PALO PINTO COUNTY — District play opened up this past week for area football teams, where they will take it week by week and opponent by opponent in hopes of securing a playoff spot.

There were big wins to kick things off by Mineral Wells and Gordon, with Santo, Perrin-Whitt, and Millsap all on the losing end of things.

Gordon Longhorns

The Longhorns had plenty to celebrate in their win over Lingleville. Not only a victory, but a victory that came early in the game with Gordon outscoring Lingleville 47-0 by the end of the opening quarter, ending the game early in the second with another Longhorn touchdown. Not only did they win with a big exclamation point, but it was also homecoming for the Longhorns. As the game concluded they crowned their homecoming court where football player Juan Cabrera Davila was crowned homecoming king.

Leading the ‘Horns in the shutout victory was Ry Reed with four carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and Stryker Reed with two carries and 73 yards for a pair of touchdowns, as well as a 60-yard return. Brayden Walters and Evan Jackson each had a reception and a touchdown each as well. Cabrera and Asher Salinas both put points on the board with extra point kicks, three for Cabrera and two for Salinas.

Gordon only ran 11 plays to win the game, with a total of 256 yards and no turnovers.

Mineral Wells Rams

The Rams hosted Bridgeport for game one of district play. The Bulls struck first, finding the endzone early in the first quarter, but the Rams weren’t shaken up. They answered soon after and kept the momentum throughout the game with four unanswered touchdowns before Bridgeport finally found the endzone again in the last seconds of the game. But the Rams had already secured the victory despite the late touchdown by the Bulls.

Scoring for the Rams was Kayden Montalvo with three rushing touchdowns for a total of 77 yards leading all rushers. Cassious Johnson and PR Mendez each earned double digit rushing yards as well, making huge plays for the Rams throughout the game.

Receiving leaders for the Rams were Preztynn Harrison with 93 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, and Kaiden Kaspar with three catches for 37 yards. Tight End Holden Hering scored on a 10-yard catch from QB Owen Gadd in the second quarter.

Gadd also had a great game, completing 6-of-8 passes for 140 yards and leading his team well. He took a hit in the second half that looked like it might sideline him for a bit, but Gadd is resilient and with no sign of injury, returned the game after a brief pause in play finishing the game strong.

On the defensive side, the Rams were very strong. Three Rams recorded sacks, Trent Yowell and Garrison Facteau with one each, and Trayvon Berkins with two. Yowell also recovered a fumble by the Bulls and recorded seven total tackles and a tackle for loss. Facteau led with eight total tackles for the Rams with ten other Rams all recording tackles, proving the depth of the Rams defense.

Millsap Bulldogs

The Dawgs put up a fight against a tough Holliday team on district opening night. Despite big numbers being put up by several Bulldogs, Millsap just couldn’t match Holliday on offense, falling to the Eagles 48-20.

Senior QB C.R. Tippie had a huge game, finishing the game with 250 passing yards, finding his number one target Nixon Delaun for three touchdown passes. Tippie also ran for 45 yards and found the endzone on a 2-pt conversion. Tippie also connected with five other receivers on the night, proving the Bulldogs have the depth. Just behind DeLaun was Brandon Savage with 52 receiving yards, Reid Green with 21 yards, Conner Penry with 28, Dillon Clay for 14 yards, and rounding out the Millsap receiving attack was Luke Camarillo for 11 yards.

The Bulldogs rushed for 155 yards as well, the aforementioned Tippie’s 45 yards, and Green showed his versatility with 110 rushing yards to add to his receiving yards.

Perrin Whitt Pirates

Perrin was eager to take the field again and shake off their heartbreaking homecoming loss, hosting Newcastle in Perrin.

The first half was a showdown, with each team answering everything the other threw at them and keeping the score close. The Bobcats struck first, but Perrin answered quick, and staying close for the most part. Newcastle did pull away a couple of times, but the Pirates fought back each time. But by halftime the Bobcats had pulled away 43-36 and the second half just wasn’t going Perrin’s way.

Perrin began the half with a fumble recovered by Newcastle, who took advantage of the turnover and scored on the following drive. The rest of the game was all Newcastle as they continued to find their way to the endzone, finishing the game 77-36.

Santo Wildcats

The Wildcats hosted Era after a week off due to a bye week and looked to shake off a loss as well. But unfortunately, the Era Hornets got the best of the Wildcats and brought a second consecutive loss to Santo. Santo still shows promise for a good season despite the early district loss where they moved to 3-3.

Community Christian School Warriors

The Warriors faced off with the Valor Perp Academy Knights from Waco in a Friday night battle of the private schools.
The first half was an offensive showdown with each team scoring in double digits each of the first two quarters. Warriors were outscored in the first quarter 32-20 but came back to outscore the Knights in the second quarter 32-20, which still gave the Knights a slight advantage of 62-52 going into halftime. Unfortunately, the Knights continued to edge out the Warriors and held the Warriors to only 14 total second half points, leaving the Warriors defeated 112-66.

The Warriors were led by a quarterback duo of Parker Dehls and Jace Little. Dehls was 10-of-17 passing and 169 yards through the air, throwing two touchdown passes. Little completed 6 out of 8 passes for 48 more yards for the Warriors offense and adding another passing touchdown.

Finding the endzone for the Warriors were Little, Hayden Yelverton, and River Bryan. Little rushed for 71 yards and caught for another 109 to add to his passing yards for a total of 228. Yelverton found the endzone five times for the Warriors from 23 carries and 255 rushing yards, adding another 25 yards from two catches and 65 kick return yards for a total of 345 yards. Bryan finished with 42 total yards from four catches.

Yelverton also led the defense with 11 solo tackles followed by Little with eight. Five other Warriors got in on the defensive action for a team total of 44 tackles.