Three big plays proved to be the factor in the visiting Hugo Buffaloes surviving the Roland Rangers 55-39 to spoil Roland’s homecoming in a District 2AII-3 game last Friday night at Ranger Stadium.

Trailing 29-6 after a Hugo touchdown with 7:17 left before halftime, the Rangers (1-7 overall, 1-4 in district play) got a 29-yard kickoff return by Nate Criswell to the Roland 39. However, on the next snap, the center-quarterback exchange was errant, and Hugo linebacker Jonathan Chavez made the recovery at the Roland 39 with 7:07 remaining in the first half.

After a 37-yard scramble by Hugo quarterback Jayka Santillan, Santillan called his own number on a 2-yard touchdown run with 6:20 left in the first half. The Buffaloes (6-2, 4-1) had two shots at the extra point. The first one hit the right upright, but Roland was called for being offside. On the second PAT, Hugo place-kicker Ja’Mari Scroggins was wide left, keeping the Buffs ahead 35-6.

Roland senior Dalton Crossno had to take over the reigns in the second quarter when starting QB, freshman Austin Benham, had to leave the game with an injury and never returned. Thanks to a 41-yard pass to Paul Johnson to get the Rangers down to the Hugo 46 and a 34yard run by Crossno, the Rangers were able to hit paydirt on Crossno’s 1-yard TD plunge with 2:07 remaining before halftime. Billy McElhaney missed the extra point, keeping Roland behind 35-12.

After stopping the Buffaloes on their next possession, the Rangers had a shot at narrowing the gap by halftime as they got the ball at the Hugo 37-yard line off a punt with 55 seconds left before halftime.

On the second play of the drive, Crossno was picked off by Hugo’s Quincy Shelton, who made it a pick-6 with an 87-yard interception return for a TD with 34 seconds remaining in the first half. Sam Perez hit the extra point to put the Buffs ahead 42-12 at the half.

The Rangers tried a deep onside kick to begin the second half, which looked destined for going out of bounds. Instead, the ball took a sharp left turn, forcing Hugo return man Cecil Smith to field the ball. Smith cut back to his right to his team’s sideline and ended up going virtually untouched 81 yards for a kickoff-return touchdown just 15 seconds into the third quarter. Scroggins’ PAT increased Hugo’s advantage to 49-12.

Prior for the funkybounced onside kick being return for a Hugo TD, that play and the two first-half turnovers cashed in by the Buffaloes with touchdowns, produced 21 Hugo points, that if are taken off the board, the Rangers end up making it a happy homecoming with a 39-34 Roland win.

After stopping the Buffs on their next offensive possession, the Rangers got the ball off the punt at the Hugo 44yard line with 6:34 left in the period.

The Rangers cashed the drive into points as Crossno connected with Paul Johnson on a 40yard touchdown pass with 5:23 remaining in the quarter. McElhaney hit the PAT to cut the Hugo lead to 49-19 after three periods.

After the Roland defense stopped the Buffs on downs at the Roland 32-yard line with 2:12 remaining in the third period, the Rangers were aided by a face-mask penalty and an offside penalty by the Buffaloes to drive 68 yards with Drew Simpson taking it in from a yard out. Simpson also scored the two-point conversion to cut the Hugo advantage to 49-27 with 10:59 left in the game.

After the Rangers stopped the Buffaloes on downs once more, they got the ball at the Roland 39-yard line with 9:13 remaining to play.

Thanks to a 13- and a 31-yard run by Crossno, the Rangers saw their senior back-up QB sneak it in from a yard away. Crossno was just stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion, keeping Roland behind 49-33 with 4:57 left to play.

With 4:14 remaining in the game, Simpson made a fumble recovery at the Roland 26-yard line to stop a potential scoring drive for Hugo.

Thanks to a 32-yard pass play from Crossno to Johnson, the Rangers moved downfield and hit paydirt as Crossno hit Johnson on a 38-yard TD pass. Crossno fumbled the ball trying to score the two-point conversion, keeping the Rangers behind 49-39 with 1:32 left in the game.

The Buffaloes recovered the onside kick at the Hugo 45-yard line. After a 49-yard run by Hugo running back D’airreon Jeffries, Santillan called his own number and scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 40 seconds left to seal the deal. The twopoint conversion failed.

“We had a good second half,” first-year Roland coach Greg Wise said. “I don’t know how to put it. The kids came out and played with heart. We saw intensity that I haven’t seen this year. We played with drive I haven’t seen this year. We were finally able to put a half together. We’ve been working on putting a whole game together, but we were finally able to put a full half together. These guys came out (in the second half) and played the way I know they can. We preach it all the time to them about their heart and their mindset. The second half proved what we’ve been trying to get across to them all year is working. I don’t really care what the scoreboard said at the end. I care about the team in the second half that grew up (Friday night). We have a lot of young kids playing for us. We’ve got some kids that are going to be fantastic players for Roland High School in the future. They stepped up and took on the challenge, and they played really well. They played with heart that I haven’t seen. I’m emotional because I’m so proud of them, regardless of the score.”

After stopping the Rangers on the game’s first drive, the Buffaloes scored on their first drive as Jeffries scored on a 15-yard touchdown run. Although Scroggins hit the PAT, the Rangers were called for being offside on the conversion attempt. With the ball at just outside the 1-yard line, the Buffs went for two points, and got them as Jeffries got into the end zone for an 8-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter.

After stopping Roland once more, the Buffaloes scored on their next possession as Santillan scored on a 34yard touchdown run. Despite having to redo the extra-point try due to a false start penalty, Scroggins hit the PAT to double the Hugo lead to 15-0 with 6:25 remaining in the period.

After the Roland offense was stopped once again, the Buffaloes took over possession, and did not need very long to dent the scoreboard once more as Santillan hit Dakota Coulter on a 60-yard TD pass with 3:12 left in the period. Scroggins hit the extra point for a 22-0 lead after a quarter.

Thanks to a 22-yard pass from Crossno to Derek Allen, the Rangers moved downfield on the ensuing possession and finally hit paydirt for the first time on the night, as Simpson scored a 38-yard touchdown run. However, the two-point conversion pass play failed, keeping Roland behind 22-6 with 9:59 left before halftime.

Aided by a pair of passes from Santillan, a 33-yarder to Jakabrian Tarver and a 23-yarder to Shelton, the Buffaloes took the ensuing possession and got back into the end zone on a 4-yard TD run by Logan Allen. Scroggins’ extra point increased Hugo’s lead to 29-6 with 7:17 remaining in the first half.

“We didn’t start off the first half like we wanted to,” Wise said. “We have a lot of stuff to fix. I don’t think our record is indicative of the type of group we are, but we played the way I know we can. I told the kids after the game, moving forward, that’s going to be an expectation at Roland. When we start putting together halves like we did in the second half, then we’re going to start putting (full) games together. Then, things are going to start looking good for us.”

At halftime, the firstever inductees into the newly-formed Roland High School Sports Hall of Fame formerly were introduced. The Class of 2024 inductees was Debbie Cosner, Fran Whitest, Gerald Harvell, Larry Tate and Richard E. Cosner III. All five of them received plaques from Roland Public Schools Superintendent Lori Wiggins.

The Rangers will play their final road district game and regular-season road finale at 7 p.m. next Friday at Prague.