Boys Ranch Nabs First Six-Man Win
It was a tough introduction to Six-Man football for the Roughriders last year. Despite dropping classifications, the blue and gold struggled in year one and failed to register a victory. Year two, though, is starting out much better as Isaac Acosta propelled a potent passing attack to lead Boys Ranch to a convincing 70-24 win on the road Friday in Silverton.
Nursing a two-point lead midway through the second quarter, Gavin Elbersh found paydirt around the right side and rumbled 62-yards for the score to extend the lead to 28-20. With momentum on their side, Ethan Paulo was able to recover a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Isaac Acosta made the Owls pay on the next play as he connected with Cord’e Jackson on a 32-yd touchdown pass and a commanding 36-18 lead.
To end the half, Acosta connected with Paulo on another 32-yard score as the Roughriders went to half up 42-24 and never looked back. After falling behind 18-14 in the second stanza they outscored Silverton 50-6 the remainder of the game to seal their first victory at the six-man level.
Acosta, the junior gunslinger, was on fire the entire night finishing with 331 yards passing on eleven completions and an astonishing eight touchdowns. Both Cord’e Jackson and Jacobe Gonzales had over a hundred yards receiving as Jackson brought in five balls for 135 yards and three scores while Gonzales made the most out of two catches tallying 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Miami with a statement win
Using a pounding ground game at home the Warriors picked up an impressive early season win over Booker notching a 56-22 victory on Friday night as Noah Homfeld notched four scores in the victory.
Miami raced out to a 32-14 halftime lead and never looked back as their offensive line, led by All-State center Kris Gorecki, helped six backs register 358 yards rushing on 41 attempts averaging a healthy 8.7 yards per carry. Freshman Chance White led the attack with 192 yards on 17 carries and finding paydirt on a long run while Noah Homfeld registered three touchdowns and 60 yards behind that line.
Jack Kotara, the Warriors diminutive quarterback was efficient through the air connecting on 5-of-7 passes for 107 yards and two scores while adding 41 yards on the ground while helping the defense hold the high-flying Kiowa attack to only three scores on the night.
San Jacinto stuns the defending state champs
It’s been seven years since the Patriots notched a winning record going 7-5 in 2018 and winning a total of 11 games in that span so their victory over Wichita Christian Friday night was a stunner on many levels.
The Stars, the defending state champions in TAPPS Divison III, came into the season ranked as the number one team in the state hosting a San Jacinto team that was picked middle of the pack and 45-point underdogs. One small problem is someone forgot to tell first year head coach Derek Gulrud that his team didn’t have a fighting chance in this one.
Using an offense that put up 349 yards on the ground and was efficient through the air registering 131 yards, San Jacinto stunned the state with a convincing 54-14 victory Friday night over Wichita Christian.
Jaxon McKnight was the story for the San Jacinto offense averaging an eye-popping 15.4 yards per carry as he racked up 200 yards on only thirteen carries while finding paydirt three times. Jacob Lyons was also effective with 76 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns.
Broxon Potter was effective through the air going 8-of-11 for 131 yards and two scores as Lyons was his favorite receiver hauling in a pass for a touchdown and accounting for 54 yards in receptions.
Defensively, the Patriots got after the stars registering five sacks, two by Lyons and two by Logan Switzer while Jonathan Cruz was all over the field racking up 13 solo tackles and assisting on three others.
Jayton Gridiron Classic
At the 22nd Annual Jayton Gridiron Classic area teams found the weather to be pleasant as a rare cool spell kept hundred-degree temperatures at bay, but wins were not plentiful as our local schools could not register a victory in four tries.
The closest to victory was Follett as they lost in heart-breaking fashion on the final play of the game to Saint Jo, 60-54 Saturday morning. In a battle of the Panthers, it was the maroon and white cats that had the ball on the final play of the game which would prove to be decisive.
With the game tied at 54 and four ticks of the clock remaining, Follett’s defense just needed to stop Saint Jo at the 16 to force overtime. Unfortunately, Lee Yeley made one last play to spell doom for this area’s Panthers. Saint Jo quarterback Landon Shannon dropped back and found Yeley streaking to the back right corner of the end zone and hit him in stride as the buzzer sounded and finishing off the best chance an area team had for victory.
Yeley put up 329 yards on the ground and four scores, 109 yards through the air and had 2 receiving touchdowns to prove too much for the Panthers from Lipscomb county.
Wyatt Terrell and Logan Meeks were outstanding in the loss as Terrell had 113 yards on the ground and 182 through the air for a combined three scores and took a kickoff back for another touchdown while Meeks combined for 263 yards on the ground and receiving while finding the end zone four times.
In the other three games, Nazareth fell Thursday night to Westbrook, 65-20, despite 158 yards passing from Lincoln Pohlmeier. The junior quarterback found Blaise Snead three separate times for touchdowns and 91 yards.
On Friday, Valley opened up against number three Strawn and fought tooth and nail with the Greyhounds but Michael Barcenas was a menace on the ground registering 196 yards and finding paydirt in their 67-19 win over the Patriots. Despite the loss, Damian Valdes got in the end zone once while toting the rock 16 times for 73 yards.
In game two Friday, McLean saw first-hand why Klondike is ranked number two in Division II as the Cougars ran past the Tigers 52-6 at halftime via the mercy rule.
Week 1 Quick Hits
White Deer got off to a quick start as Foster Black rushed for 215 yards and four touchdowns Friday night as the Bucks took down Groom, 78-33. Kaleb House took two kickoff “to the house” against the Tigers while Logan Matlock passed for 125 yards and three scores.
Hart picked up their first win since 2023 with a 46-0 white washing of the West Texas Tornadoes. Bubba Worshum scampered for 224 yards on the ground and four scores in the victory for the Longhorns.
Lefors found the win column in week one picking up a 35-18 win over Wildorado Friday night while Whitharral needed two days to dispatch of Springlake-Earth, 71-22, as the game was halted midway through before they finished up Saturday afternoon. Kress was also victorious as they took down Loop 40-18 at home Friday night.
The No. 6-ranked Motley County Matadors went on the road and registered a tough 58-28 win over Claude and Rankin held Happy to 11 total yards of offense for a 50-0 over the Cowboys.
O’Donnell took down Petersburg Friday night, 51-6, while their district mates from Lorenzo fell just short of Roby, 59-50, in a hard-fought contest in Lions country.
It wasn’t a great Friday night for Bulldogs as Lubbock Kingdom Prep was too strong for Amherst, 58-12, and Lubbock Christ the King knocked off Anton 48-18.
Around the State
In the nightcap of the Jayton Gridiron Classic, May and Whiteface played like it was a third-round game of the playoffs with the Tigers notching a 64-46 win over the Antelopes.
Lane Goodson scored three times for May while Jackson Lusk found the end zone twice on receptions while proving to be a menace from his defensive end position. In the loss, Jaxon Hodge hammered out 231 yards on the ground on 23 carries scoring three touchdowns.
The other games at the Classic saw Jayton leading Ira at the end of one before lightning delayed the game for over an hour and Ira decided to forfeit the game to the Jaybirds Thursday night.
On Saturday, Cherokee back Cayden Houston rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns in their 62-30 win over Knox City. Garden City rallied to beat Bryson, 32-24, as Brody Walts found paydirt twice for the Bearkats and Borden County had no problem with Crowell using three Tye Stipe touchdowns to take down the Wildcats, 50-0.
Lueders-Avoca found the win column for the first time in 18 contests as the Raiders got head coach Donny Waters his first head coaching victory with a 54-0 shutout of Moran.
Gordon, the No. 1 team in Division I, knocked off the fifth-ranked team in Division II, Richland Springs, 52-6 while number two Water Valley had no problem taking down Grandfalls-Royalty, 54-0.
Union Hill was impressive in their opening game win over number four Oakwood out of Division II as EJ Mowery rushed for 258 yards and four touchdowns as the number nine Bulldogs dispatched of the Panthers, 82-36.