The Whiteface Antelopes finished the regular season in convincing fashion, dominating the visiting O’Donnell Eagles 480 on their way to an undisputed Region II, District 5, 6-man High School Football Championship.
Whiteface finishes the regular season 10-0 and is ranked sixth in Texas and 16 th in the county by MaxPreps.
The game was also Head Football Coach Clint Linman’s 100 th career win.
Linman was characteristically reticent to talk about that, preferring to talk about his players.
“I’m proud of them,” he said. “The kids played well. They prepared themselves and are hungry to keep getting better.”
The Antelopes wasted no time in scoring. Kicker Damian Castenada recovered an Eagle fumble on the opening kickoff and the Antelopes went 37 yards on three plays over 48 seconds for the first score of the game – a 22-yard run from Julio Borunda.
Castaneda hit all of his extra point kicks.
After forcing O’Donnell to turn over on downs, Whiteface took over on the Eagle’s 22-yard line. This time the ball went to Ethan Kauffman, who scored on the first play of the drive for a 16-0 lead with 8:27 left in the first quarter.
Turnovers marked the next few possessions. Whiteface’s Auscar Gandara recovered an Eagle fumble, but the Antelopes fumbled on the second play of their drive, giving the ball to O’Donnell on the Eagle 15-yard line.
Jeremiah Rendon intercepted an O’Donnell pass on the next play, giving the Antelopes the ball on the O’Donnell 38.
Penalties for holding and false start slowed the Antelope drive, but Kauffman crossed the goal line with 5:34 left in the first quarter for a 24-0 Whiteface lead. After forcing the Eagles to punt, Kauffman made the last score of the first quarter on the next Whiteface drive, a 25-yard run with 2:15 left in the period.
The second quarter found Whiteface driving again. A stiffening O’Donnell defense slowed the Antelopes, but could not stop them.
At the 6:27 mark in the quarter, Isaak Soliz found Jeremias Chavez open for a 30-yard touchdown on third down and 21 yards for a 40-0 lead.
After forcing another turnover on downs from O’Donnell, Whiteface took over on the Eagles’ 38-yard line with 3:32 left in the half.
Two minutes later, Kauffman scored the last touchdown of the game on a 32-yard run.
The Eagles made it down to the Whiteface 20-yard line, but were forced to turn over on downs with just 26 second left in the half.
That allowed the Antelopes to take a knee for the win.
Whiteface will face Van Horn in the Bi-District round of the UIL playoffs on Friday in Rankin. Game time is 6 p.m.