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Friday Night notes: Broncos, Bulldogs back to winning ways
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@acnpapers.com
Rebounding from their first winless week of the season, McKinney ISD football teams went 2-1 on Thursday and Friday as McKinney Boyd trounced Garland Naaman Forest (28-10) for a Homecoming win, McKinney North edged Richardson Pearce (33-28) and McKinney was dropped by Rockwall-Heath (47-14) for its fifth-straight loss.
Player of the Week: Hunter Walling
McKinney North quarterback Hunter Walling is this week's top player after leading his team to a much-needed win over Pearce.
McKinney continues slide
The Lions have yet to win a game this season and Friday's loss to the Hawks saw them reliving past mistakes.
The game began with each team authoring a lengthy, 11-play drive to the end zone. Heath went first, chewing up six minutes on the way to its score and a 6-0 lead. The Lions blocked the extra point and did the Hawks one better by working downfield in mirror fashion on a drive that head coach Jeff Smith said was among the best they've had all year. The touchdown came on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Robert Somborn to wide receiver TV Williams, and after successfully converting their extra-point attempt, the Lions had an early one-point lead.
But once again a strong start turned disastrous for McKinney when a string of turnovers allowed the Hawks to put up 27 unanswered points in the second quarter, the majority of which resulted from Lions turnovers.
McKinney must have had flashbacks of its game against Boyd, where a series of consecutive turnovers allowed the Broncos to post 24 unanswered points in the second quarter and take over the game by halftime.
“Every time we turned it over in our zone, we gave the defense a short field to work with and we can't do that,” Smith said. “Heath is too good of a football team to do that. No doubt turnovers were a big factor in the game.”
The Lions’ four total turnovers against Heath came on three lost fumbles and a Somborn interception.
Somborn knocked out
After completing 13-of-18 pass attempts for 98 yards and a touchdown, Somborn took a hit from a Heath defender and had to leave the game. He didn't return for the second half and whether or not he'll play Friday against Rockwall remains uncertain.
Backup quarterback Buck Shaw took over for Somborn and did well considering the circumstances, completing 4-of-7 pass attempts for 46 yards.
A move-in from Georgia, Shaw was recovering from shoulder surgery when he came to McKinney, creating another obstacle for a player already getting accustomed to a new team.
“We didn't know until five minutes before halftime was over that this change was about to happen,” Smith said. “For Buck, hearing that in five minutes he's going to be the quarterback in the second half and to go out there, get everybody lined up, make the calls, run the plays and make good decisions; he did a good job in that circumstance – in a high-pressure situation.”
Schedule not getting any easier
The Lions have been playing difficult teams so far this season and their road won't ease up any this week, as they have Rockwall scheduled for their Homecoming game.
The Yellowjackets have all the momentum in the world after upsetting Wylie in a 28-14 win last week that saw them put up 21 points in the first quarter and force four turnovers. Led by dual-threat quarterback Wesley Davis, they've established themselves among the front-runners for a 10-4A playoff spot.
To prepare for Rockwall, the Lions are refocusing on fundamentals.
“A lot of the things we've done with our kids and our coaches this weekend is just going back to the basics,” Smith said. “Not that we haven't done that all year long, but we've just been hammering fundamentals—blocking and tackling and taking care of the football—over and over again. We just need to get better at that.”
A win is a win, but …
The Broncos may have come away with a decisive win over Naaman Forest, but much of what head coach Don Drake saw from his offense wasn't to his liking.
“Offensive execution is probably my main concern right now,” he said. “We started the game with a 15-play drive, which I thought was very, very good. I told the kids today, I don't know that we followed it with six consecutive plays that we could run properly.
“That's a concern for me, because good offenses, in my opinion, have the ability to methodically move the football. We've shown some big-play capability throughout the year and we showed in that first possession the other night that we can be methodical and go on a long drive, but we've got to be more consistent in being able to do that than what we've been showing.”
Not that there weren't bright spots. Bryan Driskell cracked 1,000 yards rushing on the season with a 29-carry, 194-yard performance that accounted for nearly half the Broncos offense.
Sophomore quarterback Curtis Ladd completed 13-of-19 pass attempts for 125 yards and connected with his older brother, Patrick, for a pair of second-half touchdowns to go along with a 33-yard scoring rush he broke in the second quarter.
Still, better offensive production will be a focus for Boyd during its bye week.
Defense sound as ever
Boyd didn't allow Naaman Forest to get on the board until the third quarter, where a field goal made their deficit 21-3, and didn't allow a touchdown until late in the fourth when its backup defenders were on the field.
It was the lowest point total the Broncos have allowed since opening the season against North.
Top contributors included Jamal Palmer, who caused two fumbles and had 10 tackles, four for loss, and a sack; Paine Matiscik, who came up with eight tackles, one for loss, and a sack; and Tanner Larson, who had six tackles, three for loss.
A game North needed to win
After dropping their district opener against Wylie East, the Bulldogs were in danger of falling behind in the playoff race before the hardest part of their schedule hit. But with Thursday's dramatic win over Pearce, North re-established itself in the heart of the district standings.
The Bulldogs had to weather a nearly two-hour lightning delay that allowed Pearce to re-establish itself in a game it trailed, 14-0, before the storm. The elements even went a step further toward helping the opposition, as strong winds spoiled a pair of North punts and gave Pearce a short field to convert into a pair of touchdowns.
North came up big in the end, though, scoring nine points in the fourth to retake the lead and holding Pearce scoreless that frame on a late goal-line stand. Up by their winning total, the Bulldogs took the ball back and made enough plays to force Pearce to burn through its unused timeouts. It was just a matter of running out the clock from there.
How the rest of the district is doing: 10-4A
Highland Park beat Wylie East (58-30) to maintain its undefeated record and Rockwall upset Wylie to complete the rest of last week's District 10-4A action.
The Scots blew apart what had been a close game against East with a 30-point fourth quarter.
Last week's games left two teams, Highland Park and Rockwall-Heath, undefeated in district play; two more, McKinney and Pearce, without a win; and the remaining four knotted in the middle at 1-1. The complete standings are:
Highland Park 5-0 overall 2-0 district
Rockwall-Heath 5-0 2-0
Wylie East 4-1 1-1
McKinney North 3-2 1-1
Wylie 3-2 1-1
Rockwall 2-3 1-1
Richardson Pearce 2-3 0-2
McKinney 0-5 0-2
How the rest of the district is doing: 10-5A
Garland destroyed North Garland (56-0), Rowlett won a close game against South Garland (38-30) and Sachse rolled past Garland Lakeview Centennial (28-9) to maintain the district's evenly-layered structure, which has two teams with every possible record:
Garland 4-2 overall 3-0 district
Rowlett 4-2 3-0
Sachse 5-1 2-1
McKinney Boyd 4-2 2-1
Lakeview Centennial 1-5 1-2
South Garland 1-5 1-2
Naaman Forest 1-5 0-3
North Garland 0-6 0-3
*tied teams in random order
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