Longhorns breeze by Roadrunners in first round

LOGAN - After spotting eighth-seeded New Mexico School for the Deaf an opening-possession touchdown, No. 1-seeded Logan tallied eight unanswered scores during a 62-7 victory Friday in the quarterfinals of the six-man football state tournament.

The game ended midway through the third quarter due the 50-point mercy rule. The Roadrunners, which lost to the Longhorns 54-0 the previous week in a regular-season game, ended their year with a 3-6 record.

The Longhorns (10-0) will host fourth-seeded Elida in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday. Elida (7-3) eliminated defending state champion Roy-Mosquero 52-31 on Friday.

Logan downed district foe Elida 50-0 on Sept. 20.

Logan senior running back Haden Judd proved to be a one-man wrecking crew against the Roadrunners. He ran for 107 yards and scored three touchdowns on six carries. He returned a kickoff 50 yards for a touchdown and an interception for 40 yards for another TD. He also forced a fumble that led to another Longhorns score.

Logan quarterback Aydin Kotara threw for three touchdowns, and Stratton Schoonover scored one TD each in rushing and receiving.

Like during the regular-season finale the previous week, the Longhorns defense forced four turnovers against the Roadrunners (3-6).

The Roadrunners, showing a few different looks on offense, appeared determined to make a game of it early.

Receiver Alex Gonzalez-Lopez caught consecutive passes of 29 and 24 yards - the latter for a touchdown - to give NMSD a lead early in the first quarter. Zion Holmes ran in the extra point to give the Roadrunners a 7-0 advantage.

Their opponent gaining an early advantage was what Logan coach Dwayne Roberts had feared.

"I was worried about us having the intensity to start the game because we did play them last week. The boys are thinking, 'It was 54-0,'" he said. "We just didn't have that fire."

Logan answered with a six-play, 45-yard drive punctuated by Judd's 18-yard touchdown run. Mason Wallin's PAT kick, however, sailed wide left, and Logan still trailed 7-6.

NMSD moved the ball to Logan's 21-yard line but got no closer. A fourth-down pass intended for Gonzalez-Lopez fell incomplete.

After allowing a sack, Logan faced a second down with 41 yards to go. But Kotara on a scramble took advantage of a lot of space on the left side and appeared to have scored a 67-yard touchdown. The score was disallowed because he was penalized for hurdling a tackler near the goal line.

Undeterred, Judd scored on an 18-yard run the next play for a 12-7 Logan lead.

On Logan's next possession, Wallin caught a 12-yard pass to NMSD's 19-yard line, setting up a 12-yard TD run by Schoonover. Wallin made the kick for a 20-7 lead early in the second period.

A 9-yard run by Judd added another 15 yards after the Roadrunners were penalized for grabbing his face mask. That set up Schoonover's 12-yard TD pass reception from Kotara for a 28-7 lead.

On NMSD's next possession, Judd stripped the ball from a ball carrier in the backfield. Logan recovered at the Roadrunners' 6-yard line.

On the next play, Wallin outjumped defenders in the end zone and caught a 6-yard pass from Kotara. Wallin's subsequent kick hit the upright and bounced back onto the field, keeping the score 34-7.

After the kickoff, Devin Kotara stripped the ball from a Roadrunners ball carrier and Wallin recovered at NMSD's 10-yard line.

That set up a 10-yard touchdown reception by Jace Jackson from Kotara. Wallin kicked the PAT for a 42-7 lead.

Two plays from scrimmage later, Logan's Payson Nials read a deep pass play and made an interception at Logan's 22-yard line.

The turnover set up Judd's 44-yard TD run shortly after that. Wallin's PAT give his team a 50-7 lead.

The series of forced turnovers showed his team had shaken off its slow start, Roberts said.

"Once we got going, turnovers started happening, the defense got going and the offense got going," he said. "Things started rolling once they kind of woke up."

Late in the second period, Roberts inserted his second-string players into the offense.

"We were trying to give those young guys a chance," he said. "Those young guys, they may not get in these next two games and wanted them to have a chance to play."

On the second-half kickoff return, Devin Kotara flipped the ball back to Judd, who raced 50 yards for a touchdown. Wallin tried a pass in the extra point, but it fell incomplete. Logan led 56-7.

Four plays later, Judd picked off a Roadrunners pass near the sideline and returned it 40 yards for the game-ending TD with 6:39 left in the quarter.