The Longhorns (2-3, 0-0) kick off district action at winless Ballinger (0-5, 0-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday
“We’re pretty excited because the teams we’ve played and the lessons we’ve learned are going to put us in good position to make a run during district,” Price said. “It should be a lot of fun. We’ll have some good competition and we’re starting on the road back-to-back weeks, which isn’t an ideal way to start it, but we’re looking forward to the games and hopefully we’ll be healthy and ready to go.”
Early’s most recent outing was a 49-48 home loss to Class 4A Division I Burnet, a game in which the Longhorns grabbed a late fourth-quarter advantage after trailing throughout the contest.
“I don’t know what I was thinking first of all scheduling that big of a school,” Price said with a laugh. “I was excited that our kids didn’t give up. They knew the competition we were up against and there were multiple times in that game where we could have rolled over, they could have beat us by 30 and nobody would have thought anything less of us because that’s what was supposed to happen. We were down 14-0, 21-7, 28-14, tied it before the half and had the lead there at the end, but they made a couple more plays than we did. Excited is an understatement to have played a game that close against that school.”
Regarding the lessons the Longhorns have learned through the first five games of the season, Price said, “We’ve found our identity. There was some holdover because a lot of those guys played on last year’s team and there was this expectation that we had to be last year’s team and we didn’t have those same guys. It took us a couple of weeks to learn what this team was and where this team is and where it’s going. That’s been one of the biggest things, watching them grow together and build that family feel in the locker room has been special.”
In the league opener, the Longhorns will face a Ballinger squad – led by former Brownwood assistant Ty Lang – that has been outscored 205-40 on the season with losses at the hands of Sonora (29-7), Coleman (48-0), Stamford (32-14), Clyde (41-19), and Mason (55-0).
In Ballinger’s most recent outing against Mason, the Bearcats surrendered 618 yards of total offense – 439 rushing, 179 passing – while mustering just 69 yards with four turnovers.
Jeremiah Bullingor rushed for 28 yards, Cade Strube completed 6 of 12 passes for 26 yards with a pair of interceptions and Jaylen Hernandez caught a 19-yard pass.
The Bearcats’ best outing of the season was the opener against Sonora, though Ballinger mustered just 79 total yards with two turnovers. Defensively, Ballinger yielded 316 yards, with 247 coming on the ground.
Martin Quiroga completed 5 of 9 passes for 60 yards with a touchdown and an interception, Nathan Rivera-McDuffee rushed for 27 yards and caught two touchdowns for 26 yards and a touchdown, Kyle Bullard added two grabs for 18 yards and Hernandez hauled in a 16-yard catch.
“Their quarterback has been down and I think they’ll get him back this week, and he’ll make them a lot better than what we’ve seen,” Price said. “They’re big up front, they have a good running back, but we haven’t seen what their offense is really going to look like with that quarterback at the helm.
“Defensively they run a 3-4, 3-3 stack. They’re pretty athletic on the back end but we feel like we have some things in our offensive system that are going to take advantage of what they’re going to give us.”
Early enters the district opener averaging 32 points and 396 yards – 271 passing and 125 rushing – per outing, with seven turnovers.
Quarterback Jaxyn Price has connected on 105 of 191 passes for 1,347 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions, while leading receivers include Jeremy Brown (33-549, 7 TDs), John-Stewart Gordon (19-260, TD), Cedrick Morelan (13-178, 2 TDs), Griffin Cheslock (9-62), Kaleb Ozuna (9-53), Ki Houston (8-89, 2 TDs), Colton Allen (7-60, TD), and Caleb McCullough (3-56, TD).
The ground game is anchored by Cheslock (377 yards, 4 TDs), Ozuna (165 yards, 2 TDs) and Price (74 yards, TD).
On the defensive end, the Longhorns allow 34 points and 334 yards – 200 rushing and 134 passing – per game, with 10 takeaways.
Standouts include McCullough (47 tackles, 11 for loss, 5 sacks), Ozuna (47 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack), Dalton Adams (35 tackles, 9 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), Morelan (30 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 interception), Gavin Sanders (30 tackles, 1 for loss), Chris Fernandez (26 tackles, 2 for loss), Brown (23 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions), Casey Moseley (19 tackles, 1 for loss), Cheslock (18 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery) and Allen (17 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 interceptions).
“I want to see consistency and the same effort we played with the last couple of games in the non-district schedule,” Price said of the goals for the district opener. “Offensively, it’s all about execution. We have to take advantage of what the defense is going to give us, and do that over and over even though it may seem monotonous. Defensively I want to see us tackle, I want to see us run to the football and tackle together and be able to get back to being able to do those things and controlling the line of scrimmage. If we do those things Friday night, I think we have a chance to be successful.”
On the health front, Price said, “We should be good to go Friday night. We should have everybody back and stable so I look forward to seeing everybody on the field Friday night.
According to Harris Ratings Weekly, Early is a 30-point favorite.
***
Early Longhorns 2022 Football Season Stats
Through 5 Games (2-3)
TEAM OFFENSE
32.4 points per game (162)
395.6 yards per game (1,978)
124.6 rushing yards per game (623)
271.0 passing yards per game (1,355)
PASSING
* Jaxyn Price
105 of 191 for 1,347 yards, 14 TDs, 5 INTs
* Rohyn Price
1 of 3 for 8 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
RUSHING
* Griffin Cheslock
377 yards on 71 carries, 4 TDs
* Kaleb Ozuna
165 yards on 50 carries, 2 TDs
* Jaxyn Price
74 yards on 10 carries, 1 TD
* Cedric Morelan
7 yards on 1 carry
RECEIVING
* Jeremy Brown
33 catches, 549 yards, 7 TDs
* John-Stewart Gordon
19 catches, 260 yards, 1 TD
* Cedrick Morelan
13 catches, 178 yards, 2 TDs
* Griffin Cheslock
9 catches, 62 yards
* Kaleb Ozuna
9 catches, 53 yards
* Ki Houston
8 catches, 89 yards, 2 TDs
* Colton Allen
7 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD
* Caleb McCullough
3 catches, 56 yards, 1 TD
* Reece Middleton
2 catches, 22 yards
* Houston Ortiz
1 catch, 11 yards
###
TEAM DEFENSE
33.8 points per game (169)
333.8 yards per game (1,669)
200.0 rushing yards per game (1,000)
133.8 passing yards per game (669)
TACKLES
* Caleb McCullough
47 tackles, 11 for loss, 5 sacks
* Kaleb Ozuna
47 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack
* Dalton Adams
35 tackles, 9 for loss, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
* Cedric Morelan
30 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 interception
* Gavin Sanders
30 tackles, 1 for loss
* Chris Fernandez
26 tackles, 2 for loss
* Jeremy Brown
23 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions
* Casey Moseley
19 tackles, 1 for loss
* Griffin Cheslock
18 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 fumble recovery
* Colton Allen
17 tackles, 2 for loss, 3 interceptions
* Houston Ortiz
16 tackles, 1 for loss
* Rohyn Price
12 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
* Izik Delgado
7 tackles, 2 for loss
* Dillon Miller
6 tackles
* Justin Pierce
4 tackles
* Reece Middleton
3 tackles
* Dylan Brame
2 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack
* Sebastian Constancio
1 tackle
* Malcham Williams
1 tackle
###
TURNOVER MARGIN (+3)
* Early: 7 (1 fumbles, 6 interceptions)
* Opponents: 10 (4 fumbles, 6 interceptions)