On Senior night for the Chapin Huskies at Irvin Memorial Stadium, the Huskies defeated the Del Valle Conquistadores by a score of 14-10 to claim the District 1-5a D1 Title.
Both teams entered the game with 7-2 overall records 2-0 in District play and almost mirror images of the other on defense. The Defense lived up to the hype for both teams.
Chapin took the opening kickoff and drove the ball 75 yards to open the scoring with a Quarterback Mason Standefer Touchdown Pass to Anthony Rivera to take a 7-0 lead that would hold for most of the 1st half.
The Chapin Defense would stop Del Valle’s running and passing game, holding them to 4 straight 3-and-outs. Del would not get their initial first down of the game until the 10:03 mark in the 2nd quarter.
Del Valle would drive the ball down to the Chapin 25 and be stopped and their Kicker Isaac Williams would hit a 33 yard field goal to make the score 7-3 before the half.
Del Valle’s Defense would also tighten up after the initial drive keeping the Huskies from scoring despite having field position on or beyond midfield for most of their possessions, Del Valle would seemingly alway stop their drives in the red-zone the most opportune stop coming off Santiago Sianez interception in the end-zone to keep the Chapin out of the endzone.
Chapin Quarterback Mason Strandefer entered the game with only 5 interceptions against his 44 Touchdowns, but would be intercepted twice to keep the Conquistadors in the game.
The Second half opened with Del Valle Quarterback Jesse Ramos connecting with Eli Molina on a 57 Yard Touchdown Pass to give the Conquistadors their only lead of the game at 10-7.
Del Valle’s Defense would force a 3-and-out on the next possession and would force a Chapin punt and take the ball all the way to the Chapin 5 Yard Line. With all the momentum Del Valle seemed poised to score a touchdown and extend their lead to two possessions but the Chapin Defense would cause Jesse Ramos to fumble on the goal line and recover the ball on their own 3 yard line.
What would happen on the next Chapin possession would be a drive for the ages as Mason Strandeter would engineer a 17 play 97 yard touchdown drive with key catches by Timothy Pastran and runs by Giovani Aguilar to reclaim the lead at 14 to 10.
Chapin had an opportunity to seal the victory driving the ball to the Del Valle 15 Yardline but the Del Valle Defense would stop Giovani Aguilar on 4 and 2 to get the ball back on their own 15 with 1:22 left in the game and no time outs.
Del Valle would get 2 first downs in their hurry up and drive to the Chapin 39 but the Husky defense would Sack Jesse Ramos forcing him to spike the ball on the next play and setting up a pass to the middle of the field. Ramos frantically would hurry to the line to spike the ball with 3 seconds to play when a flag would be thrown as Del Valle receiver Brenden Telles had not gotten set on the previous play causing an illegal shift penalty and with the 10 second run off the game would be over and Chapin would claim the District Title.
Chapin improves to 8-2 overall and finishes District play with the title and a 3-0 District Record and will host Caprock in the Bi-District Round of the playoffs. The Del Valle Conquistadors fall to 7-3 overall 2-1 in District and will host Amarillo in the Bi-District Round.
Chris Gomez, Tony Grijalva, Johnny Tegg reporting