Abilene Dishes Out District Road Loss

Abilene, TX – Threatening inside the Eagles’ redzone, trickery failed the Panthers and the price to be paid would be a 27-25 district road loss to Abilene High at P. E. Shotwell Stadium on Friday night.
   
Trailing by two, the Panthers had started an impressive drive from their own 13-yard line.  Ten plays later, Permian had made it’s way down to the Abilene 5-yard line before a penalty backed the ball up five yards.  With under three minutes to play, the Mojo offense faced a 3rd-and-7 on the 10-yard line.  On a called flanker reverse, AHS defensive back Noah Hatcher was recipient of the trick pass play to thwart Mojo’s hopes of reclaiming the lead.

Abilene High had come up empty on the game’s opening drive and the Black Cats took over on their own 28 yard line.  On the first play from scrimmage, Shy Stephens-Deary broke into open field and rambled 72 yards to paydirt to give Permian a 6-0 lead.  The Eagles answered with a 12-play, 63-yard scoring drive that was capped on a short touchdown run by Abel Ramirez to have the Panthers trailing 7-6 after the first 12 minutes of play.

Abilene opened the second stanza with a three-play drive that included a 75-yard bomb, but Permian came back with a touchdown down of its own to trail 14-12.  The Mojo defense forced a three-and-out to setup shop on the AHS side of the 50.  The Panthers utilized seven plays to usher a short Harper Terry quarterback keeper to take a 19-14 lead late in the quarter.

In the frame of less than a minute, both teams added another TD.  Abilene upped their score on a 26-yard pass.  Mojo used a halfback pass to recapture the lead when Rodney Hall found a wide open Cade Tschauner to close the half leading 25-21.

Defense and turnovers ruled the second half.  Permian was shutout, while Abilene was held to two field goals.  The Panthers fumbled on their own 30-yard line in the third quarter, but four plays later the Eagles coughed up the ball just inside the Mojo redzone.  The latter turnover led to the drive that died late on the game just outside the Abilene High doorstep.

Stephens-Deary led all rushers with 81 yards, followed by Terry with 76 rushing yards from 11 carries.  Tschauner finished the night with five receptions for 72 yards.  The win is Abilene High’s first in the 2020 season.  The Panthers will host Frenship, who lost to San Angelo Central, on Halloween weekend next Friday for another district game.
  

   
SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
Per – Stephens-Deary 72 run (kick failed), 7:11
Abi – Abel Ramirez 2 run (Anthony Ramirez kick), 1:43

Second Quarter
Abi – Jeshari Houston 75 pass from Ramirez (Ramirez kick), 11:46
Per – Tristan Johnson 4 run (run failed), 7:31
Per – Harper Terry 1 run (Hayden Kidd kick), 1:51
Abi – Nate Seballos 26 Ramirez (Ramirez kick), 0:28
Per – Cade Tschauner 20 pass from Rodney Hall (kick failed), 0:04

Third Quarter
Abi – Anthony Ramirez 20 FG, 5:24

Fourth Quarter
Abi – Anthony Ramirez 31 FG, 8:25