EARLY – After their best start in 45 years to open the season, the Early Longhorns suddenly find themselves in need of a critical victory three games into the District 3-3A Division I slate as they visit the Clyde Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Friday.

A third straight loss for Early (5-2, 0-2) would seriously hinder the Longhorns’ chances of reaching the playoffs for a second straight season, while a victory over Clyde (1-6, 1-1) would likely clear the path to another postseason berth.

“It’s a big game for us but all the district contests are big all the way through,” said Early second-year head coach Daniel Price. “ It’s a big one and we know what’s in front of us, but we have to get a little swagger back and get back to doing some things a little more consistently like we were doing earlier in the year that we haven’t seen the last two weeks.”

Early has dropped district outings to Jim Ned (48-7) and Breckenridge (37-20) thus far, while Clyde bounced back from a league-opening defeat to Breckenridge (44-29) with its first triumph of the season last week over San Angelo TLCA (61-22).

“Breckenridge came over here and played really well, and I knew we were going to have to play well and I don’t think we gave them our best shot,” Price said. “We hurt ourselves with some big penalties on both sides of the ball. We couldn’t quite get out of our own way all night. When you do that against a good football team the result is you get beat. I’m proud of their effort, proud of some of the things we did, but there’s a lot of things we need to fix if we want to get back on the winning path Friday.”

Penalties allowed Breckenridge to extend a scoring drive and took a touchdown off the board for Early in the first half, miscues the Longhorns were unable to overcome.

Clyde started its season with losses to Cisco (49-7), Idalou (24-6), Windthorst (52-7), Ballinger (21-13), Sweetwater (42-21) and Breckenridge, but found the win column for the first time last week.

In the win over San Angelo TLCA, the Bulldogs finished with 352 yards – 177 passing and 175 rushing. Blake Carr threw for 177 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Austin Hastings rushed for 68 yards and two scores, Pedro Altamirano ran for a 31-yard touchdown and caught two passes for 43 yards with a trip to the end zone; and Jarrett Jeffers hauled in a 14-yard touchdown.

For the season, Clyde averages 21 points and 289 yards – 197 passing and 92 rushing – per game, while giving up 36 points on average.

Carr has completed 96 of 165 passes for 1,323 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions, while leading receivers are Christifer Hurley (23-509, 3 TDs), Jackson Huff (21-238), Hastings (16-95), Connor Hawk (12- 188, TD), Garis Gray (11-209, TD), and Altamirano (9-101, 2 TDs). Hastings (292 yards, 4 TDs) is the leading rusher, followed by Carr (191 yards, 3 TDs).

“Clyde has a new head coach and he does a lot of run-pass option stuff,” Price said. “They have two really good, explosive receivers, a young quarterback and they’re big up front. Defensively it’s another big challenge but a little bit different than the last two we faced. The last two weeks we faced two really good running backs and this week the passing game is a little more heavy for Clyde, so it’s a little bit of a different challenge.

“Offensively we just have to execute and find a way to get back in the end zone. We did a good job Friday night, I was proud of Tucker Hale, he did well getting his first varsity start, but we have to help him out with no penalties and we had a couple of dropped passes and things like that. Clyde defensively alternates between a 3-4 and a 4-2-5 look, which is not something we’ve seen a lot of. It’ll be a little bit different for us up front.”

The Longhorns enter the contest averaging 37 points and 365 yards – 201 passing and 164 rushing – with six turnovers.

Jaxyn Price has completed 81 of 134 passes for 1,123 yards with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions, while Tucker Hale filled last week and for the season has connected on 22 of 41 attempts for 283 yards with a pair of scoring tosses and two picks.

Leading receivers are Jeremy Brown (35-375, 3 TDs), John-Stewart Gordon (21-323, 3 TDs), Tre Beam (14-206, 3 TDs), and Ki Houston (8-169, 3 TDs).

On the ground, Beam leads the way 769 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Defensively, Early is giving up 20 points and 255 yards – 128 rushing and 127 passing – per game, with 17 takeaways, but the Longhorns did not force a turnover in a game for the first time last week.

Standouts include Caleb McCullough (61 tackles, 10 for loss, 4 sacks), Hale (57 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 sack, 1 INT), Kaleb Ozuna (56 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 FRs, 1 INT), Franky Villarreal (48 tackles, 4 for loss, 3 sacks, 2 for loss, 1 FR), Korbin Hall (41 tackles, 8 for loss), Beam (36 tackles, 14 for loss, 6 sacks, 1 FR), Vic Cooper (32 tackles, 1 INT), Brown (27 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 INT), Chris Fernandez (24 tackles, 1 FR), and Gordon (20 tackles, 5 INTs).

In order for Early to secure the victory, Price said, “We have to eliminate penalties, we have to get off the field on third down defensively, and offensively we have to throw and catch and do a little better job up front getting off the ball and having success running the football. We did some of those Friday night, but it was a good possession followed by a stalled possession and earlier in the year we were having good possessions stacked on top of each other. Getting back to those things will help us out tremendously Friday.”

On the health front, Price expects the Longhorns to be at full strength Friday night.

According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Early is a 15-point favorite.

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Early Longhorns 2021 Football Stats

Through 7 Games (5-2, 0-2)

TEAM OFFENSE
37.4 points per game (262)

365.2 yards per game (2,557)
164.4 rushing yards per game (1,151)
200.8 passing yards per game (1,406)

PASSING
‒ Jaxyn Price
81 of 134 for 1,123 yards, 17 TDs, 2 INTs

‒ Tucker Hale
22 of 41 for 283 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs

RUSHING
‒ Tre Beam
769 yards on 114 carries, 11 TDs

‒ Franky Villarreal
102 yards on 23 carries

‒ Kaleb Ozuna
98 yards on 23 carries, 2 TDs

‒ Tucker Hale
89 yards on 25 carries, TD

‒ Michael Morales
71 yards on 22 carries, TD

‒ Riley Hill
32 yards on 4 carries

‒ Ryan Parisi
-3 yards on 1 carry

‒ Jaxyn Price
-7 yards on 13 carries, TD

RECEIVING
‒ Jeremy Brown
35 catches for 375 yards, 3 TDs

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
21 catches for 323 yards, 3 TDs

‒ Tre Beam
14 catches for 206 yards, 3 TDs

‒ Ki Houston
8 catches for 169 yards, 3 TDs

‒ Caleb McCullough
5 catches for 56 yards, 2 TDs

‒ Vic Cooper
5 catches for 54 yards

‒ Gavin Sanders
5 catches for 53 yards, TD

‒ Cedrick Morelan
4 catches for 113 yards, 2 TDs

‒ Franky Villarreal
3 catches for 47 yards, 2 TDs

‒ Kaleb Ozuna
1 catch for 14 yards

‒ Hayden Welch
1 catch for 5 yards

‒ Michael Morales
1 catch for 1 yard

***

TEAM DEFENSE
20.0 points per game (140)

255.0 yards per game (1,785)

128.3 rushing yards per game (898)
126.7 passing yards per game (887)

TACKLES

‒ Caleb McCullough
61 tackles, 10 for loss, 4 sacks

‒ Tucker Hale
57 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 sack, 1 INT

‒ Kaleb Ozuna
56 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 sacks, 2 FRs, 1 INT

‒ Franky Villarreal
48 tackles, 4 for loss, 3 sacks, 2 for loss, 1 FR

‒ Korbin Hall
41 tackles, 8 for loss

‒ Tre Beam
36 tackles, 14 for loss, 6 sacks, 1 FR

‒ Vic Cooper
32 tackles, 1 INT

‒ Jeremy Brown
27 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 INT

‒ Chris Fernandez
24 tackles, 1 FR

‒ John-Stewart Gordon
20 tackles, 5 INTs

‒ Dalton Adams
19 tackles, 1 for loss

‒ Brooks Clippinger
17 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 FR

‒ Gavin Sanders
15 tackles

‒ Casey Moseley
9 tackles

‒ Ki Houston
5 tackles, 1 FR

‒ Bradly Roman
5 tackles

‒ Cedric Morelan
5 tackles

‒ Houston Ortiz
3 tackles

‒ Cooper Jacobs
2 tackles

‒ Jaxyn Price
2 tackles

‒ Riley Hill
2 tackles

‒ Hayden Welch
2 tackles, 1 FR

‒ Sebastian Constancio
2 tackles

‒ Ryan Parisi
1 tackle

***

TURNOVER MARGIN: (+11)
Early 6 – 2 fumbles, 4 INTs
Opponents 17 — 9 INTs, 8 FRs