Happy's big win, overtime thrillers and Harvey relief highlight Week 1 six-man thoughts

Each week, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football six-man insider Leman Saunders offers his thoughts on the six-man weekend that was. -Happy is in top shape and on top of the six-man world. The Cowboys came out strong early against Richland Springs, leading 46-30 at the half and basically matched the Coyotes in a score-for-score touchdown-fest in the second half to win 96-74. Richland Springs showed some rare vulnerability as it struggled to find its groove in the first half and struggled defensively. Star RB Walker Tippie did not play, but it is likely with their defensive performance — or lack thereof — that even with Tippie, they would not have topped Happy. Still, this is a much better game for the Coyotes than their originally scheduled game against Dubois (WY); RS would’ve won that game 124-6 and learned nothing except tidbits about Yellowstone National Park. -Oakwood led Zephyr — one of the top teams in Division I — for a large portion of the first half and stayed within striking distance throughout the game before losing 55-45. Despite the loss, an impressive result for Oakwood. -Milford survived a major fourth-quarter comeback by Bryson to hold on for a 51-50 win at Hico Super Saturday. Bryson, which outscored Milford 20-0 in the final frame, had a shot to win it in the final minute before a lightning delay. When play resumed, lightning didn’t strike twice for Bryson, as its Hail Mary heave fell incomplete as time expired. -There were a total of three overtime games in Week 1: Panther Creek beat Robert Lee 79-73; Fort Davis beat Dell City 50-44; and Lorenzo pulled off a big upset win over Amherst 41-34. -Collections across the six-man football communities have led to trailers full of support for the folks down at High Island, whose water treatment plant was rendered inoperable due to Hurricane Harvey. The kickoff classics at Jayton and Hico served as major collection points over the weekend, as well as at Blanket and Gordon. Towns as far away as Follett and Happy brought large loads of water and sanitation supplies. People from all over the six-man community donated to the effort. A special shout out to Alan Eades of Hobbs, NM (New Home grad) and Stacy Morris of Lamesa (Dawson grad) who volunteered to help Charles Parks and other organizers haul the supplies all the way to High Island. High Island now has enough water to run their school for at least 3 weeks. Sands is also working up a large donation of water as we speak. The High Island Cardinals open their season Saturday in the Emery Classic, playing Crosby Victory and Praise at 4 p.m. Another small school, Orange Community Christian, was hit by the hurricane and is in need of supplies. Their address is 3400 Martin Luther King Jr Drive in Orange; contact coach Robinson for more details (409) 330-2153.