On Paradise’s first offensive play of Friday night against Boyd, Elijah Jennings catches an 85-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ayden Olalde. Paradise won the Battle of 114 rivalry game 41-7 to end its season with an undefeated District 4-3AI record. MIKE HALL | FOR THE MESSENGER

The No. 2 Paradise Panthers signed off their undefeated 4-3AI campaign with a win against Boyd in the Battle of 114 rivalry at home Friday.

Paradise (9-1, 6-0) outgained the Yellowjackets (5-5, 2-4) 415-184 en route to the 41-7 win.

“There’s a lot to be excited about with an undefeated district record and a championship for the second year in a row,” Paradise coach Tommy Koch said. “I’m especially happy for our seniors. Those guys have worked so hard, and they deserved this. It was a great night.”

Paradise wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, where on its first offensive play quarterback Ayden Olalde threw deep to Elijah Jennings, who reeled in the pass with one hand for an 85-yard touchdown.

After Paradise defensive lineman Collin Euler intercepted Aiden Young on Boyd’s ensuing drive, the Panthers scored again via running back Luke Brown’s 11-yard rushing touchdown.

Brown ended the night with three touchdowns on nine carries and 109 yards rushing.

“Everything really clicked on offense this week. Our offense has been good all year, but this week it all really came together for us,” Brown said. “We’ve been working really hard on our run game and pass game, and it showed tonight.”

He also made a handful of plays at linebacker, including a chasedown sack on Young the defensive series following his first touchdown, which he said is his favorite play in football.

“Oh yeah, it’s gotta be hawking down the quarterback,” Brown said.

Paradise kept Boyd out of the end zone while adding two more scores in the first half, 40-yard and 24-yard rushing touchdowns by Brown.

The Panthers kept their foot on the pedal in the second half, turning a long Jacob Jones opening kick return into a 1-yard Olalde rushing Touchdown 90 seconds into the third quarter.

On top of his rushing duties, Olalde passed for 205 yards and two touchdowns on an 11-of-14 effort.

After Olalde tossed his second touchdown of the night, a 44-yard pass to Logan Lampley, Boyd eliminated a shutout on its ensuing possession.

On fourth and 4, Young connected with Hunter Etter for a 44-yard touchdown with a minute to go in the third quarter, the final score of the night.

Boyd coach Shawn Sparks said he thought the rivalry game was too big of a moment for the Yellowjackets.

“[Paradise] is a talented team, no doubt about it, but I don’t believe it was a physicality thing,” he said. “I don’t think we were prepared mentally. …And also not having our usual passing game, that really limits what you can do.”

Paradise linebacker Cash Watson said that the defense was able to put a stop to Boyd’s run-first offense by keying in on the fundamentals.

“We were just rallying to the ball. We’ve been doing that well all year and I feel like we’ve been good against the run this season,” he said. “And you just gotta be tough like Jesus out there. Give more effort than the other team and put your body on the line.”

The Panthers will face Breckenridge for the bi-district title at Mineral Wells High School Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.

“The challenge is being laser-focused on Monday’s practice,” Koch said. “We don’t put up a bracket, we don’t look at rounds two and three, it is Breckenridge and that’s it. At this point in the year, it’s show up or go home, and we need to be the more focused team and play Paradise football.”

Despite the loss, Boyd still qualified for the 3A Division I playoffs with Bowie’s win against Iowa Park Friday. Game details for the Yellowjackets’ first round contest were not known at the time of publication.

Sparks said the Yellowjackets can’t have games like Friday’s if they want to move past the first round of playoffs.

“We’ve got to learn to play important games late in the year. We haven’t handled that well,” Sparks said. “But talking to the seniors some, they probably haven’t played a game past Week 4 or 5 that meant anything, so for them this is a whole new game.”

Here are our key takeaways from the Battle of 114:

Key takeaways

Paradise’s defense paves the way

The Panthers made it a long night for Boyd.

With the Yellowjackets already hampered by quarterback Cash Selby being on the sidelines, Boyd’s run-heavy offense was put to a near-impossible test.

Paradise held Boyd to just 102 yards rushing on 46 attempts and kept all of the Yellowjackets running backs out of the end zone.

Paradise linebackers Cash Watson and Miles Godwin turned in impressive performances with their work to virtually eliminate any semblance of offensive momentum for Boyd. Two-way phenom Brown also stood out on defense just as much as he did running the ball, and Cody Bridgeman filled in for Teagan Lambert like he’d had the job all year long.

Well-rounded offense is hard to stop

Just as much as Brown delivered running the ball, Olalde matched with an equally impressive performance with his arm.

On Paradise’s first play from scrimmage, Olalde delivered a perfect pass to receiver Elijah Jennings, who reeled in the ball with one hand for an 85-yard touchdown. After breaking into the end zone for a goal line score in the third quarter, Olalde tossed another dime, hitting Logan Lampley for a 44-yard touchdown to move Paradise to a 41-0 advantage.

Brown’s three rushing touchdowns were all scored in the first half from 11, 40 and 24 yards out.

Boyd still has much to look forward to

While Boyd ended the 2025 regular season in unsatisfying fashion against Paradise, it doesn’t define what the Yellowjackets were able to do this year.

The Yellowjackets are postseason bound for the first time since 2020. That’s worth celebrating in itself, but Boyd is hoping it doesn’t end there.

If the Yellowjackets are healthy come bi-district, Boyd could be looking at an upset victory and first playoff win in over a decade. But as Boyd coach Shawn Sparks told his team following the loss Friday, they’ll need to flush the last two weeks to have a chance.