Photos by Mark Rogers, HubCityPreps.com

LUBBOCK — The Abilene High football team overcame a sluggish start to rout Lubbock Coronado on Friday, outscoring the Mustangs 49-3 over the middle two quarters to cruise to a 63-10 victory at Lowrey Field.

Coronado scored the only touchdown of the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead into the second, but the Eagles responded with three consecutive touchdowns to go to halftime up 21-10 and were never threatened after the break.

The win improved Abilene High to 7-2 on the year and a perfect 5-0 in District 2-5A Division I action, putting the Eagles in position to wrap up an outright district title when they close out their regular season next week at home against Amarillo High.

“It was definitely a tale of two halves because we didn’t execute real well the first half, and that’s a credit to Coronado,” Abilene High coach Mike Fullen said. “We knew we were going to get their best punch because they were trying to stay in the playoff race. They did some things scheme-wise early against us on both sides of the ball, and it was nip and tuck there … at halftime.

“We didn’t start out real well and that’s probably my fault. We went into halftime up 21-10, but it was one of those where we didn’t feel like we were playing like we could play or up to our capabilities.”

Coronado, which was outgained 458-219, opened the scoring with one of its few explosive plays, getting a 57-yard touchdown pass from Isiaah Vazquez to Dom Parrish less than two minutes into the game.

That 7-0 lead held until the second quarter, when Abilene High finally got rolling offensively, getting three Chad Lara touchdown runs — of 1, 4 and 2 yards — to go up 21-7 with 3:43 to play in the first half.

Coronado (2-6, 1-3) trimmed the deficit to 21-10 with a 38-yard field goal by Christian Sanchez on the final play before halftime, but that was as close as the Mustangs would get the rest of the way.

“We just needed to hit the reset button,” Fullen said. “We went out and had a really good (second) half — one of the best we’ve had all year.”

Abilene High dominated the second half from start to finish, scoring their first of four third-quarter touchdowns less than a minute into the period on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Slack to Ryland Bradford.

The defense got in on the act on Coronado’s next possession, putting Abilene High up 35-10 on a 34-yard fumble return by Demotric Sanchez, before Slack closed the quarter with long touchdown passes to Brelon Badon (54 yards) and Bradford (25 yards). 

Those two scores sent the Eagles to the fourth quarter with a 49-10 lead, and they added two more TDs on Lara’s fourth touchdown run of the game and a 10-yard pass from Brayden Henry to Dezhon Magee.

As has become customary for Abilene High, the Eagles featured a balanced offensive attack against Coronado, passing for 257 yards and rushing for 201.

Slack finished 11-of-17 passing for 176 yards and three scores, while Henry hit five of eight throws for 81 yards and a TD. Badon (2-74, 1 TD) was AHS’ leading receiver, followed by Bradford (4-68, 2 TDs) and Bryson Perez (4-54).

On the ground, the Eagles got 67 yards from Henry and Magee and 62 yards from Lara to go with his four touchdowns.

Coronado, meanwhile, managed just 26 yards on the ground.

“Any time you can stop the run on any team, it keeps them from being able to set up anything or have any options,” Fullen said. “We just got to the point where we were stopping them and getting the ball back to the offense, and the offense was going down and scoring. And then it just got to be where they were going to have to throw the ball in order to catch back up.

“When that happens, good things are going to happen for us.” 

The Eagles will try close out their regular season on a six-game winning streak next week against Amarillo High (4-4, 3-1), which will be looking to stay in the district title race with a win.

“That’s what we talked about, we want to empty our tank right here,” Fullen said of the regular season finale. “We want to go out there, empty our tank and get ourselves in a position where we can go win an outright district championship.

“We’re looking forward to it. It will be Senior Night, and what better way to send your seniors out than as district champions? But we know it’s going to be tough ballgame. Amarillo’s got a good football team, so it’s going to be a knockdown, drag-out.”

DISTRICT 2-5A DIV. I

ABILENE HIGH 63, LUBBOCK CORONADO 10

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th		Final
Abilene High	0	21	28	14	—	63
Coronado	7	3	0	0	—	10

FIRST QUARTER

COR — Dom Parrish 57 pass from Isiaah Vazquez (Christian Sanchez kick), 10:23

SECOND QUARTER

AHS — Chad Lara 1 run (Naim Segura kick), 10:46

AHS — Lara 4 run (Segura kick), 5:42

AHS — Lara 2 run (Segura kick), 3:43

COR — Sanchez 38 FG, 0:00

THIRD QUARTER

AHS — Ryland Bradford 19 pass from Dylan Slack (Segura kick), 11:15

AHS — Demotric Sanchez 34 fumble return (Segura kick), 9:53

AHS — Brelon Badon 54 pass from Slack (Segura kick), 4:39

AHS — Bradford 25 pass from Slack (Segura kick), 1:48

FOURTH QUARTER

AHS — Dezhon Magee 10 pass from Brayden Henry (Segura kick)

AHS — Lara run (Segura kick)