The Mustangs roared out of the gates with touchdowns on their first two drives, scored 16 points on defense and special teams and held Amarillo in check en route to a 36-28 win in the district opener for both teams.
Shaney Wilkinson caught two touchdown passes to run his season total to five, and he added a 52-yard punt return. Kelby Combest returned an interception 16 yards for a score as part of a defensive effort by Coronado (2-0, 1-0 in 2-5A) that held Amarillo to just 73 rushing yards a week after the Sandies (1-1, 0-1) racked up 382 yards on the ground against Randall.
“I thought the kids played extremely well,” Coronado coach Butch Henderson said. “They really got after things really well and controlled the momentum, especially in the early part of the game. We had momentum and rode it a long, long way, and a lot of the credit goes to our defense with them rising up and playing and getting some scores. Those big plays are what makes the production that helps you win.”
The game followed almost an identical blueprint to Coronado’s 21-point win at El Paso Franklin last week.
Coronado took the opening kickoff and put together an impressive eight-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 10-yard catch by Wilkinson sliding in the end zone. After forcing Amarillo to go three-and-out, the Mustangs went right back to work, this time getting a 37-yard touchdown run on a draw play by Kendal Robertson to push the lead to 13-0.
“We worked on that the last couple of days before the game on all their pass routes,” Combest said. “We work on that over and over again and I knew what they were going to do. They had some tells; you could tell what they were going to do right before they did it. It can’t be just one play but that series of plays that started the momentum for us.”
Amarillo’s next possession ended in a punt, which rolled to the Coronado 48-yard line. Amarillo’s coverage team seemed to relax on the play, and Wilkinson picked up the bouncing ball, got a wall down the left sideline and went untouched for the score.
Coronado added a safety when the ball was snapped over Stockton’s head and out of the end zone. A touchdown on the ensuing drive - a 5-yard TD pass from quarterback Chris Camp to Wilkinson - made it a 36-7 game.
Amarillo’s offense, meanwhile, struggled in all phases, not just running the ball. The Sandies turned it over a total of four times and recovered four fumbles of their own. Coronado shut down running back Thomas Fraser, who had 212 yards rushing last week, allowing him just 27 yards on eight carries.
““I guess people will definitely notice us more now,” Combest said. “But it’s just one win, and we’ve got to come into next week’s game and let this one go to the past. We have to concentrate on next week no matter if we’d won or lost.”
CORONADO 36, AMARILLO 28
