Steers, Mustangs set to renew rivalry

BOVINA — Farwell and Bovina were victorious in their season openers last week, so both sides are feeling pretty good heading into Friday’s 7 p.m. (CDT) rivalry clash.

“I think we match up fairly well with them,” Mustangs coach Coby Emery said. “We’re both young teams. They’ve got a new starting quarterback (junior Alec Actkinson), and it always takes a while to catch on to things.”

On the other hand, Actkinson is replacing older brother Leefe, who graduated in the spring. Alec Actkinson helped pilot the Steers past Ralls 42-21 on Friday.

Farwell coach Darren Kelley expects a competitive game simply because of the rivalry.

“It’ll be a good game, just because it’s Bovina and Farwell,” he said. “We just need to keep looking to get better each week.

“They’ve got some good athletes, and they always play hard against us. But if we do what we’re supposed to, I think we’ll be fine.”

Kelley said the offensive production wasn’t necessarily expected. The Steers racked up 393 total yards against the Jackrabbits, with sophomore Corey Stancell rushing for 225 yards and four TDs and senior Carlos Castillo adding 90 yards and a pair of scores.

“They were a good football team,” Kelley said of Ralls. “I was real proud of our guys coming out and being able to score 42 points.”

Meantime, Bovina took it to Boys Ranch 29-14 at home last week with senior running back Darian Delarosa piling up 193 yards on just 13 carries.

“The Stancell kid is a really good running back,” Emery said, “but they had to replace a lot of their skill kids.”

Also on the Texas side on Friday, Muleshoe tries to improve to 2-0 when the Mules visit Lamesa (1-0). Muleshoe defeated Sundown 33-14 in its opener at home.

In New Mexico clashes, Melrose is playing a 1 p.m. neutral-field opener against Dulce (0-1) at Estancia, while in 7 p.m. kickoffs it’ll be Texico (1-1) at New Mexico Military (2-0) and Gateway Christian (2-0) at Elida (1-1).