They say it’s hard to be a good team twice in the same season.
The no. 2 Whiteface Antelopes proved it wasn’t impossible with an 82-36 win over the no. 7 Borden County Coyotes last Saturday in the UIL high school six-man football playoffs in Lockney.
Whiteface had previously beaten the Coyotes 90-40 in the district 3-1A1 championship on November 8.
The Antelopes’ last touchdown came with 1:39 left in the third quarter and invoked the 45-point rule which, in Texas sixman football, requires the game to be called whenever one team is ahead by 45 points or more at or after halftime.
Whiteface had the ball first, starting on their own 36-yard line. The opening play, however, resulted in an incomplete pass as the Coyotes came in force and Isaak Soliz barely got the ball off as he was being taken down.
A false start penalty moved the Antelopes further back. That’s when Ethan Kauffman got the call for the first of nine touchdowns and an 8-0 lead just 23 seconds into the game.
The Antelopes forced the Coyotes to turnover on downs, then went back to Kauffman for a three play drive that ended in a touchdown and a 16-0 lead with 6:49 left in the first quarter.
Borden County got on the boards next with a four play drive for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Whiteface got the first of four blocked kicks on the night, holding the Coyotes to a 16-6 deficit.
Both teams traded touchdowns with the Coyotes’ kicking team struggling to get the ball through the uprights through the first quarter an into the second.
Whiteface finally got a stop with the Antelopes leading 46-24 at the 6:26 mark in the second quarter.
Borden County returned the favor, however, and took over again on their own 36. The Coyotes engineered a drive that ate up all but 11 seconds on the clock and cut the Whiteface lead to 46-30.
Eleven seconds was all Whiteface needed, though. Soliz returned the Borden County kick to the Coyotes’ 24 yard line.
Soliz took the snap and completed a short pass to Jeremiah Rendon, who started running to the right. Whiteface blockers allowed Borden County to string the play as Rendon ran horizontally.
In the meantime, Kauffman was coming from the right and took the pitch from Rendon for a perfect reverse and a 54-30 Whiteface lead at the halftime break.
Borden County started the second half with possession, but it didn’t last long. Starting from their own 25 yard line, the Coyotes moved to the Whiteface 35 yard line in two plays.
Then, on first down and 15 yards to go, Rendon intercepted a Coyote pass for a pick six and a 62-30 Whiteface lead with less than a minute off the clock.
Whiteface forced a turnover on downs, but then lost the ball to a fumble on their possession, allowing Borden County to take over on the Antelopes’ 15 yard line.
Borden County’s last touchdown came on the next play with another blocked kick.
The Coyotes trailed 62-36 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
After that, it was all Whiteface. The Antelopes scored on their next possession, then Luke Gresham intercepted for pick six on the Coyote’s possession.
The last possession of the game saw Whiteface running hard in a two minute drive that culminated in the ninth Kauffman touchdown with 1:39 left on the third quarter clock.
The Antelopes will face Water Valley in the state semifinals at 2 p.m. in Lamesa on Saturday.