AMARILLO The West Texas Warbirds got off to a strong start in their first game in franchise history by defeating the Amarillo Venom 38-28 Saturday at the Amarillo Civic Center.
The Warbirds (1-0) led 3-0 after one quarter before Tom Whitefield scored a pair of touchdowns in the quarter while Levi Shetler returned an interception for another score to take a 24-7 lead into halftime.
West Texas scored twice in the fourth quarter and withstood a late rally from Amarillo (0-1) to pick up its first win.
The two teams will play again June 12 at 7 p.m. at the Ector County Coliseum.