Foxes rally, hand Buffs 34-24 loss

FORT SUMNER — Melrose’s fast start faded on Friday night and Fort Sumner rallied for a 34-24 victory in the deciding game of 8-man District 3 football.

Fort Sumner (8-0, 4-0 district) earned the No. 2 seed on Sunday in the eight-team, 8-man playoffs, and will host Clayton in a quarterfinal game on Friday night. Meantime, the Buffaloes (6-4, 3-1) claimed the No. 3 seed and welcome sixth-seeded Logan at 6 p.m. on Friday.

If both higher seeds win as expected, a rematch would take place in next week’s semifinals at Fort Sumner. Unbeaten Lordsburg received the top seed in the bracket, and the Mavericks (8-0) will play at home as they go in the playoffs.

Freshman Jaxon Odom caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Josiah Roybal to give the Buffs an early 8-0 lead. After the Foxes closed to 8-6, Roybal hit junior Dathan Yeary on an 11-yard TD toss and Odom ran 8 yards for a score.

All three Melrose 2-point conversions were successful, coming on a run by junior Michael Cardonita and two passes from Roybal to sophomore Cy Draper, and the Buffs held a 24-6 lead past the midway point of the second quarter.

The Foxes, though, closed to 24-20 at halftime with a couple of late scores, then added single touchdowns in each of the final two stanzas to claim the victory.

In other New Mexico area games on Friday night:

Texico 52, Loving 0 — In District 4-2A at Loving, junior quarterback Cade Figg ran for two early scores and also tossed touchdown passes of 20 yards to freshman Denny Turner and 6 yards to junior Kyle Gonser as the Wolverines (6-3, 2-1 district) had no trouble with the Falcons (6-3, 0-3).

Figg’s touchdown runs covered 16 and 15 yards. Gonser added a 10-yard scoring run, while sophomore Alex Fuentes tallied on runs of 3, 48 and 10 yards, the latter ending the game on the 50-point rule in the final stanza.

Texico hosts Eunice (6-2, 2-1) on Friday in a battle for second place in the district.

Gateway Christian 38, Dora 12 — At Dora, the Coyotes held top-ranked Gateway to easily its lowest point total of the season. In fact, the Roswell-based Warriors (8-0, 4-0 district) led just 12-6 at halftime.

Senior Lane Faver scored on a 35-yard run in the first quarter for Dora (6-3, 2-2), while sophomore Aaron Combs threw a 35-yard TD pass to sophomore Ashton Davis in the final stanza.

Dora earned the No. 4 seed in the eight-team, 6-man playoffs, and will host fifth-seeded Ramah in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal clash on Friday.

Mountainair 61, Grady 6 — The host Mustangs (9-0), seeded second in the 6-man playoffs, were too much to handle for the young Bronchos (3-6) in their season finale.

Grady’s lone score was on a connection of 8th-graders, coming on a 14-yard pass play from Noah Stanfield to Zander Ciancio.

On Saturday:

Elida 81, Animas 29 — The Tigers and Panthers ended the regular campaign with a wild one at Elida. They’ll do a repeat in the first round of the 6-man playoffs on Saturday, with Elida (6-3), seeded third, again hosting No. 6 Animas (5-4) in a 1 p.m. kickoff.

The teams went back and forth early, with junior Seth Jimenez scoring on a 2-yard run in the final minute of the opening session to give the Tigers the lead for good 23-21. Elida’s defense held Animas to just one score after that in steadily pulling away.

Senior Mason Pritchett did most of the damage in Saturday’s tilt, scoring on runs of 26 and 23 yards late in the second frame and 65, 33, 40 and 73 yards in the third canto. Senior Dalyn Taylor added rushing touchdowns of 40 and 9 yards in the first quarter and 30 yards in the second.

Elida’s other scores came on a 10-yard pass from sophomore James Dobbins to Jimenez early in the second quarter and a 6-yard run by freshman Cason Norman with 7:18 left to the game on the 50-point lead rule.

In area Texas games on Friday night:

Bovina 32, Hale Center 14 — In District 3-2A Division II, the host Mustangs (3-5, 2-1 district) broke away from a 6-6 halftime tie with a 20-point third quarter against the Owls (3-5, 1-2).

Senior Darian De La Rosa rushed for 276 yards on 31 carries. He got Bovina on the board with a 4-yard run in the second quarter, then put the match out of reach on an 81-yard run with 9:32 left in the game.

De La Rosa also scored on a 43-yard fumble return midway through the third quarter to stake the Mustangs to a 20-6 lead. Bovina’s other scores came on junior quarterback Daniel Herrera’s 2-yard run early in the third, and a 20-yard pass from Herrera to senior Ceasar Amaya later in the period.

For the game, Bovina outgained the Owls 401-220, including 296 yards on the ground. Herrera was 11-for-19 passing for 105 yards.

Bovina visits district-leading Sudan (7-1, 3-0) on Friday night.

Farwell 54, Amarillo Highland Park 12 — At Amarillo, senior quarterback Alec Actkinson rushed for 232 yards on just seven carries, including scoring runs of 34 and 63 yards, and the Steers easily overcame an early 6-0 deficit to blow out the Hornets in District 2-1A Division I.

Junior Corey Stancell also went over the 200-yard mark (201 on 16 carries), and scored on runs of 66, 4, 4 and 19 yards. The Steers (7-1, 2-1 district) piled up 599 total yards, including 552 on the ground compared with a net of minus-19 for Highland Park (2-6, 1-2).

Other scores for Farwell came on runs of 8 yards by sophomore Alonzo Lozano and 39 yards by sophomore Ryder McElroy. Defensively, the Steers intercepted four passes.

Farwell hosts West Texas in district action on Friday night.

Muleshoe 14, Amarillo River Road 6 — At Muleshoe, the Mules (6-2, 1-1 District 2-3A Division I) got on the board in district play after slugging one out against the Wildcats

Junior Sebastian Kirven completed 10-of-12 passes for 186 yards, including scoring tosses to senior wide receivers Irvin Torres and Eliasar Cisneros. Sophomore Daniel Sianez added 70 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Cisneros and Torres each caught five passes in the game, and Torres added a pair of PAT kicks. Defensively, senior Davian McMullen was credited with 18 tackles, including seven solo stops.

Muleshoe plays on Friday night at district-leading Shallowater (7-1, 2-0), which stunned previously unbeaten Bushland 43-28 last Friday.