AREA ROUNDUP: Buffs keep rolling in 8-man

MELROSE – Melrose thought it came out perhaps a little lethargic on Friday night.

You'd have had a hard time selling that to the Lordsburg Mavericks.

Senior Brayden Eldridge and junior Jaxon Odom had three touchdowns apiece, and the Buffaloes cruised to a 52-0 win over the Mavericks in 8-man District 3 action. The game ended with just over seven minutes left on the 50-point lead rule.

Melrose (9-0, 5-0 district), ranked No. 1 in 8-man and the defending state champion, played subs liberally as the game went on and still piled up 374 total yards, including 274 on the ground.

Meantime, the defense limited Lordsburg (4-4, 1-4) to 142 total yards and forced three turnovers.

"We just kind of started flat," Buffs coach Drew Hatley said. "But we got to play a lot of kids."

Eldridge ran the ball only three times, but the plays resulted in touchdowns of 32, 47 and 16 yards. His 95 yards on the ground matched Odom, who had four totes.

Odom scored on runs of 37 and 50 yards and added a 95-yard interception return late in the half.

Melrose led the Mavericks 46-0 at halftime, and finally ended it on a 14-yard pass from senior Josiah Roybal to twin brother Josh in the final stanza.

"We didn't come out as well as we wanted to, but once we got rolling it really helped," senior center/defensive end Cy Draper said. "Our second team played really well."

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Draper, who has dropped nearly 30 pounds since last season, acknowledged that it can be tough to stay motivated when most of the games end early. The Buffs have had seven mercy rules in a row and have outscored their opponents 472-86 for the campaign.

"It makes it difficult, but we know if we don't come out (ready) there are teams that can stay with us," he said.

Barring an upset in Friday's regular-season finale at Tatum, Melrose is all but assured a No. 1 seed and a bye in the upcoming 12-team playoffs.

"We've got to play good all the time," Hatley said, also acknowledging that it's tough at times to keep an edge. "It's a standard that (longtime Buffs) coach (Dickie) Roybal set. We wanted to try to create a hungriness of how to go about playing."

In other Friday area action:

Elida 40, Dora 21 – At Dora, junior Cason Norman ran for five touchdowns and Elida (6-3, 4-2) pulled away in the final four minutes.

After an early goalline stand by the Tigers, Norman took off on a 68-yard scoring run. Another goalline stand ensued, and this time Norman scored from 75 yards out on the first play to stake the Tigers to a 14-0 lead at the quarter.

Senior Hardy Fraze made it 20-0 in the second stanza with a 19-yard TD run before the Coyotes (3-4, 2-4) got on the board when senior Roddy Neal returned the ensuing onside kick 40 yards for a score. Norman made it 27-7 with a 1-yard run, by senior Gunnar Tipton pulled Dora back to a two-score deficit with a 1-yard run late in the half.

Tipton then went over from a yard out to close it to 27-21 in the third period. Norman tallied on runs of 3 and 5 yards late to close out the win.

Grady 52, Floyd 0 – At Floyd, the visiting Bronchos (8-1, 3-1 6-man District 1) ended the game with about six minutes left on a 72-yard interception return by Trell Davis – his third score of the day.

He also had a 7-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and caught a 41-yard scoring pass from sophomore Caden Croy in the third stanza. Grady opened a 40-0 halftime lead over Floyd (1-6, 0-6).

Sophomore Zander Ciancio threw TD passes of 4 yards to sophomore Gavin West, 1 yard to senior Deakin Ragland and 26 yards to sophomore Hays Rush in the first quarter. The first tally came after an interception return to the Floyd 4 by senior Chevy Dickson, while Ragland's 56-yard interception return set up his TD catch on the next play.

Croy also had a 10-yard touchdown toss to Ciancio, who kicked 2-point conversions for the Bronchos on all five of their first-half tallies.

Farwell 28, Vega 14 – In District 1-2A Division II at Vega, the visiting Steers fell behind 6-0 early before scoring 28 unanswered points against the Longhorns (1-5, 0-1).

Sophomore Kyler McClaran scored on runs of 2 and 8 yards for Farwell, while senior quarterback Jonathan Armstrong added a 10-yard run and senior Ryder McElroy tallied from 15 yards out. The Steers also added a 2-point conversion and a second-quarter safety.

Armstrong completed 10-of-21 passes for 85 yards and led the team in rushing with 18 carries for 111 yards. McElroy added 91 yards on 10 carries and McClaran tallied 56 yards on nine totes.

Farwell finished with 346 total yards while the Steers' defense forced three turnovers and limited Vega to 152 net yards.

On Thursday night:

Gruver 44, Bovina 0 – At Bovina, the visiting Greyhounds (8-0, 2-0 District 2-2A Division II), ranked second in Texas Class 2A, scored three times in the final seven minutes of the first quarter and cruised past the Mustangs.

Senior Walter Maupin went over on a 1-yard run, then caught a 47-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Briggs Satterfield before Victor Flores capped the early onslaught with a 7-yard scoring run in the final minute.

Satterfield completed a 17-yard TD pass to junior Pake Babbs in the second period, and junior Dax Conyers had TD runs of 2 and 7 yards in the second half. Gruver also added a safety in the final frame, while junior kicker Emmanuel Valverde went 6-for-6 on PAT kicks.

The Greyhounds had a 25-4 margin in first downs and a 518-65 advantage in total yardage over the Mustangs (2-5, 0-2). Gruver forced Bovina