Apache hands Walters first loss in dominant 16-0 win
By Glen Brockenbush
APACHE - After an undefeated start to its season, Walters was brought back to earth in a big way at Apache’s Chandler Field on Friday night.
A disastrous opening few minutes for the Blue Devils - plus an outstanding performance by the Apache defense - gave the hosts a 16-0 victory that puts the Warriors in the driver’s seat for the District A-2 championship.
It took less than a minute for Apache to strike as sophomore quarterback Houston Herrin found his way through the line of scrimmage and to daylight for a 63-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds gone in the ballgame.
The two-point conversion made it 8-0.
Things went from bad to worse when the Blue Devils took over on offense. On its very first play from scrimmage, Walters fumbled, with Apache recovering.
However, rather than punch it in for another quick score, the Warriors fumbled inside the Blue Devils’ 5-yard line. Even though the Warriors didn’t score points on that drive, setting up Walters deep in its own territory was still massive, and it was all thanks to the fumble recovery.
It was one of three lost fumbles for the Blue Devils on the night.
“Turnovers were big,” Apache coach Tanner Koons said. “Any time they’re running the triple option, that’s always a thing, where the pitch might go awry, and we thought the ball might be on the ground, so we told the kids, ‘Let’s get hats around the ball.’”
The Warriors recovered another Walters fumble and got in the red zone quickly. On fourth down, Herrin punched it in for another touchdown, with a two-pointer once again being successful, giving the Warriors a 16-0 lead.
Herrin, the son of nationally ranked rodeo tie-down roper Hunter Herrin, ran 29 times for 172 yards just a week after turning 16. The running game was so effective, the Warriors rarely had to pass, with a few passes to Dakota Roberts and Dom Scott the highlights.
But the real star of the show for Apache was the defense. Even though Walters was without running back and linebacker Clay Graham, the Blue Devils still expected to be able to move the ball better than they did.
On the night, Walters totaled negative 14 yards rushing and 13 yards passing for minus 1 yard of offense. Couple that with 72 yards of penalties, and it was hard to make any sort of dent into the Warriors’ lead.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” Walters coach Chuck Terry said. “We fumbled twice early. Their first touchdown, we just didn’t get lined up the way we should have.”
Still, it wasn’t as if Apache played a spotless performance, either. The Warriors had 75 yards of penalties and didn’t score any points after the first few minutes of the game.
Outside of the long touchdown run by Herrin, the Walters defense stood strong against the Warriors, with neither team making much leeway in the third quarter.
The game was pretty chippy, with nearly 150 penalty yards and plenty of trash talk. While he didn’t want his players focusing on it, Koons knew the rivalry between the two schools - who have had dust-ups at football, basketball and baseball games over the past two years - was real.
“We told them it was going to be an emotional game, but we talked to them about funneling those emotions into execution,” Koons said. “I told them, ‘A big boy takes his emotions and channels them into execution.'
"And that’s what they did (Friday), and I was really proud of that.”
With half the fourth quarter left to play, Walters appeared to have its biggest play of the night on a 40-yard pass, but a holding call wiped out the gain. Shortly thereafter, the Blue Devils fumbled the ball yet again and gave the Warriors the ball at Walters' 29-yard line.
From there, the Warriors milked clock and eventually kneeled with the ball inside the Walters 10-yard line, giving Koons the biggest victory in his first year at the helm.
As for Walters, there is no more talk of an unbeaten season. But unlike NFL teams who generally fall short of the 1972 Miami Dolphins ahead of the playoffs, Terry isn’t necessarily viewing this as a burden off his team’s shoulders.
The Blue Devils still have a chance to claim a home playoff game, and that’s their primary focus.
“Well, we don’t ever want to lose, we’ve lost around here long enough,” Terry said. “But we talked about it after the game; we got that out of the way and just need to continue to get better.”
Apache (6-2, 5-0 in District A-2) heads to Empire/Temple next week before closing the season at home against Carnegie. Walters (7-1, 4-1) hosts Hobart before finishing up at Cordell.
