Shallowater hands Bushland first high school football loss in high-scoring district battle
BUSHLAND — Shallowater entered Bushland on Friday night ready to make a statement.
The Mustangs dominated the first half by forcing three Falcon turnovers and scoring three touchdowns on short-yardage runs by junior power running back Cannon Reed.
The combination allowed Shallowater to jump out to a 27-7 lead at halftime, which was enough scoring cushion to fend off a late comeback by the No. 2 Class 3A Division I team in the state en route to a 43-28 road victory.
With the victory, the Mustangs also sit in first-place of the District 2-3A Division I standings with two games remaining.
"We all went in to this game determined because we knew that's what we had to do," Shallowater junior offensive lineman Kasen Long said. "It kind of ticked us off that we were underdogs. Especially because our only loss of the season, a lot of our best players were hurt. We decided that this was the perfect game to make a statement. If we play like this all-year, we're going to win state. I promise you."
Long captained the physical Shallowater offense to a string of successful drives in which the Falcon defense seemed helpless against the run. That ground game was led by Reed, who was an unstoppable force out of the Shallowater backfield throughout the game with 189 yards and five touchdowns on the ground before a late-game injury knocked him out of the contest.
Reed's three 1-yard rushing scores in the first half, and a 77-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brooks Carter down the left sideline to sophomore wideout Cade Burt, helped the Mustangs build a 20-point lead at the break.
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The only time the Falcons found the end zone in the first 24 minutes of action is when senior wide receiver Baylor King lined up in the backfield and plunged over the goal line from three yards out. Junior quarterback Dawson Jaco threw one interception and the Falcons fumbled the ball away twice in a shaky first two quarters of action.
"They came out and played well and were more physical than us in the first half," Bushland coach Josh Reynolds said. "We had some opportunities but turned it over in the red zone twice and in a big game like this against a really good team like that, it's hard to overcome that. We fought our way back into it and got [the lead] down to six but just didn't have enough left in the tank."
Reed scored his longest touchdown of the night from 26 yards out in the early third quarter to put the Mustangs ahead 34-7.
That’s when the Falcons comeback attempt began.
Jaco led his squad right down the field on three straight drives that ended in the end zone. The gunslinger, who passed for 400 yards on the night, tossed his first touchdown on a 9-yard strike to Stratton Molloy. He then took it himself on a read-option play from 16 yards out less than six minutes later to trim the Shallowater lead to 34-21.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jaco threw his second and final touchdown on a 5-yard screen pass left to junior Kade Gavina, who dodged and juked his way into the end zone. The Falcons were within six points before the Mustangs stomped their foot on the gas and put an end to the valiant effort by the hometown team.
"With a team that's ranked like they are and as good as their offense is, they'll never go away," Shallowater coach Rodney Vincent said. "They're never out of a game because of what they can do offensively. I was really proud of our offense for responding. We just wanted to win each play and down the stretch we were able to win those individual plays we needed to."
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Bushland will slide down the rankings from their No. 2 spot following its first loss of the season. But the Falcons will have two more weeks before the postseason begins to work out any problems and get as healthy as possible. With its win over Bushland, Shallowater has proven that it is one of the powerhouses in this region of the state.
Friday night displayed a great district rivalry game between two well-rounded teams that expect to be traveling to Arlington in December. With the way that both teams have played through nine weeks of the 2022 season, there is a chance that these two programs may meet again soon — potentially the region championship.
"We just have to learn from this," Reynolds said. "It's not the playoffs, it's not the tournament yet. We have another game next week and we just have to get better from this."
Up next: Bushland (8-1, 2-1) will travel to take on the Dalhart Wolves next Friday night while Shallowater (7-1, 2-0) is set to host the Muleshoe Mules.
SHALLOWATER 43, BUSHLAND 28
Shallowater 14 13 7 9 -- 43
Bushland 0 7 14 7 -- 28
Scoring summary
First Quarter
SHA – Cannon Reed 1 rush (Clayton Vincent kick); 7:28
SHA – Cannon Reed 1 rush (Vincent kick); 3:37
Second Quarter
BUS – Baylor King 3 rush (Ysidro Carroll kick); 8:21
SHA – Brooks Carter 77 pass to Cade Burt (Vincent kick no good); 4:52
SHA – Cannon Reed 1 rush (Vincent kick); 0:30
Third Quarter
SHA – Cannon Reed 26 rush (Vincent kick); 9:50
BUS – Dawson Jaco 9 pass to Stratton Molloy (Carroll kick); 6:47
BUS – Dawson Jaco 16 rush (Carroll kick); 0:58
Fourth Quarter
BUS – Dawson Jaco 5 pass to Kade Gavina (Vincent kick); 10:17
SHA – Cannon Reed 5 rush (two-point failed); 8:17
SHA – Clayton Vincent 33 field goal; 1:11
Individual Statistics
Rushing – Shallowater: Cannon Reed 32-189, Brooks Carter 7-43, Kouper Boyd 5-20. Bushland: Ivan Soto 20-70, Tanner Adams 2-40, Dawson Jaco 8-10, Baylor King 1-3.
Passing – Shallowater: Brooks Carter 6-13-0-208. Bushland: Dawson Jaco 31-53-1-400.
Receiving – Shallowater: Trevor Winn 2-104, Cade Burt 1-74, Evan Haseloff 3-30. Bushland: Cole Purcell 11-140, Stratton Molloy 5-72, Kade Gavina 5-64, Tate Butcher 2-56, Baylor King 5-36, Zack Zundel 2-24, Ivan Soto 1-8.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Shallowater hands Bushland first loss in high-scoring district battle
