'Rock regroups to smother Levelland, 28-8

LEVELLAND - Caprock's start against Levelland was so slow, the Longhorns' bus drivers had trouble finding Lobo Stadium.

But things improved and the Longhorns rattled off three consecutive scoring drives on their way to a 28-8 win in a high school nondistrict football game Friday night.

"It took us a while to get a groove going," Caprock head football coach Seth Parr said. "But once they (the Longhorns) got it going, they started playing sound football."

Caprock (3-1) took a 7-0 lead in the first period on a Jamar Johnson 15-yard touchdown run with 5:40 left in the first period.

"We just tried to speed the game up as much as possible, what with their homecoming and the long halftime," Parr said. "It took a while to get our motor running, but this is our third road trip in a row."

Levelland appeared to suffer a blow when quarterback Ramiro Del Campo, who was named Texas Football's Player of the Week for his performance against Brownfield last week, went down with an apparent ankle injury.

However, the Lobos rallied behind sophomore backup quarterback Nick Runkles and scored nine plays later on a 7-yard pass from Runkles to wide receiver Cameron Price.

The Lobos lined up in the swinging gate for the two-point conversion and Omar Gonzales threw out of it to Price for two points and the Lobos led, 8-7, with 10:42 left in the first half.

Caprock regained the lead with 17 seconds left in the first half when quarterback Gerardo Ruiz threw a 50-yard scoring strike to receiver Tobias Milton. Addison McCullay's PAT kick gave Caprock a 14-8 lead.

That was the first of three touchdown passes for Ruiz, who completed 15-of-25 passes for 197 yards with one interception. His other touchdown passes covered 30 yards to Milton and 14 yards to Johnson, both in the third quarter.

"Gerardo is just calm, cool and collected," Parr said. "He executed our offense really well."

Johnson rushed for 118 yards on 13 carries.

Caprock has one more nondistrict outing, against Lubbock Christian, before starting District 3-4A play.

"Our goal is in the district race," Parr said. "All these (nondistrict) W's are great. They're not the norm and we're trying to make it the norm, but at the same time, we know we've got to win in district."

Caprock 7 7 14 0 - 28

Levelland 0 8 0 0 - 8

CAP-Jamar Johnson 5 run (Addison McCullay kick)

LEV-Cameron Price 7 pass from Nick Runkles (Omar Gonzales pass to Price)

CAP-Tobias Milton 50 pass from Gerardo Ruiz (McCullay kick)

CAP-Milton 30 pass from Ruiz (McCullay kick)

CAP-Johnson 14 pass from Ruiz (MCullay kick)

CAP LEV

First Downs 25 13

Rushes-Yards 22-146 28-60

Passing Yards 206 150

Passes 16-28-1 18-29-0

Punts 2-33 6-32.6

Penalties 6-59 4-26

Fumbles 2-1 1-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Caprock, Johnson 13-118, Baker Jermon 6-23, Kaleen Jones 1-10, Michael Guerrero 1-1, Milton 1-(minus-4); Levelland, Preston Woodard 12-27, Del Campo 4-21, Rene Gonzales 3-11, Jonathan Rodriguez 1-0, Andrew Vidales 1-(minus-7), Runkles 7-(minus-18).

Passing: Caprock, Ruiz 15-25-1-197, Guerrero 1-3-0-9; Levelland, Runkles 15-25-0-117, Del Campo 3-4-0-33.

Receiving: Caprock, Jimmy Maldonaldo 6-42, Milton 3-81, Darrian Sommers 2-30, Oscar Najera 2-24, Gerardo Alevalo 2-15, Johnson 1-14, Joel Hernandez 1-9; Levelland, Price 7-76, Woodard 3-5, Quintin Vest 2-37, Gonzales 2-9, Rodriguez 2-8, Bo Armes 1-18, Carson Clevenger 1-7.