The PAT was no good.

“Our kids just played really hard,” Winfrey said. “We had a bunch of chances. Our kids have been able to play hard no matter what and things started good. They hit a big play and then we gave up some plays in the first half. We made a couple of goofy play calls. The kids made a mistake here and there but our motto is: ‘If we just do our job and do it for forty minutes, good things will happen’ and that’s what happened tonight.”

Canyon will face Levelland next week on the road.

— Michael Bauer

Canyon 38, Midland Greenwood 19

Canyon 8 16 14 38

Greenwood 6 6 7 0 — 19

Hereford’s Gerardo Garcia races past the Plainview defense on a long run Friday night at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldogs Stadium. [Nathan Giese/ Plainview Herald]

Hereford edges Plainview

Hereford came back from a late deficit with a touchdown in the final four minutes and closed the game with 21 unanswered points to win at Plainview 34-28 as the Herd moved back above .500 for the season.

Plainview led 28-13 early in the third quarter before Hereford (3-2) stormed back. Gerardo Garcia threw two touchdown passes to Braedyn Mendoza to cap the comeback of 35 and 12 yards, the latter of which with 3:38 remaining in the game gave the Herd the lead for good.

Hereford clinched the victory with under a minute left in the game when Eric Lucio intercepted a pass inside the Hereford 15-yard line to end Plainview’s final threat.

Garcia completed 13-of-21 passes for 192 yards a four touchdowns. Mendoza had seven catches for 117 yards and three touchdowns.

Plainview fell to 1-4.

Hereford 34, Plainview 28

Hereford 6 7 13 8 — 34

Plainview 7 15 6 0 — 28

Pampa keeps rolling

Pampa won its fourth straight under first-year coach Cody Robinson, as the Harvesters erupted for 31 points in the second quarter to rout Levelland 53-6 at Harvester Field.

The Harvesters (4-1) led the entire way and were never in trouble. As has been the case during the winning streak, Pampa was balanced offensively.

Cornelius Landers had another big game with 161 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries and also caught a 22-yard touchdown pass. Quarterback Sam Anguiano was almost perfect, completing 13-of-15 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns.

Pampa was also stingy defensively, allowing only 208 total yards.

Pampa 53, Levelland 6

Levelland 0 0 6 0 — 6

Pampa 7 31 15 0 — 53

Dalhart rolls past Borger

Dalhart took an early lead and didn’t let up, coasting to a 31-18 victory at Borger, putting the Golden Wolves in the win column for the first time this season.

The Wolves (1-4) jumped out to a 17-0 lead by the third quarter to force Borger (1-4) to play catch-up. Dalhart quarterback Thomas Myer threw for a touchdown and ran for two more to highlight the offense.

Luis Favela led the Wolves with 150 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. Dalhart more than doubled the Bulldogs offensively, outgaining them by a 467-232 margin.

Dalhart 31, Borger 18

Dalhart 0 10 7 14 — 31

Borger 0 0 6 12 — 18

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