EARLY – The Early Longhorns were upset with last week’s outcome and they fact that they didn’t secure their first playoff berth in 12 years. But another opportunity presents itself Friday night in the home finale, as the winless San Angelo TLCA Eagles stand between the Longhorns and their first postseason appearance since 2008.

Kickoff between the Longhorns (4-4, 1-2) and TLCA (0-8, 0-3) is slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday in Early’s final home game of the season.

“Last week was not good for us as far as the big scheme of things,” said Early first-year head coach Daniel Price in regard to a 33-20 home loss to Clyde. “We really wanted to get it done last week and we thought we had a great opportunity. We made some mistakes we hadn’t seen in a few weeks – we bobbled a punt snap on the first possession and fumbled on the second possession and both of those led to punts for them. We never quite got to where we wanted to go Friday night.

“I’ve been here four years and it’s been a while since you’ve seen that much disappointment. It’s frustrating to lose those kinds of games and everyone was upset, and it hasn’t always been that way here when you get to this point in the season. Seeing that change in them, knowing now this is the big one for us because the next one is going to really hard. If it doesn’t go well for us here we’re going to have to really get after Wall. It’s been a lot of fun to be in this situation, the kids talk a lot about 12 years and breaking the curse. All year they’ve worked hard, it’s been a great group to be around and to get to this point where we can go win Friday night and get into the playoffs and accomplish that first goal would be awesome.”

TLCA enters the contest coming off a 75-0 loss to No. 4 Jim Ned and ranked last in all of Class 3A Division I by Harris Ratings Weekly. The Eagles have been outscored 439-39 on the season, an average of 63-5 per game. In its last four outings, TLCA has allowed no fewer than 61 points to an opponent, while failing to score in each contest.

Despite TLCA’s struggles this season, the Longhorns are in no way overlooking the

“Being in the position we’ve been here since I’ve been here and longer than that, overconfidence doesn’t come very often,” Price said. “We’ve been here long enough to know that winning is not easy. Even when you look at games and think we should win this one, they’re still not easy. They know what’s stake and hopefully we come out and play well, and if we play well it should be a really good night.”

Price pointed out a few area of concerns when it comes to TLCA.

“They’ve got some really good skill players, they’ve got some guys that can move,” Price said. “They’ve had some success throwing the ball, which we struggled against last week, and those things make you a little nervous. I think we can win at the line of scrimmage, which will help. They have the capability of making a couple of plays on us.

“They’ve also had the COVID issues and had people out and watching film they’ve had guys show up in one film that aren’t in the next and then they miss one and then they’re back, so knowing who’s going to show up for them is a concern.”

The Longhorns head into the contest averaging 21 points and 284 yards – 181 rushing and 103 passing – per contest.

Quarterback Jaxyn Price has completed 55 of 150 passes for 753 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions while John-Stewart Gordon has connected on four of his attempts for 77 yards. Leading receivers include Caleb McCullough (13-82, TD), Alex Jacob (10-186, 2 TDs), Tre Beam (10-185, TD), Tyson Tyler (8-113), Rylie Hill (6-65, 2 TDs), Hayden Schroeder (5-82, TD), Gordon (3-74, TD) and Jeremy Brown (2-17).

The ground game is anchored by Jacobs (762 yards, 5 TDs), Beam (378 yards, 5 TDs) and Price (248 yards, 3 TDs).

Regarding areas in which Price would like to see the Longhorns improve offensively, he said, “We have to catch the ball better. I’d like to see us do something over the top. We haven’t had that explosive over the top. We had two touchdown passes Friday night that were 18 to 20 yards or so, but we’re still looking for that big one, a 40 or 50-yarder over the top, that’s what we’re hopefully going to see this week.

Early’s defense is surrendering 23 points and 273 yards – 147 rushing and 126 passing – per game.

Standouts include Beam (76 tackles, 13 for loss, 5 sacks), Marcus Morelan (66 tackles, 7 for loss, 2 sacks), Bradon Schwartz (45 tackles, 7 for loss, 2 sacks), McCullough (43 tackles, 1 FR), Korbin Hall (36 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack), Franky Villarreal (35 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack), Tucker Hale (31 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 INT, 1 FR), Tyler (24 tackles, 1 INT), Cole Miller (20 tackles), Gordon (16 tackles, 3 INTs), Brown (16 tackles, 2 INTs) and Hill (15 tackles, 2 INTs).

On the defensive end, Price wants to see the Longhorns, “pursue the ball like we did the first seven games. We gave up two big plays last week where if we run to the football one’s not a touchdown and one’s not a first down and those were big spots in the game. Then right after halftime we give up a big ball across the middle on third-and-29, he catches it and breaks two tackles and runs for the first down. Cleaning that up defensively and getting back to what we do as far as running to the football, we have to do something better.”

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, there is no line for this game. Early is ranked 73 points higher than TLCA.

Early Longhorns 2020 Football Stats

Through 8 Games (4-4, 1-2)

TEAM OFFENSE
21.3 points per game (170)

284.6 yards per game (2,277)
180.9 rushing yards per game (1,447)
103.7 passing yards per game (830)

PASSING
‒ Jaxyn Price
55 of 150 for 753 yards, 7 TDs, 9 INTs

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
4 of 4 for 77 yards

RUSHING
‒ Alex Jacobs
762 yards on 149 carries, 5 TDs

‒ Tre Beam
378 yards on 64 carries, 5 TDs

‒ Jaxyn Price
248 yards on 80 carries, 3 TDs

‒ Wade Kennedy
27 yards on 4 carries

‒ Tucker Hale
23 yards on 5 carries, 1 TD

‒ Franky Villarreal
5 yards on 3 carries

‒ Rylie Hill
4 yards on 1 carry

‒ Caleb McCullough
0 yards on 1 carry

RECEIVING
‒ Caleb McCullough
13 catches for 82 yards, 1 TD

‒ Alex Jacobs
10 catches for 186 yards, 2 TDs

‒ Tre Beam
10 catches for 185 yards, 1 TD

‒ Tyson Tyler
8 catches for 113 yards

‒ Rylie Hill
6 catches for 65 yards, 2 TDs

‒ Hayden Schroeder
5 catches for 82 yards, 1 TD

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
3 catches for 74 yards, 1 TD

‒ Jeremy Brown
2 catches for 17 yards

‒ Caydon Laird
1 catch for 22 yards

‒ Jake Simpson
1 catch for 10 yards

TEAM DEFENSE
23.4 points per game (187)
273.6 yards per game (2,189)

146.8 rushing yards per game (1,175)
126.8 passing yards per game (1,014)

TACKLES

‒ Tre Beam
76 tackles, 13 for loss, 5 sacks

‒ Marcus Morelan
66 tackles, 7 for loss, 2 sacks

‒ Bradon Schwartz
45 tackles, 7 for loss, 2 sack

‒ Caleb McCullough
43 tackles, 1 FR

‒ Korbin Hall
36 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack

‒ Franky Villarreal
35 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack

‒ Tucker Hale
31 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 INT, 1 FR

‒ Tyson Tyler
24 tackles, 1 INT

‒ Cole Miller
20 tackles

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
16 tackles, 3 INTs

‒ Jeremy Brown

16 tackles, 2 INTs

‒ Rylie Hill
15 tackles, 2 INTs

‒ Wade Kennedy
13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FR

‒ Casey Moseley
12 tackles

‒ Dowton Taylor
10 tackles, 1 for loss

‒ Adan Aleman
7 tackles

‒ Jaxyn Price
4 tackles

‒ Caydon Laird
3 tackles

‒ Chris Fernandez
2 tackles

‒ Alex Jacobs
1.5 tackles

‒ Kaleb Ozuna
1 tackles

‒ Bradly Roman
.5 tackle

‒ Ryan Parisi
.5 tackle