The Silverton Owls stunned the visiting no. 16 Whitharral Panthers 34-30 in UIL high school six-man football action last Thursday.
“It was a humbling experience,” said Whitharral Head Football Coach Jeremy Holt. “They did things against us they hadn’t shown and we were a bit shell shocked by it.”
The Panthers were nearly able to pull out a win in spite of the hole in which they found themselves.
Whitharral started their last drive on their own 35 yard line and ended on the Owls’ two yard line as time ran out.
“Silverton has a very good team and they were well coached,” added Holt. “We will take what we learned from the game and continued study of the film and grow and get better from it.”
Silverton jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Whitharral got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when a 22 yard loss on fourth down and nine yards forced the Owls to turn the ball over on downs at their own 29 yard line. Shamadrick Weaver did the honors on the first play of the drive, cutting the Owls’ lead to 14-8. The teams traded touchdowns for the rest of the quarter, giving Silverton a 28-14 lead at the half. Each team scored a touchdown in the third quarter, but Silverton missed their extra point attempt, cutting the lead to 34-22. Whitharral cut the lead to 34-30 with 5:07 left in the game on a Brent Robinson two-yard run, then stopped the Owls on the Panthers 35 yard line. Robinson and Weaver combined to move the Panthers to the Owls’ 14 yard line with 16 seconds left. Jeryn Ellard found Weaver open on second down and three and hit Weaver who was stopped at the two yard line as time ran out. Penalties affected the outcome as well. Whitharral was flagged four times for 45 yards, while the Owls received only one five yard penalty. Ellard went 7-for-13 for 108 yards passing while Weaver went 0-for-2. Weaver had 12 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Robinson had seven carries for 47 yards and two touchdowns. Kaden Smith had five carries for 13 yards. Weaver had four catches for 59 yards. Robinson had a 26 yard catch, Ryan McDaniel had a 14 yard catch and Victor Saenz had a nine yard grab. Nomar Gomez had 10½ tackles, Rayden Potter had 8½. McDaniel had 5½, Weaver had 3½, Saenz and Smith had three each, Dawson Rodgers had 2½ and Robinson had 1½. Whitharral hosts Meadow for homecoming at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.