Football roundup: Dora bounces back

Another weekend gone, another area high school slate over.

It was a good weekend for Farwell, Elida and Dora, not so good for Texico, Melrose and Floyd. Here’s how some of it shook out:

Saturday

Dora 50, Pine Hill 0

PINE HILL — It didn’t take the Coyotes long to rebound from their first loss of the season.

Dora went on a long, long road trip this weekend and treated host Pine Hill to a 50-point thumping on Saturday afternoon, just a week after falling short, 26-20, against Menaul.

Saturday’s outcome, which improved the Coyotes to 4-1, came as little surprise to their head coach Mason McBee.

“We had them a little overmatched for what Pine Hill has. They just don’t have the same athletes, I guess you could say, and we knew that going in,” McBee said by telephone Saturday night, as his long return trip had him just passing Santa Rosa.

And that roster differential McBee spoke of played out on the field, with a big all-around day from junior quarterback Trenton Paxton and a good rushing day from sophomore Alex Urioste. McBee, though, still thought it was far from his team’s best showing.

“Actually, I thought we were really kind of flat,” he said. “The score doesn’t really reflect how the game went. ... It seemed like we regressed in some ways, so it’ll be a big week in practice so we can clean up the things we need to clean.”

McBee is keenly aware that it now gets a lot tougher. The Coyotes begin their Eight-man, District 3 play this Friday, with a road game against powerful Gateway Christian.

“A good team’s going to score off a missed assignment,” McBee said. “We’re still not picking up blocking assignments and our defense dropped coverages every now and them, letting a guy get by ’em. We’re dealing with a young team. We may have juniors and seniors, but as far as experience they’re very young.

“We’re teaching them the same thing week in and week out and they’re not making the adjustments. I’m hoping we can make the turn at some point and not make the mistakes we’ve been making.”

Still, a victory is a victory. 4-1 is 4-1.

“All in all,” McBee said, “it was nice to get a win.”

The Coyotes will indeed take it and hope to have momentum rolling into the crucial Gateway Christian game.

“They’re probably, hands down, the best team in the state,” McBee said of Gateway. “They’re just going to be about everyting a team can handle, so we’ll have our hands full.”

Friday

Farwell 39, Texico 6

TEXICO — Anyone who’s ever been stuck waiting for the freight trains to pass near the stateline may have been fuming at their luck.

But, on either side of the border there are friends and neighbors who play a train-track rivalry that continued Friday night at Texico High School.

As it turned out, things went well for the Lone Star State representatives. For the Land of Enchantment reps, not so much.

Farwell built a 19-6 halftime lead, then did all the second-half scoring and rolled to the 23-point victory, improving to 3-1 in the process. Texico, meanwhile, dropped under .500 at 2-3.

It was a close game early, though. Scoreless, in fact, until well into the second quarter.

With 7:06 left in the second, Farwell finally scored when Patrick Pena broke a 95-yard touchdown run. Sterling Henderson’s extra point made it 7-0.

But just 20 seconds later, Skyler Davis’ pick-six off Leefe Actkinson put Texico on the board. The extra point was no good, but the Wolverines had snuck to within 7-6.

The game didn’t stay tight for long, however. Just over three minutes after Davis’ interception return, Pena rushed for a 29-yard touchdown to put Farwell up 13-6. The extra point was blocked, leaving the score the way it was.

But only until 10 seconds remained in the half, when Actkinson connected with Edgar Fierro on an eight-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion run was stopped by Texico, but the Steers had rolled to a 19-6 lead by the break.

That 13-point difference held until just 36 seconds remained in the third quarter, when Leo Ruiz rushed for a 17-yard touchdown followed by Henderson’s extra point.

Just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, Ricardo Ortega bolted for a 21-yard touchdown run, and with 5:40 left, Ruiz dashed nine yards for a score. Henderson made the extra point on the latter touchdown, giving the Steers the 39-6 advantage that turned out to be the final score.

Farwell outgained Texico by a whopping 459-72 count and led in first downs 21-7.

The Steers rang up 440 rushing yards, while holding the Wolves to minus-44 yards on the ground. Texico did fare a little better through the air, passing for 116 yards.

Texico will try to climb back to .500 this Friday with a 7 p.m. home game against Eunice.

Farwell also returns to action Friday, trying for its fourth victory with a road game at Dimmitt that kicks off at 7 p.m. CDT.

Mountainair 56, Melrose 16

MELROSE — It’s a new year for the Melrose football team, and perhaps, a new day for the program.

The Buffaloes, who reeled off four consecutive eight-man state championships from 2014 through last year, are in new territory this season. Friday night — homecoming night at Melrose High — the Buffs faced Mountainair, the team their program routed 76-24 in last year’s state title game. The rematch didn’t go so well Melrose, though, which lost by 40 and dropped its third straight after a 1-0 start.

It’s not too late for the Buffaloes, however. They’ll try to rebound this coming Friday when they visit Logan (7 p.m.), their last game before starting Eight-man, District 3 play.