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Regional football: Dora, Texico claim wins

Playoff starts, redemption and revenge were the themes across eastern New Mexico and west Texas Friday night, with three local teams claiming victories — one of them a playoff rout.

Dora 64, Pine Hill 0

The No.5-seed Dora Coyotes (6-3) entered Friday night's matchup coming off of a bye week that allowed little notification of their seeding arrangement, but managed to focus on their game and shut out Pine hill (3-4) 64-0 in the first half. The bye also allowed for head Coach Mason McBee to get his guys healthy which really paid off in the end.

"The bye week was all about timing," McBee said. "With Hayden being released from the doctor after having surgery on his knee he threw the ball and ran the ball pretty good. Everyone felt good coming into the game, so the bye really allowed for us to work on our stuff on offense and defense with our guys feeling good."

The Coyotes' offense had Kaull Burton written all over it as he managed to find the end zone four times in the first quarter on three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown, and one rushing touchdown in the second quarter.

"Kaull has always ran the ball good for us all season," McBee said. "We just really blocked well, and Pine Hill's defense wasn't too aggressive, so it allowed Kaull to get through pretty good."

Dora will visit No. 4-seed Tatum on Friday as Tatum had a first-round bye.

Bovina 21, Farwell 19

The rivalry between Bovina and Farwell was a dog fight like expected, but Farwell (5-4,3-1) found a shift in momentum a little bit to late in their 21-19 fall to the Mustangs (6-2,3-0).

Bovina's David Lara who completed 18 of his 34 pass attempts for 286 yards and two touchdown's, started the first half scoring drive late in the second quarter by completing a 30 yard pass to Bryan DeLaTorre, racking up seven points with just three minutes left in the second. Farwell's Miguel Vasquez who rushed for 200 yards on 26 carries shed some light for the Steers with 20 seconds left in the half as he rushed into the endzone from two yards. After trailing 21-12 and having two missed two point conversions, the Steers found some momentum, but with only a minute and a half left in the game, allowing Bovina to run out the clock and getting the win.

According to Bovina head coach Jonathan Lambright, he was able to see a difference in Farwell's gameplay.

"Farwell ran the ball a lot more this time than what we've seen from them in the past," Lambright said. "They're usually more pass oriented but they ran a lot and had a couple of big chunk yards. We bent them but didn't break them when they ran against us."

Bovina is hoping to carry Friday's momentum as they take on Sudan which guarantees a district title for the Mustangs, or a three-way tie.

As for Farwell, head coach Danny Brittain said that Bovina played well, but noted the Steers had missed opportunities to win the game.

"Everything they did we knew they were going to do," Brittain said. "We just didn't take advantage and could have done better on defense and offense."

For the Steers, if Bovina defeats Sudan, Bovina will have the No. 1-seed and Farwell will take No. 2. If Bovina loses, Farwell will be within the three-way tie.

Texico 30, Tucumcari 7

Texico (2-8,1-3) gave the crowd a show Friday night as they defeated Tucumcari, and in the process, they had fun doing it.

Texico created some havoc for the Rattler's in the first quarter as they forced one of Tucumcari's three fumbles that occurred inside the ten yard line on the Wolverines' own two yard line. Texico needed to make a statement for any hope of staying alive for the playoffs and Texico head coach Pat Crowley was very pleased with their performance. "In the locker room I put up a sign asking if they wanted to go home or keep going, and they answered it on the field," said Crowley.

The scoring drive for the Wolverines occurred when Brayden Wines through a bomb downfield to Craig Ray for a touchdown. After that it was all Texico.

"We had emphasized on defense a lot coming into this game and they played outstanding," Crowley said. "Both offense and defense played the best game they've played all year."

Littlefield 24, Muleshoe 19

The up-and-down season for Muleshoe (4-5, 3-1) took a down route, with a 24-19 loss to the Wildcats to snap a four-game win streak.

Littlefield (2-7, 1-3) came into Friday night's matchup with a loss to Slaton a week ago, and Muleshoe came in after giving Friona their first loss of the season, defeating the Chieftans 55-48. With the playoffs approaching, Muleshoe looks to have a decent seed going in but still needs to finish strong as the Mules take on a huge test in Shallowater (8-1, 4-0) next week.