Week 9 Area HSFB Review/Preview: With season getting short, area teams are positioning for post-season
By DAVID MAY
Special to Mineral Wells Area News
Photos By Amy Bearden
Just a few weeks remain in the 2023 high school regular football season. Several area teams (not named Gordon) are needing wins and some help if they hope to make the playoffs. Undefeated Gordon has punched its post-season ticket.
Here is a look at last week’s games and a look ahead to Friday’s matchups.
Rams unable to rally against PoJo
MINERAL WELLS – The Mineral Wells Rams spotted the Springtown Porcupines 21 points on Friday, then played the visitors evenly. They could never make up the early ground lost, losing 48-28. It was the team’s fourth-straight defeat.
The Rams defense had three interceptions. Quarterback Owen Gadd threw four touchdown passes to account for all of the Rams’ scores as part of a 10-of-17 for 177 yards performance, and running back Jovan Ramirez added 152 yards on 21 carries. But it would not be enough.
The Rams dropped to 3-5 on the season and, more importantly, 0-2 in the District 4-4A-1 standings. Mineral Wells will take this week off and prepare for their final two games, at Decatur and then Burkburnett at home in the regular-season finale.
Mineral Wells needs to win one of those final two to achieve its rebuilding goal of making the post-season. Decatur currently stands atop the district standings at 4-4, 2-0. Burk is 2-5, 0-1 in district.
After a scoreless first quarter, Mineral Wells and Springtown scored a combined 42 points in the second. SHS had touchdown runs of 1 and 4 yards sandwiched around a 14-yard scoring pass to go up 21-0.
The Rams got on the board with an 11-yard pass from quarterback Owen Gadd to receiver Preztynn Harrison. But the Rams hurt their rally chances with a fumble returned for a score to hand SHS a 28-7 advantage.
Jovan Ramirez scored on a 21-yard pass from Gadd to send the teams to halftime with the Porcupines up 28-14.
SHS scored in the third quarter before the Rams hit pay dirt again in the fourth, this time a 5-yard TD toss from Gadd to Trayvon Berkins to pull the Rams to within 34-21. The Porcupines scored again to take a 41-21 lead before Gadd threw his fourth touchdown of the night, this one for 11 yards to Braden Ethridge to again make it a 13-point game.
But the visitors added another score for the final margin of victory.
Mineral Wells out-gained Springtown 391-353. The teams were fairly even in a number of statistical categories, except for the main stat – the scoreboard.
Gordon stays perfect with Bryson win
GORDON – The Gordon Longhorns found themselves in some unfamiliar territory Friday night – the third quarter.
The Class 1A-Division I top-ranked Horns soon dispatched the Cowboys with a post-halftime touchdown and another six man football mercy-rule win, 56-8. It was the 17th consecutive regular-season mercy-rule decision for Gordon, which improved to 7-0 overall, 2-0 in District 9-1A-1.
It was just the second time this season Gordon has taken a third-quarter snap.
The Horns put up 40 first-quarter points while holding Bryson scoreless to make clear the direction this contest was heading. Both teams posted a touchdown and two-point conversions in the second.
The Cowboys had 135 total yards on 33 plays against the Horns, including 92 on the ground. Gordon totaled 143 total yards on 21 plays.
Stryker Reed took the opening kickoff 45 yards to the house to put Gordon up 8-0. Juan Cabrera followed with a fumble return into the end zone and a 16-0 Gordon lead. Reed added a 17-yard TD run, followed by quarterback Noah Kostiha’s 16-yard scoring pass to Asher Salinas. Riley Reed rounded out the first-quarter scoring with a 42-yard romp to six points.
Stryker Reed scored in the second quarter and Juan Cabrera ended the game with a third-quarter touchdown.
Gordon will make the short trip to Lingleville (2-5, 0-2) Friday for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Cardinals lost 52-4 to Baird on Friday.
CCS gets bounce-back win
WEATHERFORD – Community Christian School needed to remove the bad taste left from a blowout loss the previous week. They brushed and flossed their way to a 57-6 non-district win Friday over Grace Christian Academy.
CCS’s homecoming game was played on Weatherford Christian’s field. The game ended at halftime because of the six man football 45-point rule.
Now 5-2 on the season, and 1-1 in their Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship district, the Warriors return to district action Friday. According to head coach Gary Rushing his team will have its hands full going against Waco Methodist Children’s Home. The Bulldogs are 6-1 on the season and 2-0 in district.
“Waco Methodist is loaded,” Rushing said. “They have played a lot of public schools throughout the year and have done really good against them. We have our hands full. They are really fast and well-coached, so we will find out (this) Friday what we have.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. At Weatherford Christian School.
Santo falls to Lindsay
LINDSEY – The Santo Wildcats have their work cut out for them if they are to make the playoffs.
With three games to play, Santo is sitting in fifth place in the District 8-2A-2 standings after losing Friday to the Lindsay Knights, 27-7. The loss dropped Santo’s record to 2-5 overall, 1-2 in the seven-team district.
The Wildcats on Friday welcome Collinsville to Wildcats Stadium in a scheduled 7 p.m. start. Collinsville is tied with Muenster for the district lead with a 3-0 record, 6-1 on the season and riding a three-game win streak.
After Collinsville, Santo will travel to Celeste (5-2, 2-1), which is currently in third place, before ending the regular season at home against Era, sitting at 1-3 in district and just behind Santo in the standings, 1-6 overall.
It has been a tough season for the Wildcats after losing starting quarterback and cornerback Hut Thornton in the third week. Still the Wildcats are tough at home so having two of the last three games on its turf will be a benefit for its playoff push.
Bulldogs sit atop district standings
MILLSAP – The Millsap Bulldogs won their third straight game, 49-14, over Dublin. The win improved Millsap’s record to 4-2 on the season, and put them into a tie for first place in District 5-3A-2 with a 2-0 record.
Tied with Millsap are the Jacksboro Tigers, who are undefeated this season at 7-0 overall and ranked No. 6 in the state among Class 3A-Division 2 teams.
Millsap and Jacksboro will face off in two weeks. This week has Millsap traveling to Eastland for a slated 7 p.m. kickoff. The Mavericks are 2-5, 1-1 in district after defeating Merkel on Friday, 23-20.
This road game for the Bulldogs is one they need to pick up before hosting Jacksboro on Oct. 27 then ending the regular season at Merkel (5-2, 1-1). The Bulldogs appear a lock to make post-season, so they are looking to improve their playoff seeding, while of course hoping to sweep their final games and win district.
Pirates earn first win
PERRIN – The Perrin Pirates finally notched their first win of the season, defeating Gorman 70-44. The Pirates are now 1-6 on the season.
The win put the Pirates in the middle the District 9-1A-1 standings with a 1-1 record.
Perrin has winnable games remaining against Bryson and Lingleville before ending the season with Class 1A-1 top-ranked Gordon. But the Pirates fortunes are in their hands if they can pull off wins in the next two weeks.
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment