Heavily-favored Stephenville kicks off ‘statement tour’ with upset-minded Sanger

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Pacen Parker, 42, and Jonathan Guttierez combine for a sack earlier this season. || The Flash Today photo courtesy Dr. Chet Martin

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (November 17, 2017) — The ‘revenge tour’ is complete, and the ‘statement tour’ kicks off tonight in Saginaw for the Stephenville Yellow Jackets, who appear to be inching toward peeking right on time following last week’s 33-20 victory over Abilene Wylie.

Cole Pettit said the regular season was ‘revenge tour’ and that the playoffs are about proving to everyone outside the district “that Stephenville is still one of the best programs in the state.”

A bold statement indeed. One that begins against a tribe of Indians from north Texas as Sanger (4-6) heads south down the I-35 for its shot at the Yellow Jackets (8-2) in a Region I-4A Division I bi-district contest beginning at 7 p.m. at Roughrider Stadium. The winner faces Fabens or Pampa in the area round next week.

Stephenville has shown in routes of opponents such as Springtown, Big Spring and Snyder the ability to maintain focus and not overlook teams against which they are highly-favored and that is key these opening two weeks of the playoffs. You can only beat Argyle if you play Argyle, and to get there your first must take care of Sanger and one other foe.

Sure Winder has built this up as a repeat of playing Big Spring and Snyder before Wylie. Make no mistake, Sanger is a lot better than Big Spring, rest assured of that.

Remember early against Snyder when a couple Yellow Jacket mistakes made for an interesting start to that one. On paper, it seems Sanger very much as the talent of a Snyder.

And on paper, it seems Stephenville is a lot more like the top best teams Sanger has faced and lost to by wide margins.

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WHAT MUST SANGER DO:

1) PACK A BAG OF TRICKS
Maybe a fake punt, a flicker, naked throwback screens, anything that puts your athletic quarterback in space. .. Not really trick plays, but perhaps even a little ‘wildcat’ and big use of the screen game? I would try it if I were calling plays for the Indians tonight.

2) HANG AROUND EARLY ON:
Stephenville has run over several opponents very early in games and Sanger will be looking avoid having a big hill to climb.

What.

3) TURN ON THE JETS!

It isn’t enough just to be fast, the Indians have to play fast, faster than the Jackets, and too fast to be run down from behind. Well managed raw speed is one thing the Yellow jackets have struggled against through the years.

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AND WHAT STEPHENVILLE MUST DO:

1) NO LEAVING POINTS ON THE FIELD

It could have been a big bad blowout last week. Stephenville left Wylie in the game by holding on an interception return by Gage Graham and fumbling away the ball in the end zone. Now isn’t the time for leaving points on the field.

2) EARLY AND OFTEN

Go ahead and demoralize the underdog. This isn’t a popularity contest. Get ahead as much as you can as early as you can and worry later about not running up the score.

3) GO AHEAD AND MAKE YOUR STATEMENT

Be physical, be nasty, be mean, and be smart – get them misaligned and then pop them with an open receiver, or disguise a blitz then make it count. Good, disciplined, high IQ Yellow Jacket football. That’s the statement Pettit is talking about when he says its time to prove Stephenville is still one of the best programs in the state

LET’S HEAR FROM COACH GREG WINDER:

“I expect them to try and run the ball outside the tackle box and use their speed outside, and they have the athletes to certainly try that with. We’ve got to tackle with our eyes up in the open field and not let them by us because we aren’t going to catch them…. Defensively, they will blitz form anywhere and everywhere so we have to have our heads on a swivel in protection and Easton needs to get the ball out quickly to give us a chance. We have to hit our hot routes and things to take them out of that, and also establish the run, which is where it has really started for us all year.”

 

AND FINALLY, YOUR STAT COMPARISONS:

STEPHENVILLE YELLOW JACKETS (8-2)

Team Stats
Rushing
– 311-1,975, 27 TD (197.5 ypg, 6.4 ypc)
Passing – 124-205-7, 2,217 yards, 25 TD (221.7 ypg, 17.9 ypc, 10.2 ypa)
Total Offense: 516-4,192 (419.2 ypg,, 8.1 ypp)

Individual Stats:
Rushing
– Krece Nowak 153-1,175, 11 TD; Easton Jones 49-264, 2 TD; Victor Moreno 42-256, 2 TD; Blu Caylor 32-102, 11 TD; Mark Smith 15-73; Cole Stanley 8-49; Blake Aragon 2-21, 1 TD; Tyler Schouten 3-12; Clay Krause 2-11; Kyle Lindsey 1-4; Caden Cowan  1-(-4)
Passing – Jones 102-171, 1827 yards, 21 TD; Stanley 7-10-0, 181 yards, 2 TD; Schouten 13-21-3, 161, 3 TD
Receiving – Aragon 29-556, 7 TD; 25-376, 4 TD; Krause 23-323, 3 TD; Lindsey 21-389, 4 TD; Gage Graham 20-390, 5 TD; Kade Averhoff 7-162, 3 TD; Jones 1-23

 

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SANGER INDIANS (4-6)

Team Stats
Rushing
– 371-1,976, 27 TD (197.6 ypg, 5.3 ypc)
Passing – 83-162-8, 1,004 yards, 7 TD (100.4 ypg, 12.1 ypc, 6.2 ypa)
Total Offense: 533-2,980 (5.6 ypg,, 8.1 ypp)

Individual Stats:
Rushing
– Gavin Brown 122-593, 10 TD; CJ Jackson 123-578, 6 TD; Dameon Moser 75-525, 9 TD; Cole Mathes 21-130; Drake Miller 20-110; Luke Pennington 3-28, 2 TD; Juan Martinez 1-9; Coleton henry 1-2; Logan Walker 4-(-3)
Passing – CJ 80-155-8, 7 TD; 961; Walker 2-2-0, 9 yards;  Wilkerson 1-4-0, 34
Receiving – Wilkerson 20-35, 1 TD; Dameon 9- 91

 

 

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