PHOTOS BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE Manuel Hernandez (26) makes his way to the goalline in the Hornets' recent win over Buckholts last Friday Lately, the Hornets are showing no mercy on their opponents.

They are leaving that to the referees.

For the third consecutive week, Lometa concluded its game early after building a large lead and invoking the 45-point "mercy" rule.

After knocking off Advantage Academy 52-6 and shutting out Prairie Lea 45-0, the Hornets pounced all over Buckholts last Friday night, earning a shortened 53-8 victory while simultaneously securing a playoff berth.

With just over five minutes remaining in the game, Lometa (5-4, 2-0 district) clinched the victory when quarterback Dalton Parsons tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to Bubba Salinas.

In all, Salinas recorded four touchdowns and rushed for 105 yards.

While head coach Wendell Bradley was confident his team could win the game, he did not expect such a lopsided outcome.

"I asked [an assistant coach], 'What is going on?', " Bradley said. "We came out and played pretty good and, obviously, they just didn't bring it."

Bubba Salinas, right, does his best to keep a grip on the ball and avoid a tackle in Lometa's most recent win. By halftime, the Hornets scored 41 unanswered points, tallied 11 first downs and accumulated 268 yards of total offense.

"The score got kind of out of hand, so we started working on some stuff and playing some secondteam [players]," the coach said.

Before the Hornets turn their attention to the postseason and a potential state championship trophy, another piece of hardware is on the line tonight. The win over Buckholts sets up a district title showdown between Lometa and the No. 1 team in the state, undefeated Calvert.

The Trojans (7-0, 2-0) are coming off a 56-6 thumping of Prairie Lea last week and are favored by 45 points over the Hornets, according to SixManFootball.com.

"It probably will be a mercy-rule game [tonight], too," Bradley said jokingly. "We'll just be on the other end of it."

Despite the sarcasm, the coach could be right.

Brandon Faubion (14) doesn't waste an opportunity to pull down one of his opponents, even when he is almost flat on his back. With the Hornets' recent win over Buckholts, Lometa faces a district title game tonight against Calvert. The odds of Lometa winning via the "mercy" rule are extremely slim considering Calvert's closest game this season was decided by 45 points, and it will be playing on its home field.

History is not on the Hornets' side either.

Since 2004, Lometa has lost four consecutive contests to Calvert, falling by a combined score of 184-12.

While the Hornets would love to get revenge against their district foes and upset the Trojans for the district championship, the fact they will participate in the playoffs regardless of the outcome allows Bradley to be a little looser with his game plan.

"[Usually] we try to play a safe defense, but I think we're going to just pin our ears back and go this week," he said. "We'll see what happens."

In watching college football last Saturday, Bradley observed what can happen when an underdog goes into a game with a similar all-out attitude.

"We watched [Texas] Tech knock off [No. 1] Texas last week, and we're just dumb enough to think, 'Hey, if they can do it, we can do it,' " Bradley said. "The kids are responding to that approach."