It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Amarillo can now relate to. They were outmatched by the Richland Royals on the road and fell 55-27. While losing is never fun, the Sandies can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 258th, while the Royals are ranked 59th).
Several Sandies players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Jett Lopez, who threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, and also punched in a rushing score. Jude Dunivin helped Lopez out on the ground, rushing for 97 yards, while also picking up 36 receiving yards.
Drew Kates continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Richland, throwing for 399 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 14.8 yards per attempt, and also rushing for 55 yards and a touchdown on only five carries. Kates' passing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 334 passing yards. Jayshon Gibson was another key player, rushing for 135 yards and three touchdowns.
Amarillo's loss dropped their record down to 6-5. As for Richland, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 10-2.
Amarillo does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Richland, they will challenge Ryan at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Richland's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last five games.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
