Holliday's attack zaps Abernathy

SWEETWATER — Abernathy tried to use the wind to its advantage on Friday afternoon at the Mustang Bowl.

Only problem for the Antelopes was that Austin Twilligear and the Holliday Eagles proved to be a lot stronger than the wind and cut right through the breeze and the Antelopes.

Twilligear scored two touchdowns into the wind in the first quarter to give the Eagles a lead they'd never relinquish as Holliday eliminated Abernathy, 33-14, in a Region I-2A semifinal on Durham Field.

Twilligear scored on runs of 30 and 39 yards in the first quarter as Holliday's ground game neutralized the wind. He had 101 yards on eight carries in the opening 12 minutes.

And when the Antelopes began to key on him, the Eagles showed they have other options as Sam Shirley went for a game-high 185 yards, 148 of that after halftime.

Holliday (10-2) put an end to Abernathy's eight-game win streak in dominant fashion, holding the Antelopes to eight first downs and 74 total yards.

The Eagles will face the Cisco, who beat Idalou 27-14, in the Region I-2A Div. II final next week.

Abernathy (10-2) had averaged 39.6 points since dropping a September game to Sundown.

But the Eagles had posted five consecutive shutouts while winning District 3-2A and that defense showed up on Black Friday, keeping the Antelopes in the red as far as rushing yards for more than a half.

Twilligear had the highlight runs in the first quarter, but the biggest blow came from D.J. Boyd, who came off the edge to apply some pain to Abernathy quarterback Austin Lewis, forcing the ball out, too, and teammate Gage Balthrop fell on it.

"I knew he didn't see me coming," Boyd said, "and I was just hauling butt to try and go get him. That's the best hit I've had so far. That was fun.

"We definitely got after them. They're not as big of a team as Spearman, but we knew they were going to be fast and we had to keep outside contain."

Boyd, who had two sacks along with Shirley, was pleased to see the defense "still getting better."

It would have been hard to be better than Twilligear early on. His first score from 30 yards out came on a toss left where everybody made a nice block. His second one, a 39-yarder, came because he realized the blocks weren't there playside and he reversed his field and outraced the Antelopes to the end zone with one big block by a wide receiver.

Abernathy did use the wind for a 40-yard touchdown pass from Austin Lewis to Victor Flores on a fourth-down prayer.

And Antelopes coach Darrell Daily tried to give his team one last advantage by using three timeouts defensively in the final minute of the first quarter. The problem was Holliday decided to go for fourth-and-2 from its own 37-yard line and Jacob Cole sneaked an inch past the marker for a big first down.

Eagles coach Terry Wolf had a couple of reasons for going for it that early with a six-point lead.

One, he felt his team should be able to pick up 2 yards. It helps that his offensive line was spot on and a smart quarterback like Cole kept figuring out where the soft spot in the defense might be.

Secondly, Wolf trusted his defense. A defense that had pitched five shutouts would have had a chance even if Abernathy took over just 38 yards away from the end zone.

After Cole picked up the first down it was as if the wind went out of Abernathy's sails momentarily. Shirley burst through for 17 yards on the next play and Cole hit a quick pass to Cameron Englishbee for 7 yards on the final play of the quarter.

The Eagles converted that into a 24-yard field goal by Hunter McCain, who made a game-winning 51-yarder last week against Spearman. McCain converted again from 38 yards on the next possession for a 19-7 halftime lead. He misfired wide left on a 22-yarder on his third attempt of the quarter.

Holliday had a 263-31 advantage in total yards in the first half. The Antelopes had two first downs.

Wolf felt the offensive line of Landon Stevens, Travis Taylor, Seth Oliver, Peyton Cannedy and Ryan Todd has "its best day of the year."

The Eagles finished with 409 yards rushing and scored more than 30 points for the fourth time in 12 games this year. They made 24 first downs and one three-and-out possession.

Holliday sputtered some offensively in the third quarter, gaining just 51 of its 451-yard output. But the Eagles didn't lose anything off their lead as Cole recovered an Abernathy fumble on Antelope 11 and scored on the next play.

The Eagles turned the ball over on a punt return and gave one back as Austin Lewis hit Clayton Lewis on a 5-yard fade route for Abernathy's final score.

Shirley capped off the scoring with a 55-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Later he broke a 61-yarder to get the ball off the Holliday goal line.

Shirley also was part of the swarming sack party for the Eagles' defense.

The quarterback Lewis had negative yardage on 10 of his 18 rush attempts and the team had zero or negative yards on 23 of its 40 plays.

Holliday came up with five take-aways. Beau Hadderton, Cole and Balthrop recovered fumbles, while Twilligear and Cole had interceptions. Taylor Hill also had a sack.

"We were stagnant last week and we knew it," Wolf said. "The kids had a great week of practice. They were fast, but we kept containment. That's where we're at our best is when we're quick."

hOLLIDAY 33, aBERNATHY 14

Holliday 13 6 7 7 — 33

Abernathy 7 0 7 0 — 14

First Quarter

Holliday — Austin Twilligear 30 run (kick block) 8:50

Holliday — Twilligear 39 run (Hunter McCain kick) 3:20

Abernathy — Victor Flores 40 pass from Austin Lewis (Matt Dominguez kick) 1:13

Second Quarter

Holliday — McCain 24 field goal 9:24

Holliday — McCain 38 field goal 5:14

Third Quarter

Holliday — Jacob Cole 11 run (McCain kick) 5:14

Abernathy — Clayton Lewis 5 pass from Austin Lewis (Dominguez kick) 0:43

Fourth Quarter

Holliday — Sam Shirley 55 run (McCain kick) 10:36

Holliday Abernathy

First downs 24 8

Rushes-Yards 59-409 30-29

Passing 42 45

Comp-Att-Int 5-10-1 2-10-2

Punts 1-27 4-42.3

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 6-3

Penalties-Yards 7-67 6-65

Individual statistics

RUSHING:(H) – Sam Shirley 13-185; Austin Twilligear 20-135; Jacob Cole 19-79; Mat Anderson 1-5; Trey Twilligear 1-3; Josh Robinett 1-2; Zac Underwood 1-1; Chase Duncan 2-0; Dillan Tyler 1-(-1); (A) – Matt Dominguez 8-48; Ty Wise 4-11; Austin Lewis 18-(-30).

PASSING:(H) – Cole 5-9-0, 42; Twilligear 0-1-1, 0; (A) – A. Lewis 1-9-1, 45; Flores 0-1-1, 0.

RECEIVING:(H) – Shirley 1-24; Colby Baumer 2-11; Cameron Englishbee 2-7; (A) – Victor Flores 1-40; Clayton Lewis 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS: (H) – Austin Twilligear 1, Jacob Cole 1; (A)– Austin Lewis 1.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES: (H) – Beau Hadderton 1, Jacob Cole 1, Gage Balthrop 1; (A) – Layton Turner 1, Ty Wise 1.