Farwell streak hits eight

FARWELL — The Steers kept rolling along Friday night, winning their eighth in a row by routing Bovina 41-16 in Texas 2A Region I District 2 action. Farwell improved to 8-1 overall, 4-0 district with the resounding victory.

Patrick Pena led the way for the Steers, rushing for 218 yards on 25 carries (8.7 yards per carry), which fueled the team’s 381-yard ground attack. Farwell wound up with 30 first downs on the night.

Heading into the second quarter, the Steers led only 7-0 on the strength of Ricardo Ortega’s 10-yard touchdown run and Sterling Henderson’s extra point.

But Farwell was up 21-3 by halftime, thanks to 12- and 8-yard touchdown runs by quarterback Leefe Actkinson and a pair of Jose Rodriguez extra points in the second quarter.

Actkinson rushed for a 2-yard score in the second half, sandwiched between touchdown runs by Edgar Fierro (9 yards) and Guerrero Olmos (22).

Farwell concludes its regular season with a road game at undefeated Sudan (10-0, 5-0) this coming Friday at 6 p.m. MST.

Eight-man

Melrose 52, Pine Hill 0

Down in Melrose, it was pretty much what one would expect from the 5-12 game, with the host Buffaloes wrapping up things via mercy rule at the half.

“I don’t know how long they’ve been a program; they’re getting it all figured out,” Melrose coach Caleb King said of Pine Hill. “We scored on the very first play of the game (Chaz McAlister on a bubble screen for 52 yards) and just rolled from there. We didn’t have very many issues.”

The win sets up a quarterfinal at fourth-seeded Magdalena. The Steers, who earned a first-round bye after going 6-2 on the season, defeated Melrose in a neutral-site game Sept. 13.

King said the 28-14 loss really isn’t a good reference point due to early Buffalo injuires.

“Four of our starters were out,” King said. “It’s not even close. You lose four starters on both sides of the ball, it’s going to be a lot different. We weren’t running the stuff we can run now.”