Seminole football's timely takeaways fuel win over injury-plagued Shallowater

SHALLOWATER — A year after lighting up scoreboards, the Seminole football team's defense is getting the early shine. The group came up with two interceptions, which Seminole turned into a critical pair of touchdowns just before halftime of a 35-30 win over Shallowater on Friday at Todd Field.

Highlights

Seminole took advantage of the Mustangs' misfortunate at quarterback, picking off backup Eli Bowe twice after he entered late in the first quarter. Shallowater starter Cooper Martin exited during the team's second drive and wore a sling on his left arm the rest of the night.

Austin Olivas and Jaylen Cottrell made the takeaways for Seminole, which got passing TDs by Wyatt Holmstrom on consecutive drives to take a 28-14 lead into the break.

After a safety and Kouper Boyd's rushing TD pulled the Mustangs within 28-23, Holmstrom answered with a 31-yard draw up the middle on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Friday's stars

Boyd shouldered the offensive load, carrying 29 times for 166 yards and two TDs. Shallowater was also dealing with an injury to star running back Cannon Reed, who did not suit out.

Logan McCormick was a reliable target, leading Seminole with five catches for 155 yards and a score. Caton Cramer also caught a TD to go with two rushing scores.

Notes and quotes

Seminole coach Greg Poynor: "We really hadn't been kind of punched in the mouth a little bit, so we were really anxious to see how our kids handle it. I thought our defense started off a little bit slow and then picked it up and played a lot better in the second half. … I thought our team showed a lot of resilience. That's gonna help us later on in the season."

Poynor on the defense: "If that defense can set us up with good field position, that just makes the job for the offense so much easier. And they got some big turnovers. I was really proud in the second half just getting a bunch of stops, too, without even turnovers and everything."

Shallowater coach Rodney Vincent: "I was really proud of the way they kept fighting, despite some adversity. We had some younger guys, and we had to make some changes because of injuries. There's some things we've got to get cleaned up with our younger players, but that's our job as a staff. We'll get it done."

Vincent on adjusting with a second QB: "Really proud of Eli. He's been a quarterback in our system for a while, but we had moved (his position). Really proud of him for coming back and being able to operate. He got a lot of reps this week in case that happened. The preparation he put in allowed us to keep moving offensively."

NON-DISTRICT

Seminole 35, Shallowater 30

Seminole 7 21 0 7 — 35

Shallowater 14 0 9 7 — 30

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

SHA — Dylan Stewart 7 run (Clayton Vincent kick), 8:16

SEM — Caton Cramer 1 run (Rowin Donaldson kick), 4:38

SHA — Kouper Boyd 23 (Vincent kick), 1:20

Second quarter

SEM — Cramer 1 run (Donaldson kick), 9:01

SEM — Cramer 6 pass from Wyatt Holmstrom (Donaldson kick), 0:17

Third quarter

SHA — Safety, snap out of end zone, 5:31

SHA — Boyd 3 run (Vincent kick), 1:18

Fourth quarter

SEM — Holmstrom 31 run (Donaldson kick), 11:53

SHA — Cade Burt 20 pass from Eli Bowe (Vincent kick), 0:10

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: (SEM) 17; (SHA) 19

Rushes-Yards: (SEM) 33-115; (SHA) 44-247

Passing: (SEM) 241; (SHA) 110

Comp-Att-Int: (SEM) 17-31-2; (SHA) 11-21-2

Punts-Avg: (SEM) 1-36; (SHA) 3-31.7

Fumbles-Lost: (SEM) 1-1; (SHA) 1-1

Penalties-Yards: (SEM) 7-80; (SHA) 9-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Seminole, Wyatt Holmstrom 8-47, Brayden Gonzales 12-43, Caton Cramer 9-22, Adam Garcia 3-8 . Shallowater, Kouper Boyd 29-166, Rylen Ramos 7-32, Cooper Martin 2-23, Eli Bowe 5-19, Dylan Stewart 1-7.

PASSING: Seminole, Holmstrom 17-30-2—241. Shallowater, Bowe 10-20-2—106, Martin 1-1-0—4.

RECEIVING: Seminole, Caton Cramer 7-41, Logan McCormick 5-155, Myles Espino 2-32, Gonzales 2-2, Stephen Davis 1-7, Marco Reyes 1-4. Shallowater, Cade Burt 5-36, Brody Rowin 4-34, Ramos 1-27, Jaxson Stone 1-13.

RECORDS: Seminole 2-0; Shallowater 0-2.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Seminole football's takeaways fuel win over injury-plagued Shallowater