EARLY – Both the Early Longhorns and Bangs Dragons put themselves in position to compete for a berth in the Division III portion of the 7-on-7 state tournament in College Station June 26-27, but each team dropped their final game at Friday’s qualifier at Longhorn Stadium.
Host Early, which finished as the second seed from Pool A, came up short in a 24-19 decision to Pool B champion Hico in one semifinal contest while Bangs, the second seed from Pool B, was upended by Pool A champion Eldorado, 28-20, in the other.
Early’s day began with a 40-20 loss to Eldorado, followed by a 33-32 overtime victory over Miles and a 27-7 setback to state tournament qualifier Hamilton.
For Bangs, the Dragons knocked off Brady, 12-6 in overtime to start the day, but were downed by state-bound Goldthwaite, 20-12, and then Hico, 20-0.
Standouts for the Longhorns included quarterback Caden Wilson, receivers Jaxson Stockman, Andrew Reedy, and Jackson Clark and normal center Ben Wilson, who was forced into a running back role due to some players being absent.
“We played hard with the right mentality, effort and discipline in what we do,” said Early first-year head coach Marvin Wilson, who observed Friday’s action. “Hico runs a different offense and we didn’t run anything but man coverage all day long. We had a handful of linemen playing, we had a ton of guys gone this week, and those kids stepped up and played hard. I think our future is bright. We’re not in shape yet and we’ve got a whole lot of learning to do. But we lost the last ball game by 5 points with a chance to qualify, so that’s a good start. Now we keep working and start to implement more of our offense and defense, get back in the weight room, and get to where we don’t breathe so hard when we’re on the field. When your body gets tired your mind gets tired.”
The Dragons were without starting quarterback Hunter Winters as Jaxon Duncan stepped in and leading receivers included Cason Tidwell, Connor Bible, Eliseo Rivas, and Jayden Robinson.
“We competed really hard today,” said Bangs second-year head coach Colton Buzzard. “It’s never good when your starting quarterback is not able to show up, but it’s OK because he was at a leadership convention. It’s always a good thing when people ask your leader to go be a leader among other people. Jaxon Duncan is our back up and came in and played as well as he could and there were some good things that will help him grow. 7-on-7 isn’t football, but it gets you in sync with your receivers. We’ve had good numbers this summer, over 70 last week, so we’re going to continue working hard to get ready for the first scrimmage. From there on out, I feel pretty impressed with where we’re at with our strength and toughness. I’m excited about the upcoming football season.”
In other games of local interest Friday, Goldthwaite defeated Brady, 34-22, and fell to Hico, 25-19; and Brady also suffered a 41-15 setback to Hico.
