The results of the regular season have been concluded for both teams; the Farmers have made the playoffs while the Lobos season ends this week. The only stakes on the line in this matchup are bragging rights in a first-time matchup in Lobo Stadium this Friday.
The Farmers stand tall in a 27-17 victory over Guyer and jump the Wildcats as the current runner-up in District 6A-5, confirming the team’s first round playoff matchup against the winner of District 6A-6: the Allen Eagles.
“You always want to live in the moment and play the team you’re about to play, but you know you have some very important games coming up,” assistant offensive coordinator Nate Blackwell said. “I think the mindset at practice is to keep practicing hard because we know we have some big games coming up, regardless of the week we’re on.”
Before that rematch arrives, the Little Elm Lobos stand in the Farmers’ way, coming off of a 66-14 loss against the Marcus Marauders. The Lobos passing game was led by sophomore quarterback Max Reyes, who completed 12 of 25 passes for 114 yards, one touchdown and threw one interception. Reyes also led the team in rushing yards, accumulating 24 yards on the ground. The offense couldn’t move the ball on the ground, totaling 88 rushing yards on 33 attempts (2.7 yards per carry), which led to an overall stagnant performance on offense. This reflects the Lobos offense over the season, scoring 97 total points in the team’s nine games, the lowest in District 6A-5.
The defensive side of the ball didn’t perform much better, allowing the Marauders to gain 307 passing yards and three passing touchdowns, as well as 249 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns on 31 rushing attempts (eight yards per carry). Throughout the season, Little Elm has also allowed the most points in District 6A-5, having teams score a total of 431 points against them. The next highest points allowed in the district is the Braswell Bengals who have allowed 382 points scored on them: 49 points less than the Lobos.
“We’re definitely expecting them to come out with full force, since it’s [Little Elm’s] last game,” senior tight end Luke Hudson said. “We’ve been taking this week to prepare for Allen, and luckily, [Little Elm] runs a similar defense.”
Unlike the Lobos, the Farmers come into this week’s matchup with a large swing of momentum after toppling the Wildcats. Sophomore quarterback Tre Williams completed 10 of 20 pass attempts for 182 passing yards and a touchdown. Unlike previous wins for the Farmers, the rushing offense didn’t take off like it usually would, gaining 79 total yards on the ground. One factor that played into this was the injury of junior offensive lineman Aidan Murphy. Junior running back Tenel Hill recorded a season-low 30 rushing yards as the Wildcats defensive line proved to be as formidable as predicted, which helped Guyer hold the Farmers to six points in the second half. However, Murphy would be replaced by senior offensive lineman Sean Hutton, and sophomore running back Derrick “DJ” Martin was able to help diversify the backfield tempo, gaining 49 yards and a touchdown on the ground, as well as a 41 yards and a receiving touchdown through the air. These performances showed the depth of the offense and the team’s “next-man up” mentality.
“I think especially with our offensive line, those guys do such a great job at learning everything,” Blackwell said. “We were able to put Sean Hutton at center, and we had one of our freshmen Peter McDonald, ready to play center or guard.”
While the offense lost a bit of its steam in the second half, the Farmer defense refused to allow the Wildcats to make a comeback. Junior defensive tackle Xavier Fleming created the first of many turnovers with an interception returned for a touchdown in the first quarter, giving the Farmers a 7-3 lead. The team’s defense continued to cause mayhem in the backfield, forcing a second interception caught by sophomore linebacker Javar Curington.
The performance that encapsulated how the Farmer defense performed was senior defensive end Rhyan Sewell’s stat stuffing game; he forced two fumbles, six quarterback hurries, four tackles for loss and three sacks on the night. After that performance, Sewell now has 11 sacks and 23 tackles for loss on the season, nearly doubling both of his totals from last year (five sacks, 12 tackles for loss). The combination of all these defensive plays were able to bring Guyer’s senior quarterback Kevin Sperry to throw two interceptions and fumble the ball three times, leading to his worst quarterback rating on the season (49.4 quarterback rating).
“The playoffs are supposed to be played with higher effort and higher effort means we’ll be flying to the ball,” Fleming said. “[Last week], I was in the right place and right time and we got a turnover.”
*highlighted teams are locked into the playoffs*
Although the Farmers have guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs, they still have one more game before the team’s postseason rematch against the Allen Eagles. While the Lobos currently stand at 0-9, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be acknowledged as a threat. The Farmers need to walk into Lobo stadium and take care of business so they can be ready to prepare themselves for the playoffs, free from all other distractions.
“Last year we played our hearts out on defense, but we came up short,” Fleming said. “The year before, we beat them. Now’s a chance to beat them and let everybody know who really is the better team.”
