GAME STORY: Bradford’s late return lifts Abilene High to improbable win over Amarillo Tascosa

Leading Abilene High 29-25 after taking an intentional safety with 24 seconds remaining, Amarillo Tascosa had the District 2-5A Division I-leading Eagles right where it wanted them Friday at Shotwell Stadium.

If the Rebels could hold off AHS for just a few more ticks, they’d score the upset of the year in 2-5A DI and force themselves back into the district title picture in the process.

Instead, they kicked the ball to Ryland Bradford — a mistake that proved fatal in a wild 31-29 win for coach Mike Fullen’s squad. 

Bradford, who had been held in check for most of the night offensively, took the post-safety free kick at the Abilene High 30-yard line, found a seam down the home sideline, cut inside around the Tascosa 35 and zipped untouched all the way to the end zone to lift AHS to an improbable victory and virtually every fan on the home side of the stadium to their feet.

“You’re going to be in games like this, and it came down to we made one more play than they did,” the Abilene High coach said. “I’m super proud of our guys, and big time players make big-time plays.

“I was super proud of Bradford. I couldn’t believe they kicked it to him, but they did. Coach said, ‘There’s an alley’ and he did the rest.”

The thrilling ending, which allowed Abilene High (7-2 overall) to stay unbeaten in district play at 5-0, overshadowed what had been an uncharacteristically sloppy performance for the Eagles to that point.

AHS was outgained 358-303, missed two extra points, allowed a kickoff return touchdown of its own for Tascosa’s first points and turned the ball over four times on offense.

But in the end, the Eagles made the game’s biggest play. And the player responsible for it may have been the only person inside Shotwell Stadium not surprised to see the ball reach his hands with the game on the line.

“Tascosa always disrespects me,” he said. “They did it last year, so I kind of expected it. And I knew it was going to be a mistake as soon as it left the tee.”

Before Bradford’s game-winning return, the teams spent the contest’s first 47½ minutes trading mistakes, big plays and the lead.

After following a Tascosa fumble on the game’s opening possession with a fumble of its own inside the Rebels 5, Abilene High took the game’s first lead on its second possession, when Tristan Beal hit Camp Churchill with a 16-yard scoring strike with 4:45 remaining in the opening quarter.

But the usually automatic Naim Segura missed the extra point, allowing the Rebels (3-5, 2-2) to a take 7-6 lead 17 seconds later, after Taurean Johnson completed a 96-yard sprint to the end zone on the ensuing kickoff.

Abilene High seemed to take control in the second quarter, when Segura put the Eagles back on top with a 43-yard field goal and Ethan Joyner turned a successful pooch kick recovery into a 3-yard touchdown run with 6:10 remaining before halftime.

But the Eagles couldn’t do add their advantage the rest of the half, coming up empty on their final two first-half possessions following a pair of Tascosa fumbles — missed opportunities that would prove costly after the break.

“I thought our defense played really, really well,” Fullen said. “We had a couple of special teams blunders and some turnovers that you can’t (have) in a game like this … but I thought our defense played fantastic.

“Our offense made plays when we needed to, but we left some points on the grass in the first half, obviously.”

The Rebels scored the only points of the third quarter, pulling within 16-14 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Coltyn Fulton to TJ Tillman. But backup quarterback Rylan Stokes increased the Eagles’ lead back to two scores (23-14) with a 1-yard sneak to cap a 10-play, 69-yard touchdown drive that covered the final 2:13 of the third quarter and first 2:01 of the fourth.

Momentum shifted after that, though, as Tascosa needed just five plays to span 74 yards on its next possession, pulling within 23-21 on a 15-yard run by Reese Cabe, before Fulton followed an Abilene High punt with an 85-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Fields to give the Rebels a 29-23 lead after a successful two-point conversion pass.

Tascosa had multiple opportunities to put the game away after that touchdown, which came with 5:38 remaining on the clock. But the Rebels followed Beal’s second and third interceptions of the game with a missed field goal and a four-and-out that ended with Fulton running out of the side of his own end zone for an intentional safety.

That kept the deficit within a single score and set up the fateful free kick that would erase it for Abilene High.

“My brothers trusted me and I trusted them,” Bradford said. “All throughout the game — through the adversity — I trusted them, and they trusted me to go out there and make a play the last play of the game and I capitalized.”

Bradford, who came in with 1,116 total yards in essentially eight games, only had 88 offensive yards (41 rushing; 47 receiving) before the return that put the Eagles on top for good with eight seconds remaining in the game.

Beal, who was making his second start in the place of injured standout Brayden Henry, passed for 160 yards, while Ethan Joyner (28-104, 1 TD rushing) topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the fifth straight game and Churchill (4-76, 1 TD) led all Eagles receivers.

Tascosa was led by Fulton, who ran for a game-high 112 yards and passed for 157 yards and two scores.

Abilene High, which locked up a home playoff game with Friday’s win, will have a chance to clinch the outright district title next week at Lubbock Monterey (4-4, 3-1).

“Hopefully we can empty our tank next week, and then come back during the break and kind of reset,” said Fullen, whose team has a Week 11 bye week. “Hopefully we can get where we’re playing our best football at the right time.”

DISTRICT 2-5A DIV. I

ABILENE HIGH 31, AMARILLO TASCOSA 29

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th		Final
Tascosa	7	0	7	15	—	29
Abilene High	6	10	0	15	—	31

FIRST QUARTER

AHS — Camp Churchill 16 pass from Tristan Beal (kick failed), 4:45

TAS — Taurean Johnson 96 kickoff return (Charlie Whitten kick), 4:28

SECOND QUARTER

AHS — Naim Segura 43 FG, 8:36

AHS — Ethan Joyner 3 run (Segura kick), 6:10

THIRD QUARTER

TAS — TJ Tillman 14 pass from Coltyn Fulton (Jose Garcia kick), 2:13

FOURTH QUARTER

AHS — Rylan Stokes 1 run (Segura kick), 9:59

TAS — Reese Cabe 15 run (Whitten kick), 7:36

TAS — Josiah Fields 73 pass from Fulton (pass successful), 5:48

AHS — Safety: Fulton funs out of side of end zone, 0:24

AHS — Ryland Bradford 70 free kick return (kick failed), 0:08

	TAS	AHS
First downs	16	22
Rushes-Yards	38-201	38-143
Passing	157	160
Comp-Att-Int	7-9-0	12-26-3
Punts-Avg.	1-46	2-45
Fumbles-Lost	4-4	1-1
Penalties-Yards	18-150	2-27

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Tascosa, Coltyn Fulton 17-112, Taurean Johnson 3-41, Reese Cabe 5-27, Traeson Elliott 7-21, Derrion Howard 4-4, Charlie McKinney 1-2, Za’Cory Fisher 1-(-6). Abilene High, Ethan Joyner 28-104, Ryland Bradford 8-41, Rylan Stokes 1-1, Tristan Beal 1-(-3).

PASSING — Tascosa, Coltyn Fulton 7-9-0—157. Abilene High, Tristan Beal 12-26-3—160.

RECEIVING — Tascosa, Josiah Fields 2-77, TJ Tillman 2-32, Taurean Johnson 2-26, Za’Cory Fisher 1-22. Abilene High, Camp Churchill 4-76, Ryland Bradford 3-47, Bryson Perez 3-20, Adrian Munoz 1-10, Ethan Joyner 1-7.

RECORDS — Amarillo Tascosa 3-5, 2-2; Abilene High 7-2, 5-0.