Tascosa‘s Christian Sargent tries to avoid an Abilene High tackler during the Rebels season opener at Shotwell Stadium. [Brandon McAuliffe/ Big Country Preps.]
The Tascosa Rebels traveled down to Abilene to open their highly anticipated 2020 season with a tough matchup against a talented a Abilene High team.
The Rebels, with some inexperienced players at key positions, passed their first test with flying colors. Doing what they do best, compiling 462 yards on the ground, the Rebels pounded their way to a 26-20 win against the Eagles on Friday night at Shotwell Stadium. Tascosa had five players with over 40 rushing yards, but it was junior Major Everhart leading the committee with five rushes for 119 yards and a touchdown, while adding a 17-yard TD reception from Ryan Barnett.
AHS jumped to a quick 7-0 lead when Jeshari Houston returned the opening kickoff 101 yards for a score. The Rebels wasted no time to respond with a 59-yard rushing touchdown from BT Daniels to tie the game at 7-7. After two second quarter touchdowns by the Rebels, Tascosa took control into halftime with a 20-7 lead.
AHS showed its grit with a 67-yard pass and catch to Nate Seballos which cut Tascosa’s lead to 20-14. As the third quarter came to a close, Everhart made the game changing play of the night when he broke away for a 91 yard TD scamper extending the Rebels lead to 26-14.
Tascosa (1-0) opens the home portion of the schedule hosting Midland Lee (1-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Tascosa 26, Abilene High 20
Tascosa 7 13 6 — 26
Ab. High 7 7 6 — 20
Sandies fall in shootout to Midland Lee
Amarillo High and Midland Lee entertained its fans with plenty of fireworks in a thrilling season opener packed with points Friday night at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland.
In a game that showcased two potent offenses, Midland Lee from Class 6A was a little much for the Sandies to keep up with in a 54-40 shootout loss.
The two teams combined for 94 points, totaled 988 yards from scrimmage as both defenses struggled to contain these high-powered offenses.
Standout quarterback Mikey Serrano started off the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Michael Valles to put the Rebels up 7-0. Unfazed, Amarillo High quarterback Will Maynard delivered a strike to Davin Lemmons for a 64 yard answer evening the game up. Serrano ran it right back, finding Christian Romero for back-to-back scores putting the Rebels up 22-7, as Lee took a 30-19 lead into half.
The Maynard-Serrano show continued in the second half as Maynard connected for two more scores and Serrano threw another touchdown to Romero. Heading into the fourth the Sandies trailed 40-33. Makhilyn Young opened the 4th quarter with an 8-yard score increasing the Rebel lead to 14. Maynard continued to take shots downfield finding Jameson Garcia for a 21-yard TD pass, but the Sandies couldn’t ever close the gap in the end.
The good as advertised Serrano ended his night 18-of-25 for 280 yards with four touchdown passes. Maynard completed 24-of-43 passes for a game-high 352 yards and five TD tosses. Lemmons hauled finished with 127 yards receiving and two scores.
Midland Lee 54, Amarillo High 40
Amarillo High 14 5 14 7 — 40
Midland Lee 22 8 10 14 — 54
Randall’s Luke Hernandez (14) hits Palo Duro quarterback Noel Marquez during a throw at Dick Bivins Stadium on Friday night. [Ben Jenkins/ Press Pass Sports]
Randall rolls Palo Duro
Palo Duro simply couldn’t keep up with the Randall Raiders in a Class 5A nondistrict opener, as Randall ran away from the Dons 47-6 on Friday night under the lights of Dick Bivins Stadium.
While the Dons offense sputtered out of the gate it was the complete opposite for the Raiders.
Randall used a balanced attack to gain a 16-0 halftime lead.
The Raiders scored fast with a three-play drive to open their offensive season.
Quarterback Braxton Burd pass to Isayah Hernandez on a slant for 62-yards, setting up
Patrick Perez scored on a 2-yard run to make it 7-0.
Randall never trailed the rest of the way.
Burd, a junior, taking over as the new QB ran for a game-high 64 yards on 10 carries and threw for 95 yards.
Palo Duro’s offense struggled gaining a total of 135 yards to Randall’s 386.
The Dons (0-1) will stay at home to face Plainview (0-1). Randall (1-0) plays its home first home game against Caprock (0-1). Both games are at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Randall 47, Palo Duro 6
Randall 13 3 7 24 — 47
Palo Duro 6 — 6
Longhorns strong effort falls short to Pirates
It wasn’t the prettiest of offensive games, but the Lubbock Cooper defense outdid Caprock’s for an 18-0 shutout at Pirates Stadium Friday night.
Cooper senior Ryan Fife had a defensive lineman’s dream scoring four points on two safeties, which was four more points than the Longhorns offense. Both of Fife’s sacks for safeties of Caprock quarterback Jaziah Balderrama came in the second half.
The Longhorns never found a rhythm offensively against a stingy Pirates defense. Cooper held the Longhorns to 113 yards, and forced four turnovers. The Pirates, who were sluggish offensively against an aggressive Caprock defense,
didn’t light up a stat sheet by any means with 171 offensive yards, but did find the end zone twice in the first half.
The first came on a first quarter 12-yard pass from Cooper LaFebre to Trevor Browning. The Pirates punched their other touchdown in on a Cutter Douglas 2-yard run.
Caprock (0-1) hopes to rebound against Randall at 7 p.m. Thursday at Happy State Bank Stadium.
Lubbock Cooper 18, Caprock 0
Caprock —
Cooper 7 7 2 2 — 18