Prep football: Foxes, Texico advance

FORT SUMNER — There would be no specatular comeback this tiime for the Cloudcroft Bears.

Fort Sumner made sure this time, rolling to a 26-point lead in the first minute of the second quarter and posting a 51-13 win on Friday in the Class 1A state football playoff semifinals.

The Foxes (10-2) will play rival Texico (7-4) in the title game next weekend, the third time the teams have meet in the finals in the last five years and the fifth time since 1997.

Texico advanced with a narrow 19-16 win on Friday at Capitan.

On Sept. 23, Fort Sumner held an 18-0 lead early in the fourth quarter before Cloudcroft (10-2) rallied with three touchdowns to eke out a 21-18 win.

This time, running back Jeremy Gauna rushed for 120 yards and four touchdowns as Fort Sumner piled up a 471-186 advantage in total offense, including 414 yards on the ground.

The Foxes converted two interceptions and a fumble recovery into three first-quarter scores and a 20-0 lead. Then senior Ryan Fikany, who rushed for 155 yards and caught two passes for 57, made it 27-0 with 11:03 left in the half on an 11-yard TD run.

The Bears countered with a 2-yard pass from Josh Ham to Kyle Goss with 3:42 to go in the half, but Fort Sumner countered with a long scoring drive ending in Gauna’s 10-yard TD run in the final minute of the half.

Richard Canales added 91 yards rushing and a touchdown for Fort Sumner, while quarterback Derek Dimitroff scored on a pair of short runs in the first period.

Both teams turned the ball over five times in the first meeting, with the Bears converting Fort Sumner giveaways into points in their comeback.

This time the Foxes didn’t turn the ball over at all while picking off Cloudcroft passers five times.

Fort Sumner defeated Texico in both 2001 and 2002 for the title, while the Wolverines will be making their fifth consecutive appearance in the finals. Texico went 12-0 in winning each of the last two titles.

Mules eliminated — At Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo, Perryton scored four times in the fourth quarter to pull away to a 41-22 win over Muleshoe in the first round of the Texas Class 3A Division II playoffs.

Charlie Mann scored on a 4-yard run with 10:51 left for the Rangers (7-4), breaking a 14-14 tie, and then caught a 30-yard TD pass from Jay Blasingame midway through the period.

Muleshoe (8-3) was without senior running back-safety Brady Black, who suffered a broken leg in last week’s regular-season finale at Littlefield. The Mules outgained Perryton 287-270, but were limited to 28 yards rushing on 24 attempts.

Sophomore quarterback Garrett Riley threw three touchdown passes for the Mules, completing 14 of 35 passes for 345 yards. Rudy Gonzales caught four passes for 126 yards and Juan Reyes grabbed four for 69.