Old friends set to meet at Farwell

FARWELL — Texico football coach Bob Gilbreath and his Farwell counterpart, Darren Kelley, are quite familiar with each other.

Both are graduates of Clovis High, and both played football at Eastern New Mexico University in the late 1980s. They were even roommates for three years at ENMU.

From there, they spent several seasons together on the staff of Eric Roanhaus at CHS. Friday night, they meet again, this time on the football field in a 7 p.m. (CDT) kickoff.

“We’re about as close to being brothers as anyone could be,” Gilbreath said. “I hope they win all their games but one, and think he feels the same way about us.”

At 3-0, Farwell is off to a fast start this season. Meantime, Texico dropped to 1-2 on Saturday morning with a 56-22 home loss to Olton.

“They’ve got some good, young kids,” Kelley said of the Wolverines. “It’s one of those rivalry games; everybody will get up and play hard.”

The Steers, who trounced Sudan 62-0 on Friday, are ranked 12th out of 96 teams in one Texas Class 2A Division I poll, Kelley noted.

“We’ve got some kids that are playing good football right now,” Kelley said. “We’re working hard to try to get better every week.

“He (Gilbreath) definitely knows what we’re doing, and we know what they’re doing. Now we just have to go and execute.”

On Monday, Gilbreath said his contingent spent a lot of time watching film of the Olton debacle. Texico led early 14-6 before the wheels came off.

Gilbreath said the Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the final three minutes of the half to help the Mustangs (2-1) pull away.

“I think our kids were embarrassed watching the film,” Gilbreath said. “Hopefully, we’ll play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm this week, and rise to the occasion.”

Senior running back Cade Collins scored two of Texico’s touchdowns against Olton, on a 5-yard run and on a 65-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Cade Figg. The other tally came on a 30-yard pass play from Figg to Max Villareal.

In other area contests on tap for Friday, Bovina (1-2) travels to New Deal (3-0) and Tulia (3-0) visits Muleshoe (1-2), both set for 7 p.m . (CDT). On Saturday, Melrose (2-0) hosts Navajo Pine (0-3) in an 11 a.m. kickoff, and Clovis Christian (0-1, 0-0 6-man District 2) plays at Floyd (0-1, 0-1) in a 1 p.m. start.

Elida 33, Floyd 18 — Whatever Tigers coach Jereme Woodruff said to his team at halftime of Saturday’s 6-man District 2 matchup at Floyd, suffice it to say it worked.

The host Broncos, playing their season opener, stormed to an 18-0 halftime lead only to see Elida (2-2, 1-1 district) roar back with a dominating second half.

Junior Mason Pritchett returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown, and the Tigers were off and running.

Junior Dalyn Taylor scored three times for Elida, returning a fumble 15 yards for a score and adding TD runs of 50 and 34 yards. Senior Jesse Woodruff also blocked a Floyd field goal and ran it back 63 yards to the end zone.

Broncos tallies came on a 45-yard pass from senior Ray Ramirez to senior Kason East, an 11-yard TD run by Ramirez and a 27-yard field goal (good for four points in 6-man) by Ramirez.