EARLY – For the second year in a row, the Wall Hawks played the role of spoiler in the Early Longhorns’ quest for their first district championship since 2007.
Friday night in the final home game for Early, Wall chalked up a 50-6 victory as the Hawks (7-2, 4-0) can finish with no worse than a share of the District 5-3A Division II championship and the top playoff seed heading into its season finale at home against Brady (3-6, 2-2) next week.
Meanwhile, the Longhorns (4-5, 3-1) wrap up their regular season next week at San Angelo TLCA (5-4, 2-2) – coming off a 36-21 win over Ballinger – as Early needs a win to secure second place, and a Wall loss to nab a share of the district title. The Hawks would still enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the scenario, having won head-to-head.
A San Angelo TLCA win over Early, and a Wall victory over Brady, would drop the Longhorns to the No. 3 playoff seed in the district. A Brady upset of Wall, and TLCA knocking off Early would create a three-way tie for second and a points tiebreaker would determine seeding.
Against Wall Friday night, Early was held to 211 yards of total offense – 175 passing and 86 rushing – with three turnovers. Meanwhile, the Hawks produced 507 yards, including 410 on the ground, and did not cough up the ball.
Justin Pierce completed both of his pass attempts for Early for 44 yards and a touchdown, with the scoring strike to Andrew Reedy, who hauled down six receptions for 79 yards. Rohyn Price connected on 6 of 14 passes for 81 yards with an interception, while Ki Houston added two catches for 46 yards.
On the ground for Early, Kaleb Ozuna led the way with 46 yards on nine carries while Griffin Cheslock was limited to 42 yards on 16 totes.
Nathan Pepper led Wall with 93 rushing yards and a touchdown, Garrett Guy added 92 yards on the ground and a score, and Gunnar Dillard completed 6 of 11 passes for 97 yards with three scoring tosses – to Landon Beeles, Brylan White, and Hadyn Barbee.
