The Abilene Eagles picked up right where they left off in the Class 5A Division I bi-district round of the state football playoffs Thursday night, demolishing El Paso Parkland 84-0. The Eagles have scored 84 points in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Cooper was in El Paso for its Class 5A Division II bi-district game, and despite one of their best offensive nights of the season, one of the best quarterbacks in the state ended the Cougars’ season in a 63-35 El Paso Del Valle win.
Abilene High 84, El Paso Parkland 0
The Eagles (8-3) will continue their playoff run next week against defending state champion Aledo (10-1), which beat Fort Worth Chisholm Trail, 63-7, Friday night in the bi-district round. The game will be played Friday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. at Newsom Stadium in Mansfield.
In their win over the Parkland Matadors, the Eagles scored on all 10 offensive possessions and twice on interceptions returned for touchdowns. The Eagles tied their all-classification playoff record by scoring 70 points in the first half, equaling the mark they set in last year’s 84-14 bi-district win over El Paso Hanks.
The second half was played with a running clock, meaning the clock didn’t stop unless either team called a timeout or after a kickoff following a touchdown. AHS got the ball first and used eight plays and 6:57 to drive to a touchdown. After Parkland ran four plays on its first possession of the third quarter, the Eagles got the ball back and ran off almost the rest of the game clock to drive to its final score with 2:34 left. Parkland ran one play in the game's final minutes and finished the second half with just five offensive plays.
In the victory, Abilene High tied or set several UIL and program records:
• AHS tied its own UIL record for most points in a Class 5A bi-district game (the record was 84, set by Abilene High in an 84-14 win over El Paso Hanks in 2023).
• AHS tied its own all-classification UIL record for most points in the first half of any game (the record is 70, set by Abilene High in an 84-14 win over El Paso Hanks in 2023).
• The Eagles set the program record for the largest margin of victory in a game in modern history (since 1950).
• The Eagles set the program record for most interceptions in a playoff game (five), and most interceptions returned for touchdowns (two).
• Tristan Beal set the program record for touchdown passes in a playoff game (5), breaking the mark of 4 by Kevin Goodman against El Paso Andress and tied vs. South Grand Prairie (both in 1999).
• In the game, Ryland Bradford broke the school’s record for receiving yards in a career as he finished the night with 94 yards to give him 2,194 yards, surpassing the mark of 2,148 yards set by Raekwon Millsap (2014-17).
• Bradford had two more touchdown receptions to give him 18 this season, extending his single-season school record.
• Bradford is first in career touchdown receptions (33) and third in career catches (127), and he is fourth in single-season yards (1,064).
• Placekicker Naim Segura is second in AHS history with 150 PATs, tied for fourth with 17 career field goals, and second in kicking points (201).
• The win was Abilene High’s 75th all-time playoff victory; only 31 schools in Texas have more playoff wins.
• The victory was the 740th all-time win in Abilene High program history (since 1906), tied with Tyler John Tyler for 13th-most in Texas high school football history.
El Paso Del Valle 63, Cooper 35
Despite a valiant effort, the Cougars end their season at 4-7. Cooper won its final three regular-season games to earn the No. 4 seed from District 2-5A Division II and a spot in the playoffs. But Del Valle quarterback Jake Fette and the Conquistadors’ offense proved too challenging of a hurdle to overcome for the Cougars in their first loss ever against an El Paso opponent (18-1).
Cooper fell behind 21-0 in El Paso in the first 14:07 of the game. Fette – a four-star recruit committed to Arizona State – threw a 56-yard touchdown pass and scored on a 28-yard run to push his team to the three-score lead. The Cougars battled back to cut the lead to 14 points three times but never could get closer the rest of the night. The last time they were within two scores was with 1:58 left in the third quarter when Jaden Carrillo returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to make it a 42-28 game.
In the loss, Cooper players put themselves in the program record book for the following:
• Carrillo’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown is the 12th-longest in all games in Cooper’s history and the fourth-longest kickoff return for a touchdown in a playoff game in program history.
• Senior wide receiver Zavian Alexander finished a spectacular 2024 season with seven catches for 96 yards and one touchdown. He finished the 2024 season with 81 catches for 956 yards and 12 touchdowns.
• Alexander’s 81 catches are second in a season in Cooper’s history behind Myller Royals (91 in 2017) and in front of the late Jon Harrison (78 in 1967). The 12 touchdown receptions are good for sixth in Cooper football history.
• He finishes his career with 102 catches (10th overall) for 1,238 yards (11th overall) and 14 touchdowns (eighth).
Note: Photos for this story appear with permission from Daniel Youngblood of BigCountryPreps.com (Abilene High photo) and Omar Ornelas of the El Paso Times (Cooper photo).