Kickoff between Early (4-3, 2-0) and Grape Creek (0-7, 0-2) is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Longhorn Stadium.
The Longhorns are coming off a 41-27 road victory over Brady, a game in which Early was able to keep the Bulldogs at bay despite a few momentum swings in the contest.
“Brady was pretty good,” said Early third-year head coach Daniel Price. “They did some good things, they threw the ball a lot on us Friday night. That was going to be one of the challenges for us, seeing a quarterback that could move the pocket and run a little bit that had a good arm. They hit four or five over the top on us for big touchdowns, 60-plus yards. But we were able to get rolling there offensively in the first half, went down and got a big touchdown before halftime to extend the lead and we held on. Our defense played great in the second half with two goal line stands, took a third one to fourth down and had a pick six shortly thereafter that ice the game. It’s always hard to win on the road, its’ always hard to win at Brady and I’m just proud of the kids and the effort they showed to find a way to win a very gritty type of football game.”
Among the biggest bright spots, according to Price, was the Longhorns’ ability not to get caught up in the ebbs and flows of momentum.
“We talked about learning lessons, and learning the lesson of never faltering,” Price said. “We’re getting to the point where we play pretty even keel and don’t ride the roller coaster of emotions. Even when things went bad, we had a snap over the quarterback’s head after the defense held and we still got out of it with another goal line stand. It’s the same boys on both sides and to see them not get frustrated and not get down, they did a really good job of gathering themselves after making a mistake on one side and playing well on the other side and fixing it.”
Grape Creek is coming off a 28-0 loss to San Angelo TLCA last week, which comes on the heels of a 68-0 defeat at the hands of Wall in the league opener. For the season, the Eagles have been outscored 267-32 and have not scored more than 10 points in a game this year.
Still, Price believes the Longhorns cannot take Grape Creek’s uncommon offense for granted.
“They run a unique offense, a single wing type with two guys standing in the backfield and you don’t know who’s getting the football,” Price said. “They do have some athletic kids and some big kids. What worries me is they’re going to shorten the game, they did that to us last year, and they have that unique offense and if you can’t stop it, it’s going to cause you some fits. They eat so much clock it makes you feel like you have to score every time you have it. We have to be dialed in defensively and not give up sustained drives and let them eat the clock.”
Early’s defense is yielding 28 points and 290 yards – 155 rushing and 135 passing – per game, with 12 takeaways.
Standouts include Kaleb Ozuna (75 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 sack), Caleb McCullough (68 tackles, 18 for loss, 8 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Gavin Sanders (42 tackles, 3 for loss), Dalton Adams (38 tackles, 11 for loss, 4 sacks), Cedrick Morelan (35 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception), Chris Fernandez (31 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 sack), Casey Moseley (27 tackles, 1 for loss), Jeremy Brown (26 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), and Colton Allen (25 tackles, 2 for loss, 4 interceptions).
“Defensively, I don’t know if we’re going to see it but I don’t want to see them throw it over the top on us” Price said. “That’s what we focused on this week, some coverage things that we’d like to be better at going forward. I want to see us come off the ball and win the line of scrimmage. If we can win at the line of scrimmage against Grape Creek we can have a lot of success.”
The Eagles have yielded at least 21 points in every game defensively and are giving up 47 per outing on average.
Early enters the contest averaging 34 points and 403 yards – 252 passing and 151 rushing – per game, with eight turnovers.
Jaxyn Price has completed 134 of 242 passes for 1,753 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. Top receiving threats include Brown (44-686, 9 TDs), John-Stewart Gordon (22-285, TD), Morelan (15-197, 2 TDs), Griffin Cheslock (12-85), Ki Houston (11-47, 2 TDs), and McCullough (10-189, 3 TDs). The ground game is anchored by Cheslock (638 yards, 6 TDs), Ozuna (313 yards, 4 TDs), and Price (87 yards, 2 TDs).
“Offensively we have to take care of the ball, execute and find a way to put up points and put a little pressure on them.,” Price said. “We want to continue to improve. We have some things we’re going to put on and tweak this week and we want to go out and execute them. We have to take care of the football, we don’t need to snap the ball over our head like we did twice last Friday night. The little things and execution is really what I want to see.”
According to Harris Ratings Weekly, there is no line for the game. No. 23 Early is ranked 53 points higher than No. 95 Grape Creek this week.
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Early Longhorns 2022 Football Season Stats
Through 7 Games (4-3, 2-0)
TEAM OFFENSE
34.1 points per game (239)
402.7 yards per game (2,819)
151.1 rushing yards per game (1,058)
251.6 passing yards per game (1,761)
PASSING
* Jaxyn Price
134 of 242 for 1,753 yards, 18 TDs, 5 INTs
* Rohyn Price
1 of 3 for 8 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
RUSHING
* Griffin Cheslock
638 yards on 117 carries, 6 TDs
* Kaleb Ozuna
313 yards on 70 carries, 4 TDs
* Jaxyn Price
87 yards on 13 carries, 2 TDs
* Cedric Morelan
9 yards on 2 carries, 2 TDs
* Justin Pierce
8 yards on 5 carries
* Ki Houston
3 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Jeremy Brown
44 catches, 686 yards, 9 TDs
* John-Stewart Gordon
22 catches, 285 yards, 1 TD
* Cedrick Morelan
15 catches, 197 yards, 2 TDs
* Griffin Cheslock
12 catches, 85 yards
* Ki Houston
11 catches, 147 yards, 2 TDs
* Caleb McCullough
10 catches, 189 yards, 3 TDs
* Kaleb Ozuna
9 catches, 53 yards
* Colton Allen
7 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD
* Reece Middleton
2 catches, 22 yards
* Houston Ortiz
1 catch, 11 yards
* Gavin Sanders
1 catch, 11 yards
###
TEAM DEFENSE
28.0 points per game (196)
290.1 yards per game (2,031)
154.9 rushing yards per game (1,084)
135.2 passing yards per game (947)
TACKLES
* Kaleb Ozuna
75 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 sack
* Caleb McCullough
68 tackles, 18 for loss, 8 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
* Gavin Sanders
42 tackles, 3 for loss
* Dalton Adams
38 tackles, 11 for loss, 4 sacks
* Cedrick Morelan
35 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception
* Chris Fernandez
31 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 sack
* Casey Moseley
27 tackles, 1 for loss
* Jeremy Brown
26 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery
* Colton Allen
25 tackles, 2 for loss, 4 interceptions
* Griffin Cheslock
24 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Houston Ortiz
19 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack
* Rohyn Price
17 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
* Izik Delgado
11 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Dillon Miller
9 tackles
* Justin Pierce
6 tackles
* Dylan Brame
5 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Reece Middleton
4 tackles
* Sebastian Constancio
3 tackles
* Malcham Williams
1 tackle
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TURNOVER MARGIN (+4)
* Early: 8 (2 fumbles, 6 interceptions)
* Opponents: 12 (5 fumbles, 7 interceptions)