By TERRY ALAN
Copyright 2006 KylGrafX

Who would have thought Abilene High - last year's district champions - would start 2006 winless; or  how about a team that managed only one district win in 2005 currently sitting atop 3-5A as the only undefeated team from Odessa Permian.  Week One even had Midland High, one of the pre-season favorites, getting thumped by an El Paso team.  This past weekend reaffirmed games are won on the field and not on polls or rankings.

Odessa Permian 42, Amarillo Tascosa 17
A Permian fumble and short punt allowed Amarillo Tascosa to put the first points on the scoreboard by way of a 22-yd field goal.  The second quarter witnessed an air assault by Taylor Byrd of 80 yards (to Bront Bird) and 72 yards (to Lavorick Williams).  Bird returned a fumble 14 yards for a touchdown, and then Melvis Pride rambled 13 yards into the end zone.  The Panthers owned a 28-3 lead at the intermission.  Midway through the third quarter, Jarvas Morris raised the tally to 35-3 on a 7-yd TD run.  Tascosa took advantage of the defensive substitutions in the fourth quarter and added 14 points of their own to cut the margin to 35-17.  The Mojo offense burned six minutes off of the clock and Morris capped off the scoring drive on a 4-yd run to paydirt.  Byrd finished the game completing 13 of 22 passes for 276 yards.

Midland Lee 20, Wichita Falls Rider 13
The Rebels came out in the second half holding a 7-6 lead, after a Davilan Roberts 71 yard touchdown run.  The Rebels took advantage of a Wichita Falls Rider turnover in the third quarter.  Riley Harvey intercepted a pass, which allowed Lee to start a drive at the Rider 43.  Lee quarterback Cory Petro found daylight down the left side for a 14-6 advantage.  Roberts added to the lead on a 56-yard touchdown run. The Raiders trimmed the margin to 20-13 late in the fourth quarter.

Lubbock Monterey 42, Abilene High 13
Monterey scored on six of its seven possessions and racked up 393 yards of total offense.  It appeared the Eagles would take an early lead, but a 92-yard drive to the Monterey two-yard line stalled after three straight runs by AHS running back Brandon Williams.  The Plainsmen then marched 98 yards in 11 plays for their first touchdown.  Abilene High tied the score at 7-7 on their next possession. Quarterback Spens Lackey scored the first of his two touchdowns on a one-yard run to end the 77-yard drive in the second period.  Monterey took a 14-7 lead on a 5-yd TD run to close the first half.  The second half was all Plainsmen, as the offense produced scoring drives of 67, 79, 62 and 43 yards.  Abilene's Camron Walding kicked a 21-yard field goal on the final play of the game.  Brandon Williams led the Eagles with 122 yards, and Lackey passed for 124 yards.

El Paso Coronado 39, Midland High 20
No one expected El Paso Coronado to knock off the Bulldogs, least of all Midland High in the 39-23 road loss.  It was the T-Birds drawing first blood on a 3-yd touchdown run, but Brandon Batch's 23-yd TD run closed the gap to 7-6.  Batch would return to the end zone two more times in the second quarter on runs of nine and seven yards.  The problem was Coronado added three more scores to take a 27-21 halftime lead.  The T-Birds extended their lead with two more touchdowns in the third quarter.

Wolfforth Frenship 38, Odessa High 15
GAME PHOTOS | 1ST HALF VIDEO
It was a game of halves.  In the first quarter, David Camacho put the Bronchos on the board on a 10-yard touchdown run.  The Tigers answered back with a 35-yd TD pass to tie the score at 8-8.  Camacho hit Daniel Rivas on a 45-yard strike to reclaim the lead, but Frenship duplicated their first score on another 35-yard pass to send the teams to the locker rooms tied 15-15.  In the second half, the Tigers scored a safety, two touchdown passes from 33 and 30 yards, and hammered in the final nail on a 3-yd TD run in the fourth quarter.