Mineral Wells Area News

By DAVID MAY

Special to Mineral Wells Area News

Gordon and Jonesboro are Class 1A-D1 sixman teams that in recent years have made the playoffs, only to see their title dreams come to an end in the second or third rounds. That changed for both teams this past weekend.

The top-ranked Longhorns (13-0) have made the playoffs in each of head coach Mike Reed’s first six seasons, winning three district titles and playing three rounds deep four times, including this season.

Jonesboro (12-1) is also a perennial playoff team. Last year, the Eagles were knocked out in the quarterfinals round, 44-43, by Irion County. The two previous years, their District 14 rival the May Tigers eliminated them in the second round. In 2019, Jonesboro made it to the semifinals, only to fall to Blum.

This year, both teams have broken the barrier to win their respective regions to ­play each other in a semifinal game at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 2, at Weatherford’s Kangaroo Stadium. Gordon is the home team. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children.

The winner will punch their ticket to AT&T Stadium to play for a state championship on Dec. 13, facing the winner of Friday’s other semifinal in Lubbock between the Happy Cowboys and the defending Division I champs Westbrook Wildcats.

Reed said the team wouldn’t celebrate Friday’s 64-16 win over Abbott too long before preparing to face a playoff-experienced Jonesboro team.

“We have another huge step to take,” said Reed. “We still have a young football team. Can they take the next step? We have some really good seniors who demonstrate how to come to work every single day and work, work, work and the young kids feed off of that.”

It will be Gordon’s second playoff game this season at Kangaroo Stadium. The Horns defeated Saint Jo, 64-14, in the first round there on Nov. 9 on a cold and drizzly night.

In their win Friday over last year’s state runner-up Abbott, the Horns flashed their usual quick-strike, high-octane offense. Abbott had few answers for the fleet-footed Reeds – Riley and Stryker – mixed in with an effective passing game that produced 359 total yards, including 190 on the ground.

Defensively the Horns were prepared and disciplined against the Panthers’ attack, holding Abbott to just 133 yards of total offense while creating a safety and forcing two turnovers. The Panthers had their lowest scoring output in a game since being blanked by Blum in November 2019.

That type of defensive domination in sixman football this deep into the playoffs is rare air kind of stuff. Reed said it could have easily been the Longhorns on the other side.

“That sometimes is just the ebb and flow of how a sixman game goes. Sometimes a team can capture lightning on that night and get things going,” he said.

It will take a similar effort against Jonesboro, which is powered on offense by multi-purpose senior backs DeMarcus Acoff and Jacob Cisneros. Last Saturday against May, Acoff ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries to go with 102 receiving yards and two more scores. One of those went for 75 yards.

Cisneros also ran for 102 yards. Junior receiver EJ Thorman scored two touchdowns on three catches to help propel the Eagles past the Tigers, 86-39.

Acoff has 34 total touchdowns for Jonesboro on the season. The Eagles average 202 yards rushing and 119 receiving yards per game. They average 54.8 points per game on the season.