Despite coming from the smaller 4A division, the Ennis Lions will be an athletic and challenging team tonight for the football team, head coach Gregg Miller said.

“Ennis is a very physical football team,” Miller said. “They don’t lose much. They’re a young team still. They’re going to be very powerful, and fast and physical. They will be on your tail and they play very, very hard from start to finish.”

Ennis opened the season with a 43-14 blowout of Burleson Centennial last week, while the Farmers fell at home to Plano, 22-0. Lewisville lost to Ennis last season 30-26. The Farmers went on to post a 1-9 record, while Ennis finished 8-3 and made the playoffs. Tonight’s game will be at 7:30 p.m. at Max Goldsmith Stadium.

“We’re going to have to match the intensity and physicality [of Ennis],” Miller said. “It’ll again come down to the team that executes the best.”

Senior kicker Tluang Hmung is expecting a challenge from the smaller school.

“They’re a good team,” Hmung said. “Last year they beat us. They’re not small. They’re big and physical and tough, so it’s going to be a tough game that I hope we win.”

In last year’s game, senior quarterback and team captain Matt McDougal threw two touchdown passes, and 2013 graduate DeAndre Brown gained 230 yards and two touchdowns against Ennis’ defense.

Although Ennis won its first game, a Burleson running back was able to rush for 183 yards over Ennis’ defense.

Against Plano, the young Farmer defense gave up all 22 points in the first half, not allowing a scoring play in the second half. Plano had most of its success on the ground, running for 270 yards on 52 carries. In total, Plano gained 305 yards, while the Farmers gained 37.

Before playing Plano, Miller said that the defense had to “grow up quick,” and the growth seemed to show last Friday night.

“The second half, I was really proud,” Miller said. “I was really proud of our defense coming in late in the second quarter, changing up some of the things we were doing. They executed very well. They never hung their head on the sidelines, they were very coachable which was a good sign for a team that young.”

Miller said the team was more focused in catching up to Plano than executing, and it affected the offense the most.

“When you’re behind, it’s a whole other game, offensively,” Miller said. “We didn’t get to go out there and really establish ourselves offensively, because we were out there trying to get that score back from them the whole time.”

McDougal took last week’s loss as an encouragement to do better.

“It sounds like a negative, but it’s kind of good that we got whooped the first week because it makes you really focus and makes you want to change that,” McDougal said. “It sounds like a negative but hopefully it’ll turn into a good thing.”

McDougal said the team did not execute well, but with some practice, they can succeed.

“We just didn’t do our assignments well,” McDougal said. “We just need to do what we’re supposed to do. Not in one area in particular, because it only takes one person to bust a play. We just all have to do our jobs and we’ll be fine.”

This season is McDougal’s third with the varsity, and although he was used to the environment, some of his younger teammates were not.

“Everyone’s really nervous their first [varsity] game,” McDougal said. “I was a nervous wreck. It’s such a different atmosphere, the game is so much faster. Everyone’s stronger and better. You just have to get used to the pace of the game and how it is.”

Miller said with a little more execution and practice, the team will rise up from being the “underdogs.”

“Once our kids start believing, they’re going to be hard to beat,” Miller said. “They’re not going to surrender. They didn’t surrender to Plano. They could have given up at halftime. And it could have been 44-0 just like that, but they did not surrender. They will not lay down.”