Every so often, mostly after his team wins a tight game, the winning coach says something along the lines of “it was a great game…what a shame someone had to lose.”

Caddo Mills coach Kodi Crane didn’t go that far following his team’s 44-38 District 6-4A-2 win over rival Sunnyvale. But he came close.

“That was a great high school football game,” Crane said. “Sunnyvale is a great team. The prepare hard, they play good football and they play hard. We preach to our kids that games like this are decided by five or six plays, and you never know which ones they will be. We have to make those plays when they arise and we did.”

The Foxes blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown on Sunnyvale’s opening possession for a fast start but then gave up 17 straight points, aided by an onside kick. Despite the early deficit, no one panicked. After all, Caddo Mills was off to its best start since 2015.

“We calmed down,” Crane said. “We average about 50 points a game, so we knew if we could settle down and keep playing, we could get back into the game.”

He was right. Thanks to a second blocked punt, the Foxes pulled within 17-15 at the half, then opened up a 29-17 lead on a touchdown run from Jett Saldivar and a pass from Tyler Townley to Konner Pounds. The Foxes did enough down the stretch, including recovering a late Sunnyvale onside kick after the Raiders had pulled within 44-38, to win their fifth straight to open the season.

“It really was an outstanding game,” Crane reiterated. “They are a big rival that is the defending district champ. It’s a big win for us.”

The win gives Caddo Mills its since the 2015 team started 8-0. It also puts the Foxes on a collision course with Quinlan Ford, also 5-0, on Oct. 28, but Crane won’t let his team look that far ahead yet. There are games against Farmersville and Nevada Community first.

“I know our kids will hear things,” Crane said about his team’s perfect start. “But we are only focused on the next day. We want to do the little things and get better at them every day. That’s what our focus is on. If we don’t focus on that, the next team can step up and beat us.”

Led by Townley, the Foxes boast one of the region’s top offenses (50.8 ppg), an offense more than capable of helping the team achieve the goals they talked about in a preseason meeting.

“This year and the whole dynamic of everything is unique, and that makes it a very special year,” Crane said. “We had a really good conversation with the seniors before the season and talked about what we wanted to accomplish. Do we want to win the district title? Sure. But we just want to win one game every week.”

Building off Friday’s win can be a start, Crane said.

“We want to keep winning these types of games,” he said. “That’s hard, but if we keep getting better with our focus and our play, it will continue to be a really good season.”