The Early Longhorns’ quest for a fourth consecutive playoff appearance begins at home Friday night against the archrival Bangs Dragons, seeking their second straight trip to the postseason in their first year under new head coach Jason Cole.

The battle between the Brown County foes will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Longhorn Stadium.

Both squads are coming off 7-5, bi-district championship campaigns at the Class 3A Division II and Class 2A Division I levels, respectively.

The Longhorns carry the more experienced roster in Friday’s season opener, with six offensive and five defensive starters back from a year ago, while the Dragons bring back four on the offensive end and five on defense.

Early scrimmaged Goldthwaite and Albany in the preseason, where the defense was solid while the offense battled turnover issues.

“We brought Albany to town this past week and that’s always fun against a defending state champion with a few guys back that had a big role in their run last year,” said Early third-year head coach Daniel Price, who owns a 21-14 record at the school and has guided the Longhorns to the playoffs in each of his seasons. “We played really well through the controlled portion of the scrimmage and most of the live quarter, but then we had a couple turnovers that snowballed into them getting 24 points on us real quick in the last four minutes

“We competed, we played hard, we got after it on both sides of the ball early on, but we definitely need to take care of the football and that will be a point of emphasis this week as we get ready to take on Bangs this Friday. Turnovers so far have been a killer, so we have to do a better job there, and I’d like to see the boys respond a little better. They hung their head a little bit when things went bad and when that happens you have to have the gumption to stop it.”

Meanwhile, Bangs’ scrimmages were against Brady and Stamford, and plugging players into new positions was the primary objective.

“We ran into a buzz saw this past week against Stamford, who is really good,” said Cole, who is 43-35 in eight years as a head coach with previous stops at Quanah and Thrall. “I have a feeling they’re going to make a nice playoff run this year. Overall, we played harder and you can tell we’re getting in better shape. Sometimes it’s fun to play and win easy and have everything look good, and sometimes the best thing you can do is play a really good opponent and have them show you where you’re deficient. Stamford showed us some stuff that we have to work on and quickly improve before we play this Week 1 game.”

Regarding the Dragons’ development during the preseason, Cole said, “We’re consistently getting better. The offensive line is young but one area we have to get better at is run blocking. We’re not there yet but we’re getting better and we’re continuing to really emphasize that in practice and work hard on it.

“Overall as a team we’re progressing nicely. We have really good attitudes on our team, they show up, they work hard, and the coaching staff is young and energetic and works really hard. I feel like we’re steadily improving but we have a long way to go. A lot of our starters were on the JV last year so they have zero game experience as of now except for the two scrimmages, so it’s a work in progress.”

As for the Longhorns, Price is pleased with the team’s trajectory thus far in the earliest portion of the season.

“We’re in a really good spot as we get into Week 1,” Price said. “We had a good scrimmage against Goldthwaite and Albany, made some progress and learned some lessons and we’re on the right path as we head into actual football games.”

The Early offense will like rely on the run more this year than in seasons past as the Longhorns generated 38 points and 404 yards – 166 rushing and 238 passing – a year ago. The Bangs defense, meanwhile, yielded 28 points and 392 yards – 277 on the ground and 115 through the air.

“Offensively, I want to see us sustain drives,” Price said. “We had a couple get going against Albany and then stall. We have to find ways to get first downs after you’ve been on the field for eight to 10 plays, and also hold on to the football.”

On the flip side of the ball, the Dragons produced 30 points and 322 yards – 240 rushing and 82 passing – a game last year, but are without 2,000-yard rusher Guy Powell in 2023. The Longhorns, meanwhile, surrendered 21 points and 241 yards – 132 on the ground and 109 through the air.

“We want to try and score early,” Cole said. “We want to put some points on the board in the first half and get our confidence up. Once we become a confident team we’re going to get, we think, to be a pretty good team. That’s going to be the challenge, to play a team as good as Early and score early. That’s our goal”

As for the importance of opening the season with a win, particularly it being the first game under a new head coach, Cole said, “Any time you beat a real good football team you’re happy and excited so that’s our goal. We have a lot of good football teams on our schedule this year and we’re really hoping to do well.”

Price would like Friday’s contest to set the tone for the rest of the year.

“It’s always fun to get started on the right note, but I never hung my hat on Week 1 being a must win,” Price said. “The big thing for us is to continue to see growth. We all want to win, it really sets the tempo, but seeing the growth, knowing where we’re at and knowing what we have to do to get better is more important.”

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Early is a 17-point favorite.

More in depth season preview for Bangs and Early can be found at the following links:

https://www.brownwoodnews.com/wpb_gallery/gridiron-glance-23-early-longhorns/

https://www.brownwoodnews.com/wpb_gallery/gridiron-glance-23-bangs-dragons/