Kickoff between Early (5-3, 3-0) and Wall (7-1, 3-0) is set for 7 p.m.
“The opportunity to be in this game is great to begin with, and we have a good chance to go win it,” said Early third-year head coach Daniel Price. “It’s exciting and great for the community and it would mean the world to this program and what we’ve done the last couple of years to try and get to this point. I’m very excited for our kids and for the seniors that have played for three years to have a chance to go out and win a district championship Friday night. That would be the icing on the cake for them.”
The Longhorns are coming off a 69-0 triumph over Grape Creek in which Early amassed 583 total yards, allowed just 51, and returned the opening kick 87 yards for a touchdown to record all the points it needed.
‘We knew Grape Creek’s record and talked to boys all week about how we couldn’t dip,” Price said. “We had to play at our pace, our game and we’d have a lot of success. The opening kickoff really deflated things for them when Jeremy Brown took it 87 yards for a touchdown to start the game. That gave us all the momentum and we rolled from there.”
Wall, meanwhile, is coming off a 55-0 victory over San Angelo TLCA and carries a six-game win streak into Friday’s contest. The only loss for the Hawks was an 18-14 setback to Cisco in Week 2, and for the season Wall is outscoring its foes an average of 34-6. Since the second week of the season, Wall has yielded a total of 15 points with four shutouts, including three in a row heading into Friday’s showdown. The Hawks have also recorded 24 sacks and 15 takeaways, including 10 interceptions.
“They do a good job defensively,” Price said. “They’re going to move post snap and try to confuse (quarterback) Jaxyn (Price) and that’s a little concerning because we haven’t seen that kind of post snap movement. He’s a senior that’s played a lot of football so hopefully he can handle it Friday night.”
Wall is led defensively by Brylan White (45 tackles, 14 for loss, 6 sacks, 1 FR), Dylan Gidney (44 tackles, 8 for loss, 7 sacks), Logan Thomas (42 tackles, 7 for loss, 3 sacks), Caleb Valles (41 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, 1 INT, 2 FR), William Scherr (37 tackles, 2 for loss, 2 INTs), Ryan Andrews (37 tackles, 8 for loss), Matthew Steen (35 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 INT), and Jayden Sellers (34 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 sack).
Early counters with an offense that produces 39 points and 425 yards – 263 passing and 162 rushing – per outing, with eight turnovers on the season.
Price has connected on 149 of 264 pass attempts for 2,011 yards with 22 touchdowns and five interceptions. Receiving threats include Brown (47-784, 11 TDs), John-Stewart Gordon 926-327, TD), Cedrick Morelan (19-246, 2 TDs, Ki Houston (13-190, 3 TDs), Griffin Cheslock (12-85), and Caleb McCullough (11-257, 4 TDs).
The ground game is sparked by Cheslock (711 yards, 7 TDs) and Kaleb Ozuna (406 yards, 5 TDs).
“Offensively, it’s about execution and diagnosing what we see pre-snap to post snap and being able to execute some things we have cooked up for them this week,” Price said. “If we can do that, we could have some success there, too.”
On the flip side of the ball, Wall generates 380 yards per game, with 341 coming on the ground.
Leading the charge in the ground game are Nathan Pepper (711 yards, 10 TDs), Garrett Guy (503 yards, 2 TDs), quarterback Gunnar Dillard (316 yards, 5 TDs), Canyon McCabe (266 yards, 5 TDs), and Luke Kemp (223 yards, 5 TDs).
Through the air, Dillard has completed just 11 of 44 passes for 250 yards with one touchdown and seven interceptions. Landon Beeles is 4 of 19 for 60 yards. Top receivers are Kemp (5-157, TD) and Guy (4-49) as no other Hawk has caught more than one pass.
“Their offense is something we don’t see a lot of,” Price said. “You don’t know the pace of play until you’re on the field with them. You can watch all the film you can, and you can try and replicate it in practice, but until you show up Friday night, you don’t know how that offense runs at their pace, and that concerns me. We don’t want to spend a quarter trying to catch up to their pace and find ourselves down a couple of touchdowns and struggling to get back into the game. Their running backs are really good. All of them that carry the ball are really good and we’re going to have to tackle very well. That was our Achilles heel early on, poor tackling, and we’ve been a lot better since, so hopefully we can stay on that path.”
Early’s defense is giving up 24 points and 260 yards – 139 rushing and 121 passing – per outing, with 13 takeaways.
Stalwarts include Ozuna (85 tackles, 7 for loss, 1 sack), McCullough (72 tackles, 18 for loss, 8 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Gavin Sanders (47 tackles, 3 for loss), Dalton Adams (43 tackles, 12 for loss, 4 sacks), Morelan (37 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception), Chris Fernandez (37 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 sack), Brown (29 tackles, 2 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery), and Colton Allen (28 tackles, 3 for loss, 5 interceptions).
“It’s pretty simple for us,” Price said. “We have to tackle well and be disciplined defensively – have someone on the dive, the quarterback and the pitch. If we do that, I think we’re going to put ourselves in position to have a chance to win.”
According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Early is an 11-point underdog.
“I’m excited about where we’re at,” Price said. “We’ve done a really good job of putting things together. We’ve played well in all three district games in different areas. We’re going to have to have everybody play that way Friday night. We learned lessons in pre-district from a one-point games, to games we’ve been behind and had to catch up, so we know all those feelings going into it. The only bad about this game for us is I’d prefer to play it here. We’re going to try and win one at a place that’s very tough to win at.”
***
Early Longhorns 2022 Football Season Stats
Through 8 Games (5-3, 3-0)
TEAM OFFENSE
38.5 points per game (308)
425.3 yards per game (3,402)
161.9 rushing yards per game (1,295)
263.4 passing yards per game (2,107)
PASSING
* Jaxyn Price
149 of 264 for 2,011 yards, 22 TDs, 5 INTs
* Justin Pierce
2 of 2 for 88 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
* Rohyn Price
1 of 3 for 8 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
RUSHING
* Griffin Cheslock
711 yards on 123 carries, 7 TDs
* Kaleb Ozuna
406 yards on 74 carries, 5 TDs
* Jaxyn Price
87 yards on 13 carries, 2 TDs
* Dillon Miller
59 yards on 9 carries, 1 TD
* Cedric Morelan
15 yards on 3 carries, 3 TDs
* Justin Pierce
14 yards on 6 carries
* Ki Houston
3 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Jeremy Brown
47 catches, 784 yards, 11 TDs
* John-Stewart Gordon
26 catches, 327 yards, 1 TD
* Cedrick Morelan
19 catches, 246 yards, 2 TDs
* Ki Houston
13 catches, 190 yards, 3 TDs
* Griffin Cheslock
12 catches, 85 yards
* Caleb McCullough
11 catches, 257 yards, 4 TDs
* Kaleb Ozuna
9 catches, 53 yards
* Colton Allen
7 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD
* Reece Middleton
4 catches, 57 yards
* Houston Ortiz
1 catch, 11 yards
* Gavin Sanders
1 catch, 11 yards
* Sebastian Constancio
1 catch, 11 yards
###
TEAM DEFENSE
24.5 points per game (196)
260.3 yards per game (2,082)
139.4 rushing yards per game (1,115)
120.9 passing yards per game (967)
TACKLES
* Kaleb Ozuna
85 tackles, 7 for loss, 1 sack
* Caleb McCullough
72 tackles, 18 for loss, 8 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
* Gavin Sanders
47 tackles, 3 for loss
* Dalton Adams
43 tackles, 12 for loss, 4 sacks
* Cedrick Morelan
37 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception
* Chris Fernandez
37 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 sack
* Jeremy Brown
29 tackles, 2 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery
* Colton Allen
28 tackles, 3 for loss, 5 interceptions
* Casey Moseley
27 tackles, 1 for loss
* Griffin Cheslock
26 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Houston Ortiz
24 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack
* Rohyn Price
21 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Izik Delgado
17 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Dillon Miller
12 tackles
* Dylan Brame
11 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Justin Pierce
9 tackles
* Sebastian Constancio
8 tackles
* Reece Middleton
6 tackles
* Nicolas Thames
2 tackles
* Malcham Williams
1 tackle
###
TURNOVER MARGIN (+5)
* Early: 8 (2 fumbles, 6 interceptions)
* Opponents: 13 (5 fumbles, 8 interceptions)