SANTA ROSA — Coming into week four of the Texas High School football season, the Aransas Pass Panthers were looking to end their three-game skid and finally get into the win column.
Lucky for them, their offense absolutely exploded on Friday night as they finished with 471 yards on the night and picked up their first win of the season thanks to a convincing 47-20 win over Santa Rosa (2-2).
Aransas Pass made quick work getting on the scoreboard as quarterback Banya Owen busted through the Santa Rosa defensive line and took the ball 84-yards to the house to take the early 6-0 lead with 9:56 left in the opening quarter.
The Warriors responded quickly as on their first play of the ensuing drive, quarterback Alex Ayala connected with Leo Lara who took it to the house for a 70-yard score to tie the contest at 7 with 9:33 left in the first quarter.
Owen then helped the Panthers push their lead to 19-7 thanks to a 1-yard and a 70-yard touchdown run still in the first quarter.
The running game of Aransas Pass continued to cause fits for the Warriors defense as its scored three more times on the ground while going into the half with a 40-13 lead.
Roy Pleasant was the key contributor for those scores as he converted on all of them. On the ground, Aransas Pass totaled 465 yards and was led by Owen who tallied 186 yards on 15 carries and had four touchdowns to his credit.
Santa Rosa scored its second touchdown of the night on a 10-yard run by Nathan Bentley with 4:42 left in the second quarter.
But Owen added another score to his total in the third as his 18-yard run pushed the Panthers’ lead to 47-13 with 5:53 left in the third.
The Warriors were able to tack on one more score midway through the third as Ayala and Lara hooked up one more time on a 7-yard touchdown pass that trimmed the lead to 47-20.
Santa Rosa’s offense had a productive night as it accounted for 301 yards of offense and was led by Ayala, who chalked up 254 total yards on the night. Ayala threw for 122 yards and had two passing touchdowns and rushed for 132 yards on 15 carries.