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Friday Night notes: McKinney ISD winless again
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@acnpapers.com
McKinney Boyd (4-2 overall, 2-1 in District 10-5A) rested on its bye, McKinney (0-6, 0-3 in 104A) almost upset Rockwall in a 31-22 loss and McKinney North (3-3, 1-2 in 104A) didn't come close to Rockwall-Heath in a 41-7 blowout that kept the Hawks’ perfect season rolling and capped a winless week for McKinney ISD.
Player of the Week: Red Shannon
The unavailability of key offensive players, including injured starting quarterback Robert Somborn, left McKinney with limited options to put in play against Rockwall. But with Shannon as one of them, the Lions did fine.
That performance alone was enough to vault him to the top of the Lions' rushing leaderboard, 100 yards ahead of his nearest teammate. It also kept McKinney in a game that got out of hand early on when Rockwall scored a pair of 50-plus-yard rushing touchdowns on its first four plays.
Shannon answered with a 28-yard touchdown run to get the Lions on the board and continued to set up scoring opportunities for other players the rest of the way. It was just the latest use McKinney found for a player who has also put in time as a wide receiver and defensive back.
Wherever he is, getting the ball to Shannon is key to the Lions' success.
“He'll have a chance to carry the ball this week,” said Jeff Smith, McKinney head coach. “I don't know that he'll be the feature back, anything like that, because we like to throw the ball to him too. We're going to keep doing what we do and try to find ways to get him the football, as well as [Quentin] Casner, [Connor] Fuentes and all our other receivers.
“Obviously, Red showed that he could carry the ball between the tackles and do some things, so he's got a lot of flexibility in where he can play.”
More on the Lions' rushing renaissance
McKinney came into its game against Rockwall averaging just under 37 pass attempts per game. They had thrown 40 or more times in two games. Needless to say, the Lions offense had been heavily reliant on the aerial play between Somborn and a strong core of receivers.
But with their starting quarterback unavailable, McKinney had to completely shift gears offensively against the Yellowjackets and the move worked surprisingly well. Even though they had just five passing attempts for three yards, the Lions managed to outgain Rockwall with 470 yard of total offense.
The bulk of that came from Shannon, but the nine players to have at least one rushing attempt also included quarterback Brooks Johnston, who contributed 85 yards on five carries, and running backs Jimmy Benton and Matt Reynolds, who chipped in 43 and 33 yards, respectively.
The game may have ended as the Lions' sixth loss in-a-row, but there were plenty of positives to be found in their performance against Rockwall and none more so than the decided step up in running production. That addition makes a McKinney offense already averaging over 400 yards a game even more potent.
“Definitely a lot of encouraging things came from that game,” Smith said. “We've kind of been known to throw the ball quite a bit, and due to injuries we weren't able to throw the ball, so the run game became the focus and we did a lot of really good things in the running game.”
Terrible start, great game from Lions
It took Rockwall just eight plays to score three touchdowns and take a 21-6 lead a few seconds into the second quarter. But the McKinney defense quickly recovered and the Yellowjackets' next five possessions saw them punt, lose a fumbled kickoff return, throw an interception, punt again and kick a field goal.
“After the defense settled down and made some adjustments, the defense played really well after that first quarter,” Smith said. “Definitely a lot of positives, and we'll get some guys back from injuries this week, maybe. We're excited for a chance to play again this Friday night.”
After the Yellowjackets got their third touchdown, the Lions defense held them scoreless until early in the fourth quarter. That gave the McKinney offense the chance to narrow the score, and down 24-22 with possession in the fourth, the Lions had the chance to take their first lead of the night. A lost fumble killed their rally two plays in though, to set up one last Yellowjackets touchdown that pretty much ended the game.
Still, McKinney North head coach Mike Fecci, whose team will face the Lions next, took notice of how they played.
“McKinney was down 14-0 in a hurry and just kept fighting, kept playing and made it into a pretty interesting ball game there until the very end,” he said.
Looking toward the Bulldogs
“It's going to come down to executing and playing a good football game,” Smith said. “I know North will be really grinding this week in practice trying to get better just like we will. For us, not having won a game yet, we need to focus on ourselves and we need to focus not so much on McKinney North, but just on us getting better as a football team. I think last week we took that approach and it helped quite a bit. We went back to basics in practice and I think that you could see some really positive things. We're going to continue to work on ourselves and we're hopeful that will translate into a win.”
North broken down
The Bulldogs weren't the team to break up Heath's undefeated run, as they dropped to .500 on the season with a 41-7 loss to the Hawks.
The game was over midway through the second quarter.
The Hawks had a 27-0 lead by then, which would have been more than enough to win every game they've played so far. Heath has held every opponent it has played to two touchdowns or fewer. The Bulldogs only managed one, in garbage time.
“You can't fall behind those guys,” Fecci said. “They're a ball-control offense and very, very good up front. The offensive and defensive lines for Heath are very good. We didn't play really well, but we played really hard. We got after them, it's just one of those things where they got the opening drive and went down and scored, three-and-outed us and went down and scored again and the first half flew by real quick.”
North's normally strong rushing attack was held to 20 yards on 22 attempts. The numbers weren't kind to the Bulldogs anywhere. After the first half, they had -13 yards rushing. During the first quarter, they allowed the Hawks 156 yards of offense while putting up three of their own.
“It was one of those Twilight Zone games you get into some times where we couldn't move anything,” Fecci said.
The Bulldogs had a chance at putting up points at the end of the first quarter, but after driving 57 yards downfield to the 9-yard line, they opted to fake a short field goal attempt – a play they've been working on for awhile – and came away with nothing when the pass was broken up.
“I thought I could catch them napping, but they weren't and it didn't work,” Fecci said.
Playoff chances
The Bulldogs will need to start and keep winning again to have a chance at making the playoffs, but that won't be an easy task considering their upcoming schedule. After McKinney, they'll play, in order, Highland Park, Wylie and Rockwall.
The Scots have yet to lose a game this season, Rockwall carries a 2-1 district record with wins over Wylie and McKinney and a loss to Highland Park, and Wylie is at a deceptive 1-2 with losses to Highland Park and Rockwall and a win over McKinney. The Pirates lost by three points to the Scots last week, so even the lesser of the three is a front runner for a playoff berth.
To have a shot at the postseason themselves, the Bulldogs will likely have to beat two of those teams and win three of their next four games. If they can accomplish that, it would break the program's four-year playoff drought.
Broncos back in action
Coming of its bye, Boyd will ease back into district play this week with a game against winless North Garland. The Raiders’ most recent loss saw them blown out by Garland, 56-0, for their third straight district loss by 30 points or more.
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