City champs – Palo Duro scores late TD to knock off Amarillo High

It’s not something that’s official in terms of standings and certainly in making the postseason, but the Palo Duro Dons can claim something unofficial which still means a lot.
They’re the 2024 champions of Amarillo, and that’s something the other three Amarillo ISD high schools can’t say.

Friday night at Dick Bivins Stadium, the Dons completed a season sweep of their AISD competition. They scored a late touchdown and held on to beat Amarillo High 20-14 to make a statement to opponents both near and far.

Coupled with wins over Tascosa and Caprock in the first two weeks of the season, Palo Duro (3-1) can claim victories over all three fellow AISD schools, not to mention beating Amarillo High (1-2) for the first time since 2002.

“It feels great because when I got to Amarillo, my first goal was to be the best team in Amarillo,” said PD coach Eric Mims, a Palo Duro alum in his fourth year at the helm of the Dons. “I told them you’ve got to beat everybody in town if you want to be the best. That’s what we talked about all offseason. We’re not shy about our goals. When you achieve your goals you check them off.”

The game was dominated by defense most of the night, although the offenses came alive late. Amarillo High tied the score 14-14 with just over six minutes left in the game when quarterback Jett Lopez scored on his second 5-yard touchdown run of the night.

But whatever momentum the Sandies had built up was quickly stolen back, when Palo Duro’s Aushaun Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff to the Amarillo High 42-yard line to set up the Dons in prime scoring position. They cashed in with just under three minutes left when Darien Lewis scored on a 5-yard run to make it 20-14.

It was similar territory to where they’d been a week earlier at Canyon. The Dons played another close game but ended up losing 26-23 after taking a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.

“Last week we didn’t make the plays in the fourth quarter,” Mims said. “Offense had a chance to win the game, defense had a chance to win the game and special teams had a chance to win the game. We told the guys you’ve got to make those plays and we came out tonight and made those plays in the fourth quarter.”

A young Palo Duro team showed maturity in the fourth quarter when it counted the most. Sophomore quarterback Julian Reese II continued to play beyond his years, completing 17-of-30 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns.

“We just stay calm,” said Reese, making only his fourth varsity start. “We were going to win this game for sure and run the city. (Mims) said it was our turn. It feels great and we’re going to win district.”

The game wasn’t quite in Palo Duro’s grasp, though. Amarillo High moved into PD territory in the final two minutes and had a fourth-and-three at the PD 32.

However, an errant snap from the shotgun never got to its intended target and the ball rolled loose in the AHS backfield. The play didn’t have a chance and it sealed Palo Duro’s AISD sweep.

After scoring over 40 points in their first two home games (and also giving up 40), the Sandies struggled more offensively against the Dons although their defense showed improvement.

“We couldn’t ever get anything going offensively,” AHS coach Chad Dunnam said. “Let me give all the credit to Palo Duro, they played really well defensively and their coaching staff had their kids prepared. I thought we played better defensively, we just needed to get a stop right there at the end and we weren’t able to get that done. Giving up the big return certainly hurt.”

Offense was even harder to come by in the first half, as both teams managed just one scoring drive. The difference was that Amarillo High kicked an extra point for a 7-6 halftime lead.

Palo Duro got on the board early in the first quarter on a perfectly executed flea-flicker play.  Reese hit a wide-open Raymond Johnson IV for a 23-yard scoring pass and a 6-0 lead.

The Dons opted to go for two and Lewis was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage.
Midway through the second quarter, Austin Sluder intercepted a deflected pass to set AHS up at midfield and the Sandies took advantage of it by marching down the field for their only score of the half, 5-yard run by Lopez. They took the lead when Rhett Ladd kicked the extra point to make it 7-6.

This only presented a challenge to the Dons to play another strong second half. It was appropriate that the win came on the birthday of Mims’ late father.
“He would have wanted nothing more than for us to beat Amarillo High,” Mims said. “We’ve got to keep getting better because everybody in our district is good. We’ve got to come out and play better every week in all three phases of the game.”

The Dons came out strong in the second half, taking the kickoff and running over five minutes off the clock, concluding the drive with an 18-yard scoring pass from Reese to Amariya James. Lewis scored on a two-point conversion to make it 14-7.

Although he’s supposed to be Palo Duro’s featured back, Lewis led the Dons in receiving with seven catches for 70 yards. Furthermore, even though Johnson is listed as a receiver for Palo Duro, he led the Dons in rushing with 51 yards on seven carries.

Amarillo High’s Jude Dunavin ran for a game-high 81 yards.