Hawks fly past Mineral Wells, 58-16

Birdville rolls up 476 yards in 58-16 victory

By Tommy Wells
sports@mineralwellsindex.com

If anyone had any question about how potent Josh Dorman and the Birdville Hawks’ spread offense was heading into their showdown with the Mineral Wells Rams on Friday, they certainly don’t now.

Dorman completed 14 of 21 passes for 343 yards and six touchdowns in just over two quarters of play and powered Birdville to a 58-16 victory at Ram Stadium.

“They have a good football team,” said Mineral Wells head coach David Bourquin. “I don’t want to take anything away from them, but we just didn’t get any breaks to go our way.”

“They were scoring so quick it was tough on us,” he added.

The Hawks did score quickly – and often – against the Rams in the first quarter. Birdville put up 28 points in the initial nine minutes of action despite running just 14 plays.

Mineral Wells did catch one break early in the game. Defensive end Zach Durst scooped up a fumble at the Hawks’ 18 on a botched punt attempt just four plays into the game.

Four plays after the fumble, Jacob Holle booted the Rams into the lead by splitting the uprights with a 37-yard field goal.

Mineral Wells’ lead didn’t last long. In fact, it lasted just 16 seconds.

Following the Rams’ ensuing kickoff, Dorman threw the BHS offense into high gear. On first down, he hit receiver Cory Hines with a 73-yards scoring pass.

Dorman was far from through. He led the Hawks to a 28-3 first quarter lead by throwing three more touchdown passes in the opening quarter – two more to Hines and one to receiver Jonathan Dents.

Hines, a speedy junior, had five receptions for 137 yards in the game.

Birdville, which improved to 5-2 overall, padded its lead even more in the second, reeling off a 20-0 run.

Running back Jacob Grayson scored on runs of 1 and nine yards early in the second quarter to up the BHS lead to 41-3.

Dorman closed out the Hawks’ first-half scoring onslaught with a 34-yard TD pass to Dents.

After Birdville had pushed its lead to 58-3 in the third by kicking a 24-yard field goal on first down, Clint Parkhill gave Rams fans reason to smile.

Parkhill capped a three-play, 73-yard drive by breaking free on a 48-yard touchdown run midway through the third.

Running back Chris Beauchamp set up Parkhill’s run with a 22-yard scamper two plays earlier.

The Rams saved their most impressive drive for the fourth quarter. Mineral Wells, keyed by 10 carries by Beauchamp, reeled off a 16-play, 76-yard drive on its final possession before Parkhill managed to push his way in from two yards out.

Beauchamp finished the game with 121 yards rushing on 21 attempts.

As a team, the Rams amassed 241 total yards.