Mojo magic vanishes

Thirty-eight unanswered points against mighty Mojo?

Running back Heath Herrington rolling up 253 yards rushing against Odessa Permian?

Believe it.

Amarillo High, down 20-0 eight seconds into the second quarter, put on a show rarely seen against the boys of "Friday Night Lights" and Texas high school football fame.

Sparked by a 70-yard run for a touchdown by Herrington early in the second quarter, and its defensive front rush the final three quarters, inspired AHS steamrolled Permian for 38 unanswered points, rolling off a 38-26 victory Friday before 9,000 fans in Dick Bivins Stadium and opening the eyes of the rest of District 2-5A.

The Sandies and Mojo have played each year during the regular season since 1986, and this marked the fourth time the Sandies have won in those 24 meetings.

"They outplayed us," said Permian coach Gary Gaines. "They outcoached us. They outrushed us. They deserved to win."

No doubt, several AHS players made key plays throughout the inspiring performance, but standing at the front of the line was Herrington.

Herrington entered Friday owning 218 rushing yards in the Sandies opening three games. Time and again, taking handoffs out of the shotgun, Herrington ran behind strong zone blocking for big yards,chewing up Permian for 253 yards on 24 carries.

Herrington produced runs of 12 yards or longer eight times and scored on scampers of 70, 9 and 2, his second touchdown just before half putting AHS ahead for good at 21-20.

"This is a dream," said Herrington. "Don't pinch me. Don't wake me up. But this wasn't about me it's the rest of the team. Our o-line stepped it up. Our defense stepped up."

AHS won by overcoming a disastrous start and winning a first half producing massive swings of momentum changes.

Odessa Permian appeared headed to blowout racing out to a 20-0 lead eight seconds into the second quarter.

"We weren't dead at that point, I thought we were ready to play," said AHS coach Brad Thiessen. "I'm sure that 70 yard run by Heath was the spark. And then our defensive front was probably the difference in them not being able to throw the ball. I'm proud of these guys."

Permian scored in the first quarter on a pair of quarterback Steven Pipes touchdown passes in length of 48 and 22-yards - the longest TD arriving one play after a fumble. The Panthers then appeared to punch all the wind out of AHS when cornerback Brennan Welch jumped a short pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown and the 20-0 lead with 11 minutes and 52 seconds left in the first half.

That final 11:52 of the first half - and the entire second half - were all Amarillo High.

Sparked by the running of Herrington and the hustling play of defensive lineman Tommy Glover, Tyler Dollar and James Castleman, the Sandies reeled off 21 unanswered points for a 21-20 lead at half.

Herrington jump started the Sandies dead battery when he took a delayed handoff out of the shotgun straight up the middle, wiggled through the Permian secondary, and scored on a 70-yard run 41 seconds after Welch's interception.

"You could tell that fired us up," Herrington said. "The crowd started getting into it. Down 20-0 we didn't panic. We had such a good mindset coming into the game. The coaches did a great job of preparing us. We never got down on ourselves. We got it done."

AHS' defense held Permian without points on six consecutive possessions between from the second quarter until late in the game. The Sandies sacked Pipes four times and Glover, Castleman and Dollar produced several other hurries.

AHS linebacker Conner Jacob also recovered a fumble.

AHS outrushed Permian 291-62 and racked up 484 yards of offense.

Odessa Permian 14 6 0 6 - 26

Amarillo High 0 21 7 7 - 38

OP-Talon Smith 22 pass from Steven Pipes (Taylor Martin kick)

OP-Felix Neboh 48 pass from Pipes (Martin kick)

OP-Brennan Welch 41 interception return (run failed)

AHS-Heath Herrington 70 run (Austin Sasser kick)

AHS-J.C. Casas 1 run (Sasser kick)

AHS-Herrington 2 run (Sasser kick)

AHS-Herrington 9 run (Sasser kick)

AHS-Will Bryant 5 pass from Casas (Sasser kick)

OP-Neboh 21 pass from Pipes (pass failed)

AHS Permian

First Downs 25 00

Yards Rushing 291 62

Yards Passing 193 219

Total Yards Gained 484 281

Comp-Att-Int 18-23-1 16-29-0

Punts-Avg. 3-36.3 6-31.6

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-1

Penalties-Yards 4-40 6-40

RUSHING - Odessa Permian: DeAnthony Fay 13-146, Steven Pipes 11-16. Amarillo High: Heath Herrington 24-253, Dalton Keller 1-(-)2, J.C. Casas 6-(-)8, Clint Lee 8-38.

PASSING - Odessa Permian: Steven Pipes 16-29-0-219; Amarillo High: J.C. Casas 18-23-1-193.

RECEIVING - Odessa Permian: Felix Neboh 4-63, Eli Torres 2-30, Talon Smith 2-38, Ron Holmes 1-11, Tommey Morris 5-67, DeAnthony Fay 1-3, Alfonso Zubiate 1-11. Amarillo High: Will Bryant 9-92, Dalton Koller 4-50, Heath Herrington 3-34, Haeden Henderson 1-8.