No. 24 Roosevelt falls in the polls after narrowly beating Buffaloes in district opener

STANTON – Stanton could not match Lubbock Roosevelt’s fire power last Friday and lost the District 4 opener 28-18.

Despite another loss added to the Buffaloes record, Stanton played a magnificent game that should make the team and coaches proud.

According to MaxPreps, Stanton’s defense limited Roosevelt to is second lowest offensive yardage total and point total of the season. The Buffs offense overpowered Roosevelt at times racking up 18 points and an Eagles defense that hadn’t allowed a single touchdown all season.

Two mistakes, one by Stanton’s defense and the other by the offense, in the first half allowed Roosevelt to take an early advantage.

On the Eagles first play from scrimmage, quarterback Jacob Torrez caught Stanton napping and after rounding the outside edge went 45 yards for a touchdown.

Stanton’s offense responded with a pounding drive that was knocking on the endzone door, but a holding penalty backed the Buffs up and killed the potential game tying score.

Roosevelt would put another touchdown on the board at the start of the second quarter to boast a 14-0 advantage.

Stanton would not lay down and responded with quick Miguel Moreno touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-6.

Minutes later Stanton was knocking on the endzone door again and this time quarterback Tyler Benedict broke the plane for another six points making the score 14-12.

With less than a minute to go in the first half, Roosevelt was around midfield when they caught a break and was not flagged for an illegal procedure. Instead the running back broke free for a 20-yard gain setting up a touchdown pass on the next play from Torrez to JJ Diaz with two seconds left in the first half. The score boosted the Eagles lead back to 22-12.

The fight continued in the second half with Lubbock drawing first blood with a staggering 40-yard touchdown run putting the score at 28-12.

Stanton would respond with its final touchdown, a one-yard rumble from Benedict, to make the final score 28-18.

Benedict led the Buffs passing attack with five completions for 61 yards. Evan Cox added one completion for 15 yards.

The Buffs ground game pounded out 247 yards. Cox and Adrian De La O led the team with 66 and 65 yards respectively while Austin Hewtty and Benedict were close behind with 58 and 51 respectively. Moreno added seven yards to the Buffs total.

Stanton’s receiving group were led by Rene Samora with two catches for 27 yards. Cox, Josh Hensley, Hewtty, and Hoyt Mims had one catch each for 19, 15, nine, and six yards respectively.

Eddie Wittenbarger, Hewtty, and Cox led the Buffalo defense with double digit tackles. Wittenbarger posted the highest total with 15 while Cox and Hewtty recorded 11 each.

Samora tallied nine tackles followed by Roberto Perez and Marco Armendarez with six each.

De La O, Moreno, Benedict, and Ashton Smith racked up five tackles apiece while Mims added three and Colby Carson and Israel Cazares chipped in with two each.

Marcus DeLeon, Ryllan Martinez, and Payden Alberts rounded out the tackle stats with one apiece.

Stanton will next play on the road at No. 25 Coahoma at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. The Bulldogs enter the contest with a 4-1 record after getting dismantled by No. 3 Idalou 68-22.

Coahoma is normally a fast-starting team, scoring 70% of its total points this season in the first two quarters of games.

Stanton on the other hand struggled in the early minutes of games.

Offensively Stanton will continue to rely on its ground attack while Coahoma likes to mix things up on the ground and through the air.

The two defenses look evenly matched as Stanton has allowed 113 points while Coahoma has given up 115.

Other District 4 matchups this week has No. 18 Abernathy at No. 3 Idalou and No. 24 Lubbock Roosevelt at Reagan County.