Lamaron Smith celebrates picking up a first down against MacArthur on Thursday night. Smith finished with 72 yards rushing and two touchdowns on four carries in Tascosa's 65-21 win. (Courtesy/Amarillo Globe News)
AMARILLO, Texas — The MacArthur offense couldn’t get out of its own way.
Crucial turnovers haunted the Highlanders throughout the game, leading to a 65-21 loss to Tascosa in an inter-state matchup at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo on Thursday night. The defeat dropped Mac to 1-2 for the first time since 2010.
The Highlanders committed five turnovers for the second-straight week, and the Rebels took advantage, scoring 21 points off the miscues.
“It’s hard to win any game when you have five turnovers,” Mac coach Brett Manning said. “When you do it against a quality opponent — a really good team — that pretty much makes it impossible.
“I don’t know if we could’ve beat them anyway, but it was just disappointing we didn’t really give ourselves much of a chance.”
Quarterback JR Winningham was responsible for two of the turnovers, throwing a pair of interceptions — one of which served as the turning point in the game.
After falling behind 15-0 early, the Highlanders had a chance to tie the game after a 33-yard touchdown run from Racer Felter and a strong defensive stop, but it wasn’t to be.
Winningham threw his first interception to Jacob Plunk, who jumped in front of an ill-advised screen pass, returning it 26 yards to the Mac 4-yard line.
Lamaron Smith scored on the next play, making it 22-7. It was Smith’s second touchdown run — the first coming on a 65-yard dash on Tascosa’s third play from scrimmage.
Winningham finished with 59 yards on 6-of-16 passing, throwing two interceptions and no touchdowns in consecutive weeks.
Felter replaced the senior in the second half, and though Manning said he appreciates the contributions Winningham has made the past two seasons, he is weighing all his options regarding the starting role.
“I haven’t totally made up my mind yet,” Manning said. “It’s kind of a weird situation. You have the senior (Winningham), who is one of our leaders, but the sophomore (Felter) has proven to be more dynamic. He’s making mistakes too, but it seems like they’re both making sophomore mistakes right now.
“At the very least, we’re going to see much, much more of Racer.”
Running back Nick Mahan also committed a costly turnover, mishandling a handoff from Felter, and Daemian Gray scooped up the fumble and took it 56 yards for a score, putting Manning’s squad in a 22-point hole with 8:30 left in the half.
The Highlanders hoped a 40-minute lightning delay would help turn things around, but it served to only fuel Tascosa, erasing any chance of a Mac comeback.
After forcing a quick three-and-out when play resumed, the Rebels struck again when Connor McAnaul found Deveion Gray for a 22-yard touchdown pass, increasing the advantage to 36-7 and putting the game out of reach for good.
The Highlanders had another opportunity to score before halftime, but another Winningham interception ended an otherwise promising drive. Luckily for Mac, it didn’t lead to any points.
Manning refused to use the unexpected break as an excuse for his team’s performance after the delay.
“I don’t know if it did have an effect on them,” Manning said. “We came out and pretty much picked up right where we left off with us making mistakes and them capitalizing on them.”
The Rebels wasted little time getting things started in the second half.
McAnaul scrambled 47 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the half, increasing the lead to an unforeseen 44-7 margin.
McAnaul finished with 82 yards rushing on nine carries.
Mahan managed to find the end zone on a 1-yard run the next possession, but it made no difference in the outcome for the Highlanders.
Only 14 seconds later, Tascosa’s King Doerue broke through the Mac defense, splitting defenders on the way to a 70-yard touchdown run.
The Highlanders lost another fumble on its next drive, and Doerue made the Highlanders pay for it, recording his second rushing score in as many drives to make it 58-14 with 11:54 remaining in the contest.
Along with McAnaul, Doerue was one of three Rebels to finish with 70-plus rushing yards, leading the team with 91 yards on only six carries. McKellar Taylan was the other, accumulating 79 yards on the ground on five carries.
Mac did catch a break when a Tascosa fumble bounced into the hands of linebacker Rylan Webb, who returned the loose ball 18 yards for a touchdown, trimming the deficit to 58-21.
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the Rebels weren’t done running up the score on their Oklahoma foe.
Taylan answered with a 55-yard touchdown run with 2:06 left, finishing off Tascosa’s third 3-0 start in the past four years.
Tascosa finished with 468 total yards — 401 of which came on the ground.
Mac racked up 354 yards of offense in the loss. Felter and Mahan both eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the Highlanders, finishing with 111 and 109 yards, respectively.
Mac begins district play next week against Western Heights (2-1) at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Cameron Stadium, followed by a road trip to El Reno (2-1) on Sept. 29.
The Highlanders should win both games, but Manning said his team must realize there are things that need to be improved if it wants to bounce back and earn its third-straight district title.
“It’s no time to panic,” Manning said. “I want to make sure our frame of mind is right and that we’re doing things, both individually and collectively, that are going to make us a better team.
“I think this two-game stretch is going to be good for us and help us get back on track. The bottom line — whether you win or lose — is you want to be a good, solid team come district time, so that’s what we’re going to put our emphasis on.”