Early score enough to keep Farwell ahead

RALLS, Texas — An early score proved to be enough on Friday night in Darren Kelley’s debut as Farwell High’s head football coach.

Junior Kolter Henderson caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Leefe Actkinson on Farwell’s first possession, and the Steers made it stand up for a 7-0 victory over Ralls.

Kelley, a longtime Clovis High assistant who is in his third season overall at Farwell, said the Steers were generally dominant but couldn’t finish off drives.

“Overall, we did a good job,” he said. “We did a great job on defense.”

The Steers return to action on Friday with their home opener against rival Bovina.

Farwell finished with a 233-144 advantage over the Jackrabbits in total offense, but turned the ball over three times to just once for Ralls.

Breakdowns kept the Steers from putting the game farther out of reach, Kelley said.

“Offensively, we just didn’t block one guy every now and then,” he said. “We’ve just got to be able to put teams away.”

Actkinson finished the night 5-for-10 through the air for 61 yards, with Jose Rodriguez catching two of them for 36 yards. Freshman Corey Stancell led the ground attack, picking up 105 yards on 20 carries.

Defensively, junior Carlos Castillo was in on 13 tackles (three solos) and sophomore Dustin Dyck had 10 stops (one solo).

In other area games on Friday:

Bovina 36, Boys Ranch 13 — At Boys Ranch, the Mustangs kept the Roughriders in the doldrums, handing them their 26th consecutive loss dating to the 2017 season.

Boys Ranch took the lead early in the second quarter on the first of two scoring runs by senior quarterback Caleb Thompson, but Bovina responded with three consecutive TDs, the latter a 30-yard pick-6 by Zack Monzon midway through the third stanza for a 20-7 cushion.

“That kind of allowed us to get back in our groove,” Mustangs coach Cody Emery said.

Senior quarterback Cole Emery led Bovina to 402 total yards of offense, rushing for 59 yards and a score and completing 11 of 22 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown toss to Fernando Martinez. Both tallies came in the second quarter, staking the Mustangs to a 13-7 halftime lead.

Angel Lara kicked three extra points and made it a two-score game (23-13) on a 26-yard field goal with seven minutes remaining. Bovina then added a pair of TDs in the final five minutes, a 35-yard run by Darian DeLaRosa and a 30-yard pass from Lara to Israel Granados.

Senior Andrew Guevara was the team’s top rusher with 13 carries for 93 yards, while Martinez caught five passes for 76 yards. Guevara also had a pair of catches for 25 yards.

Coach Emery said the Roughnecks are showing signs of life.

“Boys Ranch has a new head coach; he’s young and he’s doing a good job,” the coach said. “I know (the losing) has got to be frustrating for them.”

Sundown 6, Muleshoe 0 — At Sundown, the Roughnecks got an 18-yard, second-quarter scoring run from junior E.J. Hernandez and went on to deny the Mules their first victory since the 2018 campaign.

“They didn’t have any explosive plays on offense,” first-year Mules coach Jason Richards said. “Our defense played tremendous. They gave us a chance to win.”

Sundown was able to maintain some control by virtue of picking up 205 yards on the ground and posting an 18-7 advantage in first downs, helping the Roughnecks survive three turnovers.

The Mules, who host Lamesa on Friday in the first of back-to-back home games, mounted a late threat, Richards said, but were stopped on a fourth-and-1 play near the Sundown 20 to pretty much seal their fate.

“Sundown’s really good,” Richards said. “But for us it was kind of take two steps forward, two steps back. We played behind the chains (meaning long-yardage situations) on several of our possessions.”

Mules junior quarterback Zach Hasley completed 11-of-22 passes, spread among six receivers, for 102 yards. Junior linebackers Brennen Davis and Jacob Reyes were in on eight tackles each to lead the team on defense.