Coming off their second win of the season, and first on the road, under first-year head coach Daniel Price, the Early Longhorns look to build on their positive momentum heading into the pre-district finale.

The Longhorns (2-2) play host to the Grape Creek Eagles (1-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Early’s homecoming contest.

Reflecting on last week’s 31-20 win at Merkel, in which Early raced out to a 29-0 halftime lead, Price said, “We played really well last Friday in the first half, probably the best half of football I’ve seen us play since I’ve been here. We were physical, we executed on offense, everything looked really good. We struggled in the third quarter and did some things out of character, but we managed to find a way to win it and learned a lot of lessons about how to come out of halftime, and how to finish a game the way we need to. I’m pretty excited about where we’re at.”

Asked about the biggest takeaway from the Longhorns’ win last week, Price spoke of the Longhorns’ physicality.

“I felt with the Comanche game they were more physical than we were up front in the first half,” Price said. “I felt we matched them a little bit better the second half. This past Friday night I felt like we were a little more physical and that’s where we want to go, show up and be real physical up front.”

Grape Creek is coming off a 24-8 loss to Coleman last week and has also fallen to Stanton (8-0) and Class 2A Division II No. 15 Christoval (23-18). The lone win for the Eagles came against San Angelo TLCA (42-12).

In Grape Creek’s win, the Eagles generated 563 total yards, including 474 rushing, and overcame five turnovers by forcing four. Grape Creek trailed at one point 12-6 and the game was even at 12 at halftime, but the Eagles scored the final 36 points of the contest.

Grape Creek’s Jorge Rodriguez carried the ball 16 times for 106 yards and three touchdowns in the game and also tallied eight tackles, including five for loss with three sacks.

“Defensively, they’re going to be in a 3-4 and they’re really athletic on the back end,” Price said of Grape Creek. “They’re going to really get after it and bring pressure off the edge with their outside linebackers. They’re a good football team on the defensive side.

“On the offensive side, they run a single wing which is a novelty, you don’t hardly see that any more. Some of the things they do are a lot different than what we’ve seen. It’s hard to get ready for that in a week and it’s hard to simulate that in practice to get any sort of picture defensively. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

Early is allowing 27 points and 300 yards – 174 rushing and 126 passing – per game. Defensive standouts include Tre Beam (47 tackles, 9 for loss, 5 sacks), Marcus Morelan
(29 tackles, 2 sacks), Caleb McCullough (22 tackles), Korbin Hall (21 tackles, 1 for loss), Bradon Schwartz (20 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 sacks), Franky Villarreal (16 tackles) and Tucker Hale (15 tackles).

“Defensively, I want to see us be physical again and tackle well,” Price said regarding the goals for Friday night. “I want to see us handle the different situation of being against a different offense. I want to see us adapt and overcome.”

On the flip side, the Early offense is generating 20 points and 286 yards – 177 passing and 109 passing – per outing.

Jaxyn Price has completed 37 of 81 passes for 380 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions while John-Stewart Gordon has connected on all three of his pass attempts for 55 yards.

On the ground, Alex Jacobs leads the way with 341 yards and three scores followed by Beam with 201 yards and two touchdowns and Price with 145 yards and a pair of scores. Hale chipped in 23 yards and a touchdown against Merkel.

Leading receivers include McCullough (11-55, TD), Jacobs (7-37), Tyson Tyler (6-79), Beam (5-103), Hayden Schroeder (4-70, TD), Gordon (3-74, TD), and Rylie Hill
(3-18).

“Offensively I’d like to see us be as consistent as we were last week in the first half,” Price said. “We did a really good job of moving the ball, we went up and down the field and had some success, we just need to continue to see that progress with our young players. We had a few drops with our young players I’d like to see cleaned up. We missed a couple of blocks I’d like to see us get that could spring us for a big gain. The little things are what I want to see out of the offense and see if they can put it together for four quarters and really show where we’re at getting ready for district.”

As for other keys to the game, Price said, “Taking care of the football, we’ve done a really good job the last couple of games. We had a couple of mistakes but nothing major on the turnover side of it. We were better on special teams Friday night which is another point of emphasis, as we keep rolling through this. We’re going to have to tackle well with their misdirection in the backfield.”

As for the importance of finishing non-district play on a win streak to carry into the start of District 3-3A Division I action, Price said, “It’s very important with a young team that we have success and build off that success and this is a big step for us. We have to learn how to win back to back games. We have to learn how to handle outside distractions, with homecoming this week a lot is going on.

“Going into district and winning two in a row, making the progress we have would be huge for us so I’d like to see us go out and do that Friday night. Hopefully we can do that and go out and beat a good Grape Creek team and be in that situation going into a very tough district with a lot of confidence.”

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Early is a 14-point favorite.

Early Longhorns 2020 Football Stats

Through 4 Games (2-2)

TEAM OFFENSE
19.8 points per game (79)

286.3 yards per game (1,145)
177.5 rushing yards per game (710)
108.8 passing yards per game (435)

PASSING
‒ Jaxyn Price
37 of 81 for 380 yards, 2 TDs, 5 INTs

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
3 of 3 for 55 yards

RUSHING
‒ Alex Jacobs
341 yards on 63 carries, 3 TDs

‒ Tre Beam
201 yards on 37 carries, 2 TDs

‒ Jaxyn Price
145 yards on 56 carries, 2 TDs

‒ Tucker Hale
23 yards on 5 carries, 1 TD

‒ Caleb McCullough
0 yards on 1 carry

RECEIVING
‒ Caleb McCullough
11 catches for 55 yards, 1 TD

‒ Alex Jacobs
7 catches for 37 yards

‒ Tyson Tyler
6 catches for 79 yards

‒ Tre Beam
5 catches for 103 yards

‒ Hayden Schroeder
4 catches for 70 yards, 1 TD

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

‒ Rylie Hill
3 catches for 18 yards

‒ Jeremy Brown
1 catch for 5 yards

TEAM DEFENSE
27.0 points per game (108)
300.3 yards per game (1,201)

174.3 rushing yards per game (697)
126.0 passing yards per game (504)

TACKLES

‒ Tre Beam
47 tackles, 9 for loss, 5 sacks

‒ Marcus Morelan
29 tackles, 2 sacks

‒ Caleb McCullough
22 tackles

‒ Korbin Hall
21 tackles, 1 for loss

‒ Bradon Schwartz
20 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 sacks

‒ Franky Villarreal
16 tackles

‒ Tucker Hale
15 tackles

‒ Casey Moseley
11 tackles

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
10 tackles

‒ Jeremy Brown

8 tackles, 2 INTs

‒ Rylie Hill
7 tackles

‒ Tyson Tyler
7 tackles, 1 INT

‒ Wade Kennedy
4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FR

‒ Adan Aleman
2 tackles

‒ Alex Jacobs
1.5 tackles

‒ Chris Fernandez
1 tackle

‒ Bradly Roman
.5 tackle

‒ Ryan Parisi
.5 tackle