High school football rewind: Garden City, Junction gut out wins; San Angelo teams take tough losses

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The second week of the Texas high school football season is over, but there are still plenty of interesting outcomes at which to look back.

West Texas squads finished Week 2 with a record of 12-23, which is considerably lower than Week 1 . With the two weeks combined, West Texas high school football teams face a record of 28-41-1 — a winning percentage of .328. However, there is plenty of time left in a season with many mountains and valleys.

Here is a rundown of highlights and observations from Week 2 games around the San Angelo, Concho Valley and West Texas areas:

Standout games

Garden City 68, Robert Lee 60

The Bearkats (2-0) take down another preseason top-25 team for the second week. Last week, Garden City beat No. 22 Nazareth 62-44 and turned around to beat No. 22 Robert Lee (1-1) 68-60 in a four-quarter thriller.

Garden City took an early 14-0 lead, but the Steers fought back in the second quarter, and the two teams never led by more than eight points the rest of the game.

The Bearkats proved the doubters wrong through the first two weeks for a team that was projected to finish outside of the playoff race in its district.

"It's great to see us battle," Garden City coach Jeff Jones said. "We get behind at times and adversity hits, but we overcome it. With as little experience as we have, it's great to see the kids being able to do that."

Garden City travels to Ackerly to take on Sands (1-1) next week. The Mustangs are fresh off a 68-18 win over O'Donnell.

"I think (Sands) is kinda like us," Jones said. "I think they're pretty young and inexperienced like us... I think they got some good players, and they're well-coached and take a lot of pride in what they do. Last year, they played us within a touchdown, so that could be some unfinished business on their part, so they're going to be raring to go. It's going to be a tough test for us."

The Steers hit the road again next week as they travel to No. 25 Ira for a bounce-back game.

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Junction 28, San Saba 27

A 14-point lead is rarely safe in Texas high school football.

The Eagles (2-0) proved that in their narrow 28-27 win over San Saba (1-1), where they trailed by 14-0 early, and 21-14 at the half.

After a defensive battle against Grape Creek, the Armadillo's quarterback Luke Tharp put together a huge performance, accounting for all four of their touchdowns. For Junction, the early deficit was a stark contrast to last week's dominant 40-6 win over Goldthwaite, where they scored 40 unanswered points.

"It's always good to come out with a win," Junction coach Scott Foster said. "It was a little bit sloppy, but again, a win is a win, and we showed a lot of heart. We showed some guts coming back down 14-0 and then came out in the second half ready to go."

Junction travels north to face off against 3A Divison II Early (1-1), while the Armadillos face off against Goldthwaite (1-1) at home.

Ozona 28, Eldorado 19

Last week, the Lions (2-0) burst out to a quick lead over McCamey and never looked back in a 60-0 win.

This week, the Eagles (1-1) and Lions were at a 0-0 stalemate after the first quarter. Both teams eventually broke through in the second, and Ozona took a 13-7 lead going into halftime. The two teams traded blows in the second half, but the Eagles were unable to close on the Lions' lead.

The running game led the way for the Lions in Week 1, but it was quarterback Hudson Fowler and wide receiver Michael Daniels connecting for three scores that brought home the win this week.

"(Daniels) is one of our leaders and a vocal leader," Ozona coach Jarryd Taylor said. "He has started on varsity for us all four years. This year, he's been more present on offense than we've needed him to be in the past... When teams try to stuff the run, we can get it to Daniels out wide, so he's helped us quite a bit."

The Lions' tough non-district schedule continues as Brady (1-1) comes to town. The Eagles hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Sonora (0-2) and take on a Broncos team hungry for their first win.

San Angelo ISD Schools

Amarillo High 48, San Angelo Central 45

What looked like a blowout loss for the Bobcats (0-2) down 48-14 in the third quarter against Amarillo (1-0) turned into a gutsy comeback where Central scored 34 unanswered points in the second half.

Unfortunately for the Bobcats, time expired as they tried to march down the field to take the lead in the fourth quarter, resulting in a tough road loss.

Central took an early 14-0 lead, but stalled offensive drives, turnovers and defensive miscues turned into a 35-14 deficit at the half.

The Sandies increased their lead to the largest of the night when two defensive penalties set them up with excellent field position midway through the third quarter.

The Bobcats then went on their 34-0 run in the last quarter in a half and converted four 2-point tries on all their touchdowns.

The Bobcats (0-2) travel to Abilene Cooper (0-2), coach Mark Smith's alma mater, aiming to get their first win in over a year.

Snyder 40, Lake View 36

Lake View (0-2) was on the precipice of ending its losing streak, but the Tigers (1-1) produced some end-game magic to eke out the win — the first under new coach Anthony Gonzales.

Lake View took an early 14-0 lead after a touchdown pass and run from sophomore quarterback Chris Alvizo in his first start.

Snyder responded by scoring two touchdowns but trailed 21-20 after the first half because of a failed two-point conversion.

Both teams traded scoring runs in the second half, knotting the game at 34-34 midway through the fourth quarter.

Facing a third down on the Lake View 20-yard line, Tigers quarterback Aedyn Claxton was moments away from a would-be sack before he flipped the ball to running back Daenin Smith for a touchdown to retake the lead with less than a minute left.

The Chiefs host Lamesa (0-2) next week. Last year, the Chiefs beat the Golden Tornadoes on the road, which was the team's last win.

FULL STORY: Snyder football taps into late game magic against Lake View in Anthony Gonzales's first win

Other West Texas scores

Lubbock High 31, Big Spring 20

Cisco 62, TLCA San Angelo 8

Brownwood 17, Wall 7

Reagan County 34, Grape Creek 20

Mason 47, Brady 19

Coahoma 48, Roscoe 14

Johnson City 36, Sonora 35

Post 32, Forsan 30

McCamey 40, Colorado City 24

Miles 55, Sterling city 20

Munday 41, Winters 6

Goldthwaite 62, Center Point 6

Hermleigh 36, Water Valley 28

Rankin 60, Irion County 12

Westbrook 68, Jonesboro 36

Veribest 70, Santa Anna 0

Rochelle 83, Menard 34

Sydney 26, Eden 25

Bronte 28, Rule 18

Zephyr 56, Blackwell 8

Loraine 52, Paint Rock 6

Richland Springs 62, St. Joseph Catholic 15

Lohn 53, Olfen 6

Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com . Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @Paul_Witwer.

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: High school football rewind: Garden City, Junction gut out wins; San Angelo teams take tough losses