All the numbers, even at the end of the night, seemed like they worked against Palo Duro, the long-suffering school recently in this rivalry. But the Dons proved that numbers don’t win games.
That’s why despite losing to Tascosa 11 years in a row, incurring 136 yards in penalties and twice trailing by 14 points, Palo Duro was standing taller at the end of the night. The Dons dominated the second half, finishing the game with 26 unanswered points and pulling out an unlikely victory, 33-21.
It doesn’t guarantee a successful season with August not even over yet, but it’s the type of signature win for fourth-year coach and PD alum Eric Mims that can jump-start a season.
“We haven’t beaten Tascosa since I’ve been here,” Mims said. “We’ve been abused by Tascosa since I’ve been here, but our kids kept believing. They kept coming back. The high school transfer portal is as open as the college transfer portal and the kids kept believing in me.”
On Tascosa’s first play of the half, quarterback Coltyn Fulton ran for his second touchdown of the night on a 76-yard scamper to give the Rebels a 21-7 lead only 95 seconds into the half.
It would have been easy for the Dons to say here we go again, considering that they’d lost 11 straight to the Rebels and that Tascosa coach Ken Plunk had a 16-1 record against PD at Tascosa and Randall going into this season. Then again, the numbers didn’t play.
“It was still the third quarter, and I heard one of the kids say that,” Mims said. “There was a lot of football left. They had the mindset that until that clock hit zero it wasn’t over. It was not pretty at all.”
With the two teams piling up 229 combined yards in penalties, style points weren’t fashionable. It was the Dons who dealt with that the best.
Just 67 seconds after Fulton’s scoring run, PD cut it to 21-13 on a 1-yard run by Darien Lewis, the second of his four scores of the night.
The big play to set that up was a 43-yard pass from sophomore Julian Reese II to junior Daniel Moses. It showed just how feared the Dons could be through the air for the next two seasons.
“I was nervous coming in but my team kept calming me down, my receivers and my offensive linemen,” Reese said. “We were locked in after halftime and after (Tascosa) scored we still kept our composure. There was 22 minutes left and we were still in this game and I told my teammates that.”
After forcing two Tascosa punts, the Dons finally got back in the end zone again early in the fourth quarter when Lewis scored on another 1-yard run. A two-point conversion run failed and Palo Duro still trailed 21-19.
Lewis had only 25 yards on 13 carries, but was a bull near the goal line, especially on the 8-yard run with 5:18 remaining in the game which gave the Dons their first lead of the game, 25-21. This year he returns to running back after playing quarterback last year as a sophomore. Lewis was clutch in the secondary as well with 13 tackles.
“It definitely paid off and I’m going to do whatever it takes for my team to win and I’m happy for that, so I’ll play my role,” Lewis said. “Eleven in a row and it’s finally over.”
The Dons clinched it when on third and long, Reese hit Raymond Johnson IV on a screen pass and he took it 37 yards for a touchdown with 2:35 left in the game to make it 33-21. On the ensuing possession, Fulton’s pass hit off the hands of T.J. Tillman and A’Jaden Randle intercepted it to seal the win.
It was a frustrating end to an evening in which Tascosa’s defense ended up spending too much time of the field as the game progressed.
“The difference was that in the first half we had the opportunity to maybe not put the game away but put some distance between us and them and we kept getting in our own way,” Plunk said. “When they had their opportunities, they took them, and we did poorly. You just can’t get 15 yarders.”
The first half bore all the hallmarks of a season opener, as both teams were plagued by penalties and moved the ball sporadically as Tascosa led 14-7 at halftime.
Tascosa moved the ball efficiently, taking advantage of short fields on the first two scoring drives. The Rebels blocked a punt late in the first quarter and took over at the Palo Duro 27-yard line, and Derrion Howard carried it in from a yard out for a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, the Rebels took advantage of a 15-yard penalty and a 17-yard sack of Reese, taking over at the PD 33 after a short punt. Fulton scored on a 7-yard run for a 14-0 lead.
After that, Palo Duro was in control for over seven minutes offensively, as the Dons had the drive kept alive by a pair of personal foul penalties. The Dons converted a fourth down on a 13-yard completion from Reese to Charlie Love, who held on to the ball after a vicious hit. They scored on a 6-yard run by Lewis to cut it to 14-7.