Abilene High 20, Amarillo Tascosa 0

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

The Abilene High football team had yet to give up a point in August because high school football had never taken place that early.

The streak continued after the Eagles posted a 20-0 shutout over Amarillo Tascosa Friday night at Shotwell Stadium.

"Honestly, I don't know the last time Abilene High had a shutout," AHS head coach Steve Warren said.

The Eagles took their opening possession and marched down the field 73 yards in nine plays.

Senior running back Sneezy Beltran, who is expected to carry the rushing load for the Eagles this season, gained 62 of the 73 yards, including runs of 30 and 16 yards.

"That's Sneezy -- he's going to get his yards," quarterback Frankie Munoz said. "He's one of the best backs in the state, and he opens up a lot for me. I think the offensive line played well for us, too."

After the drive stalled on the Rebels' two-yard line, Ramiro Rodriguez scored the first points of the season for AHS by booting a 19-yard field goal to give AHS a 3-0 lead.

Warren said there was no hesitation on his part to go for the field goal, though the Eagles needed just one yard for the first down.

"On the opening drive, when you have it go around 10 or 11 plays, you want to put points on the board," he said. "I knew we could get the first down, but I wanted to get ahead here for the first game of the season. Maybe some time in the middle of the season we'd go for it, but not here."

Tascosa took its first possession and managed to move down to the Abilene 25 yard line, but quarterback Byron Carter fumbled the exchange on fourth-and-two, and the Eagles took over on downs.

Neither team made much noise the rest of the first half. The Rebels managed three first downs on their first possession, but failed to record a first down the remainder of the half.

Part of their ineffectiveness was due to an injury to star running back Shawn Samuel, who left the game in the first half after getting kicked in the butt which forced his muscle to tighten up. He finished the game with five carries for two yards.

The ineffectiveness of the Rebel offense in the second half could be attributed to tough defense by the Eagles.

Andre Moore recovered a fumble for the Eagles on the first offensive series by Tascosa, and AHS followed it up with a three-play drive that ended in a two-yard run by Beltran that gave the Eagles a 9-0 lead.

Tascosa managed just two more offensive plays on its next possession before Matt Cope came up with the second fumble recovery with just less than two minutes.

Four plays later, Munoz scrambled in from three yards to give the Eagles a comfortable 17-0 advantage.

"I thought we played exceptionally well in the first half, then we came out and gave them 14 easy points," Tascosa head coach Doug McCutchen said. "That's tough to overcome against a good team."

Warren said the Eagle coaches talked at halftime about how the defense needed to step up during the second half.

"We told them we wanted to swarm to the football more," he said. "We said if they did that it would create some turnovers, and you never know what will happen. We challenged them and they responded."

The win may prove costly for the Eagles, however. Center Dominic Horton and defensive end Chesrick Pope were lost in the first half due to injuries.

"Dominick has a severly sprained ankle and Chesrick did something to his knee," Warren said. "We don't know what's going to happen with them, we'll just have to wait and see and evaluate it in the morning."

Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or at sports@abinews.com