FRIDAY REWIND: One last look at the previous week
Only one football team from the Panhandle remains alive in the postseason. Canadian's win over Wall advanced the Wildcats to the Class 3A Division II semifinals.
Wellington and Happy saw their seasons come to a close last week.
So, with only one team left from the area, this will be the final Friday Rewind of the football season. With this time, let's take a moment to appreciate what Happy and Wellington did this year.
Happy was one of the best six-man teams in the entire state this season. After beginning the year with a 62-16 loss to Westbrook, the Cowboys won 12 straight games and were rarely challenged. Kyton Johnson, Tryce Johnson, Camden Sperry and Quay Hodges were all outstanding throughout the campaign.
While the rematch against Westbrook resulted in another defeat, the Cowboys gave them everything they had. It was a tie game at halftime and Happy pulled back within one possession late before falling 40-30.
It was as competitive a game as you could ask for and it an effort Happy could be proud of.
The Wellington football team can also hold its collective heads high. The only loss the Skyrockets endured on the year prior to Friday was a 28-24 defeat to Lubbock Christian in week two. Otherwise, the Skyrockets were unfathomably good.
They beat Panhandle, outscored district opponents 250-16 and won their first three playoff games by a combined score of 132-13.
Wellington's dominant defense and Wing-T offense smothered opponents throughout the year. Just because that wasn't the case against New Home doesn't diminish what the Skyrockets did prior in prior weeks.
So, now, only one team remains from the area.
The Canadian Wildcats downed Wall 45-10 and are now set to play Gunter in the semis for the sixth time in seven years. It's the eighth time in nine years the Wildcats have made the semis period. The game has become somewhat of a tradition at this point.
This year's edition of the contest will be played at 6 p.m. Friday at Abilene Christian University’s Wildcat Field. If the Wildcats fall, there will be no Panhandle representative in Arlington this year. If they win, they're going to Jerryworld.
Those are the options.
Good luck to them moving forward, but don't forget that there were many teams that played outstanding ball throughout the year. They may be back home now, but they deserve to be praised for all that they did while they were here.
Hart Pisani is a sports reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News. He can be reached at hpisani@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Canadian is the lone Panhandle team left in the Texas high school football playoffs
