Sundown outlasts Stanton 34-26

SUNDOWN - The Sundown Roughnecks thwarted the visiting Stanton Buffaloes football team by a count of 34-26 in Friday's contest in Sundown.

Stanton has had issues starting games off slow and rallying late. The Buffs could very easily be 3-1 instead of 1-3 if they had just performed marginally better in the first half. Sundown was no different with Stanton falling behind in the first quarter. A couple good drives allowed the Buffs to keep the game close at halftime trailing just 14-6.

“In order to win these close games, we have to start the game better. Most of our turnovers have been in the first quarter and bad offensive series have been in the first quarter,” stated Stanton coach Cody Hogan. “We need to come out of the locker room more focused and ready to play than what we have so far this year.”

Despite their struggles early in the game, Stanton continues to be a team that believes in themselves and each other.

“Team confidence is still in a good place, they know that mistakes here and there have cost us a couple games and that the worst part about them is that they are within our control,” said Hogan. “As bad as it is that those controllable mistakes are what's costing us games, it's also good in a way because they are things we can work on and will get fixed heading into district play.”

One of the Buff’s biggest assets is their ability to battle back following adversity. In previous years, Stanton teams would have just rolled over and lost by 30 points. This group pulls together and works until the final buzzer.

“I’m most impressed by the team's ability to respond when down a couple scores,” stated Hogan. “I am most impressed with the resiliency and response to adversity that our kids are showing and I know that it will serve us well in district play. We are learning a lot of things now that we hopefully won't repeat in the second half of our season.”

Stanton fell behind by two touchdowns but responded with a scoring drive to end the first quarter trailing 14-6.

The Buffs would have a huge goal line stand in the second quarter, stopping the tough and physical Sundown running backs twice from the 2-yard line.

Stanton would receive the second half kickoff and drove the length of the field to tie the game at 14-14.

Sundown would respond with two more touchdowns to push its lead back to 26-14.

Instead of laying down, Stanton battled back to tie the game once again at 26-26 late in the fourth quarter.

Sundown managed to find the end zone with 1:15 left in the game and while Stanton moved the ball all the way to the 15-yard line, time ran out giving Sundown the 34-26 victory.

With the win, Sundown upgrades its record to 3-1 on the season. With the loss, Stanton moves to 1-3 on the season. The Buffaloes host San Angelo Texas Leadership Charter Academy for homecoming. The Eagles enter the match with a record of 0-4. San Angelo Texas Leadership Charter Academy lost 61-0 in their recent game against Reagan County.

Tyler Benedict finished the game 4 of 12 for 58 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Evan Cox led the Buffs ground attack with 83 yards followed by Miguel Moreno and Benedict with 44 yards each.

Rene Samora was the to receiver with two catches for 39 yards. Hoyt Mims added one reception for 11 yards and Josh Hensley caught one pass for eight yards.

Stanton’s defense was led by Ashton Smith, Eddie Wittenbarger, and Cox with 14, 13, and 12 tackles respectively.

Mims and Moreno racked up nine tackles each followed by Samora with eight, Hensley seven, and Benedict seven.

Roberto Perez and Israel Cazares finished the game with five tackles each while Marco Armendarez added four and Adrian De La O tallied three.

Ryllan Martinez recorded two tackles and Landen McDaniel, Marcus DeLeon, and Roger Martinez added one tackle apiece.

Homecoming kick-off against San Angelo TLCA is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.