The Farmers (2-2) will attempt to brand the Broncos (1-3) in varsity football action tonight at McKinney’s Ron Poe Stadium at 7:30 p.m. McKinney Boyd’s season record doesn’t necessarily make the Broncos an easy opponent.
“You can look at records and see how they’re doing but you have to look at who they’re playing too,” Miller said. “Kind of like us, we’ve got two losses, but Ennis is wrecking everybody and Plano has had one touchdown scored on them in five weeks of football. It’s not like they’re not good programs. It’s hard to tell. You try not to get your kids to look at records at all. The record is meaningless when you go into the game, no matter how many games you’ve won or lost.”
Last year McKinney finished 6-5 season and beat the Farmers 42-14. Senior quarterback and team captain Matt McDougal said that last year doesn’t mean anything this season.
“Like with Arlington, we were just absolutely blown out and we beat them this year,” McDougal said. “Last year’s not really a reflection on this year. It’s not the same people.”
McDougal said McKinney Boyd doesn’t show weaknesses, but with execution they will take advantage.
“They’re definitely a sound defense, and they do their jobs well,” McDougal said. “On offense, we just have to take care of the ball. Not turn the ball over obviously. The defense will hold them, and the yards doesn’t really matter.”
Miller said during last year’s game against McKinney Boyd, the team did not play very well defensively, and it has been changing this year.
“We were close at half,” Miller said. “We were close right there and they came out in the second half and we didn’t do a good job of closing down and playing. It’s something we’ve done a really good job in the second half of limiting our mistakes. We’re playing very sound and not doing more than we’re supposed to do.”
Miller said McKinney Boyd will be a crucial game seeing as the Broncos will attempt to establish themselves while the Farmers are trying to build on something established last week.
“They don’t know where they stand, and that’s the dangerous thing about them,” Miller said. “I think they’re going to come out and try to establish themselves as a running football team. We’re going to have to really be solid.”
Miller said the Broncos’ coaches are doing a good job preparing their kids to play.
“There is no doubt in my mind that those kids are going to come out, and you’re going to see a very good McKinney Boyd football team Friday night, because they are good,” Miller said. “They haven’t played well, but they’ve played some good teams.”
Miller called Friday night’s game a game to win for both teams.
“This is going to be a breakout game,” Miller said. “This is a backbreaker for them. They’ve got to win this football game to maintain anything over there. We’re in the same boat. Every game we play, we feel like we gotta win.”
Last week ended with a 14-10 win for the farmers, the second win of the season. McDougal said defense was solid, while offense has to improve to take advantage of defense’s performance.
“Defense is playing lights out,” McDougal said. “It’s ridiculous how they’re playing. They’re keeping us in games. Offense should be scoring a lot of points because we have the ball a lot, but our defense just keeps giving us the ball and keeping them from scoring. They’re doing a phenomenal job.
“Last year, it wasn’t like that and this year they’re holding people down, and as an offense, I’ve been talking to the players about it that we really need to pick it up on offense because we should be beating some of these teams by three, four, five touchdowns if we execute and take care of the ball. But instead, we’re messing around on offense and our defense is keeping us in the game.”
Miller said that he’s proud of the team and their hard work. All their training and practice is beginning to pay off with the two wins in a row, and with more wins, the team will begin to gain confidence.
“We’ve gotta get good and we’ve gotta stay good,” Miller said. “I think that with what our guys established last year with the hard work and the work ethic and the attention to details. These guys have built on it and added to it and I think our future’s going to be real bright.”
