BANGS – The Bangs Dragons’ debut under Colton Buzzard didn’t go as planned, and they hope for a more crisp outing the second time around as the Merkel Badgers visit in a game of two teams eyeing their first win. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium in Bangs.

The Dragons dropped a 33-12 decision last week to Early, but caused almost as much damage to themselves as the Longhorns did. Three second-half turnovers and 13 penalties for 130 yards turned a two-point halftime deficit in a 21-point margin by the end of the night.

“Hats off to Early,” Buzzard said. “Coach (Randall) Case had his kids playing hard and they made a few more plays than we did. We had a lot of energy coming out. We were playing very sound and doing what we were coached to do, and when you do what you’re coached to do good things happen. Our biggest issue is got a little tired and started reverting back to old habits and it showed there at the end.”

The premier of Bangs’ new wing-T offense resulted in 191 total yards – 151 on the ground and 40 through the air – but the self-inflicted wounds are what stuck out most to Bangs’ first-year head coach.

“It’s a whole new system, a whole new mentality and I thought we did really good coming out of the gate,” Buzzard said. “But when we got tired we started having pre-snap penalties and other things to shoot ourselves in the foot. This is the kind of offense where you have to have positive plays, even if it’s just 1 or 2 yards, you don’t ever want to move backwards. We had too many mental mistakes on our end, and Early capitalized on it.”

Though it was the debut of a new offensive scheme, Buzzard was surprised by the Dragons’ struggles to hold on to the football as the evening progressed.

“We preach take care of the football, and I never blame anything on the weather, plus it wasn’t wet enough for us to be fumbling the football,” Buzzard said. “The rain had come and gone and it was drying up, it was just mental focus. We had a couple of pitches that hit us right in the hands and we’re fumbling the football, things that we don’t do during practice, so it was kind of crazy for it to happen in the game.”

Brayden Gatlin rushed a team-high 81 yards and a touchdown and a caught a 27-yard pass, while Aden Jones followed with 43 yards on the ground and Jackson Edmiston chipped in 22. Skylar Minshew was 4 of 7 through the air with one interception, as Gatlin, Rex Guerrero, Noah Castillo and Braxton Wommack all caught passes.

“What I liked the most was our passion, we had a lot of passion in the game and fought and played hard,” Buzzard said. “Our energy was level was there, the kids were ready to play, the game plan was solid. We have to fix our pre-snap and post-snap penalties, we let the other team get in our head. They have to stay in between the whistles and play the right way, that’s not how we’re going to play. We have to execute better, do what you’re told, and when we did that, I showed them on film, we had success. We just have to get them to stay bought in when they’re really tired.”

On the flip side of the ball, the Dragons yielded 306 yards – 190 through the air and 116 on the ground – and forced one turnover, a fumble recovered in the end zone by Castillo that accounted for the first points of the game. But Early’s Andrew Reedy was able to find the end zone three times in the second half for the Longhorns, which proved to be the difference.

“Reedy’s a very talented kid. You put the ball in his hands and he’s going to make something happen,” Buzzard said. “We were trying to limit that, but they found ways to get him the football, not just by throwing it to him. They got him in the backfield some, and hats off to their offensive staff for doing what they need to do to get him the football.”

Merkel is coming to town following a 28-10 loss to Ballinger that caught some pundits by surprise. The Badgers also have a new head coach in Wes Wood, who came over from Snyder.

“They have some talent in Merkel,” Buzzard said. “They’re young and Coach Wood hasn’t had a lot of time over there so don’t expect them to keep losing. We have to be ready, Merkel’s going to come to play and they’re going to get better each week, and we have to keep getting better each week. It’s going to be a good game.”

Last week, the Badgers finished with just 90 yards of total offense – 106 passing and -16 rushing on 19 carries. Defensively, Merkel gave up 368 yards – 269 on the ground and 99 through the air.

Offensively for the Badgers, Bronson Lloyd completed 9 of 23 passes for 106 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Eli Delgado caught three passes for 46 yards, CJ Walcott added three receptions for 42 yards, and CJ Guadarrama hauled in a 5-yard scoring toss and rushed for a team-best 22 yards.

“They did a lot of tunnel screens in their first game to slow the defensive line down, so we have to do a good job getting our eyes where they need to get,” Buzzard said. “They also do a lot of freezing on hard counts to get free plays, so we have to be disciplined. If we’re disciplined in our game plan we’ll be okay defensively.”

The Merkel defensive effort was led by Jonathon Calderon with 13 tackles and one for loss, Rayson Houston with 11 tackles and three for loss, and Easton Malone who also netted 11 tackles.

“Offensively, we have to take care of the football and eliminate the pre-snap penalties and we’ll be fine,” Buzzard said. “All these games now are a chance for us to learn how to do things right. The most important game is the next game ahead of us, so that’s Merkel. If we can keep getting better each week when district gets here we’ll be all right.”

Buzzard reported the Dragons should be at full strength, with no major injuries, at kickoff Friday night.

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Bangs is a 3-point favorite.