For the second straight year, the Dalhart Golden Wolves shocked the Panhandle region with a win over a highly ranked team. Last year it was a home win over the Panhandle Panthers. This year the Wolves traveled to Canadian and spoiled homecoming for the Wildcats, winning 26-7 despite being 17-point underdogs by most ranking services.
Canadian received the opening kickoff, but the Dalhart defense forced a three-and-out, making the Wildcats punt the ball. The Wolves took over at the Canadian 49-yard line after the punt.
Kash Grimsley ran for five yards on the first play, and then Kaleb Speer threw a 33-yard pass to Brett Alver to move the ball to the 11. Grimsley ran for four yards, and then Speer kept the ball on the following play, running to his right and breaking a couple of tackles to make it to the end zone for a touchdown. Dalhart led 6-0.
Canadian was able to make a couple of first downs on its next drive after the kickoff, moving to the Dalhart 21, where the Wildcats faced fourth-and-four. The Wildcats attempted a pass that fell incomplete, with Luis Deleon defending on the play, and the Wolves took over on downs.
Deleon took the ball for five yards, and then Speer hit Bay Wing for a five-yard pass and a first down. After an incomplete pass, Speer found Wing again, this time down the right side for 36 yards to the Wildcat 31.
Deleon ran for another four yards, and then Speer threw a 13-yard completion to Andrew Ramos. Alver ran for a couple of yards on the next play before Speer scrambled for three more yards to keep from taking a sack.
Speer ran for another 10 yards on a designed play to move the ball to the one-yard line for first-and-goal. After the Wolves were unable to score on first down, Alver took the ball in on second down. The extra point by Victor Unzueta gave Dalhart a 13-0 lead.
Canadian was able to score on its next drive to make the score 13-7 in favor of Dalhart, and that would turn out to be Canadian’s only points of the night.
Dalhart had to punt on its next drive, as did the Wildcats on their next series. The Wolves moved into Canadian territory on their next series but were unable to convert on fourth down, and the Wildcats took over at their own 35.
Canadian moved to the Dalhart 40 in two plays. On the next play, Santiago Marin dropped back into coverage and intercepted the Canadian pass easily, returning the ball to the Canadian 48.
The Wolves lost five yards on a penalty and then two more on a run on the next play. Speer then hit Jacob Olvera with a short pass, and Olvera ran it down the left side for a 26-yard reception to the Canadian 29.
Alver carried the ball for a short gain on the next play, and a penalty on Canadian moved the ball to the 13. Dalhart didn’t gain any yards on the following play, but Alver ran for six yards on the next play to move the ball to the seven.
Speer completed the drive with a seven-yard run for the touchdown, and the extra point by Unzueta gave the Wolves a 20-7 lead, which they carried into halftime.
Neither team was able to score in the third quarter. On the second play of the fourth quarter, Canadian completed a pass to around the Dalhart 20, but the receiver fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Grimsley.
Deleon ran for six yards, then Grimsley and Speer each added three yards on consecutive plays. Speer threw a 20-yard pass to Eli Garcia on the next play to move to the Dalhart 49.
The Wolves lost yardage on the next two plays with a run and a penalty, then Speer hit Wing for 10 yards, followed by a five-yard run by Grimsley to set up fourth-and-one. After a timeout, Speer ran for two yards and the first down.
Alver ran for three yards and then four yards, and Deleon followed with a five-yard run. Alver ran for five more yards, and a Canadian penalty moved the ball to the Wildcat 13.
Alver ran the ball again, breaking to the left and making it to the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and the Wolves led 26-7, which was the final score of the game.
Dalhart had 359 total yards, with 198 passing and 161 on the ground. Canadian was close behind with 353 yards. The big difference was turnovers, with the Wolves intercepting one pass and recovering two fumbles. The Wolves’ defense bent but never broke.
Speer completed 15 of 24 passes for 198 yards, and he also ran the ball nine times for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Alver ran it 12 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns, and Deleon ran it 11 times for 39 yards.
Wing led the team with five receptions for 53 yards, and Alver caught two passes for 42 yards. Deleon caught two passes for 33 yards, Garcia caught two passes for 28 yards, and Olvera caught one pass for 26 yards. Ramos had two receptions for 18 yards.
Eli Kelso had seven solo tackles with one tackle for a loss. Wing had five solo tackles with one assist and two tackles for a loss, and Olvera had four solo tackles and a fumble recovery.
Alver had four solo tackles and three assists, with a sack and a tackle for a loss, and Cole James had four solo tackles and one assist.
Dalhart starts district play tomorrow, Friday, October 9, at Brownfield. Due to the long distance, Dalhart ISD will release early. The Wolves have an open date next week, then play Denver City at home on October 16.
Lady Wolves in 2nd place after first round of district play
Dalhart beats River Road, Dimmitt
BY BILL KELLY
Dalhart Texan
The Dalhart Lady Wolves completed the first round of play in District 1-3A last week, taking on River Road at home and playing Dimmitt on the road. The Lady Wolves beat River Road 3-1 in a match that included one of the longest sets Dalhart has ever played, and then swept the Bobbies to move to 3-1 and into second place in the district.
Kaitlyn Sundvahl slammed the ball down for the first kill in the first set, and the Lady Wolves built up an early 6-3 lead, with several long rallies. River Road would get within one point multiple times, but Dalhart always came back to extend the lead before it was tied, eventually building it to 20-12.
The teams exchanged points the rest of the way, and Audrey Hobbs scored a kill off an assist by Sundvahl to win the set 25-17, taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Wolves built up an early lead in the second set, but River Road came back to tie it at 4-4. There were multiple ties after that, including at 11-11.
After that, the Lady Cats scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 19-13 lead until a serve by Kambry Kitchens was returned out of bounds to make it 19-14 River Road. Dalhart scored five straight points, including a kill by Joie Read that tied it at 19-19.
The score was eventually tied at 23-23, which meant that a team would have to score two straight points to win the set. Dalhart scored off an error, then River Road tied it at 24-24.
The score was tied again at 25-25, 26-26, and so on until it was 33-33 after some more long rallies. River Road was able to score two straight points to win the set 35-33, which tied the match at 1-1.
Many teams would’ve built off the momentum of winning such a long set, but the Lady Wolves made sure that didn’t happen.
The Lady Wolves scored the first four points of the third set, including a kill by Sundvahl off an assist by Alyra Rivera. There were multiple ties in that set as well until it was tied 19-19, but Read scored a kill to make it 20-19 and bring in Jewel Puga to serve.
Puga ended up serving the rest of the set, with Dalhart scoring five straight points to win that set 25-19 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Dalhart won the fourth set 25-17 to win the match 3-1.
Read led the team with 26 kills against River Road, and Sundvahl had 15 kills. Rivera, Ramirez and Hobbs each had an ace, and Hobbs and Sundvahl had three blocks each.
Sundvahl had 23 assists and Rivera had 14, while Addysin Carnesecca had 28 digs, Aubree Ramirez had 19 digs, Sundvahl had 17, and Read had 13.
The Lady Wolves played at Dimmitt on Saturday, October 3, and won that match in a sweep. Dalhart won the first set 25-8, the second set 25-10, and the third set 25-19 to win the match 3-0.
Read led the team with 14 kills, Sundvahl had 13, and Smallwood had four. Sundvahl had three aces, Rivera and Hobbs each had two aces, and Sundvahl and Speer each had one block.
Sundvahl had 17 assists and Rivera had 14 assists. Ramirez and Carnesecca each had nine digs.
As of October 5, Bushland was 3-0, Dalhart was 3-1, River Road and Friona were both 1-2, and Dimmitt was 0-3.
The other teams in the district were scheduled to finish the first round of district play on Tuesday, October 6, while Dalhart played Wildorado in a non-district match.
The Lady Wolves travel to Friona on Saturday, October 10, with the freshmen playing at 11 a.m., the JV starting at noon, and the varsity playing at 1 p.m.
Dalhart plays Bushland at home on Tuesday, October 13, with the freshmen starting at 5 p.m., the JV starting at 6 p.m., and the varsity playing at 7 p.m.
It will also be the annual Pink-Out game for the Lady Wolves in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.
