Preps Football Preview Week 6: Grace faces another tough test vs. Cedar Hill-Trinity Christian; Brook Hill opens district; All Saints tries to rebound
Published 8:14 pm Thursday, October 5, 2017
Note: Bishop Gorman is idle this week.
Two years ago, then-assistant Norm Thompson helped design Grace Community’s football schedule. But the Cougars’ sustained success made it difficult to find non-district opponents.
Trending
So Grace was forced to play the likes of Malakoff, Canton and Waskom. The Cougars went 1-2. This year, a younger group because of last year’s graduation was led through that gauntlet again by Thompson, who is now head coach. The Cougars won their opener, but went 0-3 against Malakoff, Canton and Waskom.
Then district play and a league opener on the road last week at TAPPS Division II, District 2 powerhouse Dallas Christian.
The Cougars lost 35-17 to drop to 1-4 and 0-1.
Thompson said he and former head coach Mike Maddox knew how difficult the two-year schedule would be when they made it, adding his team is improving each week.
The Cougars trailed 21-3 at halftime last week with Grace’s points provided by a 23-yard field goal from Jacob Williams. Thompson said Grace played better in the third quarter, but couldn’t score.
In the fourth quarter, Grace stopped DC with an interception by Wes Tolleson and quarterback Braydon Stone connected on TD passes to Alvin Skipworth and Griffin Kuykendall.
Trending
Thompson wants his team to take the momentum it gained late against DC and use it Friday at home against Cedar Hill-Trinity Christian. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Grace’s Clyde-Perkins Stadium.
The TCCH Tigers, coached by former Dallas Cowboys’ Aveion Cason and Deion Sanders, are 3-1 and have had two weeks to prepare for Grace after being idle last week.
“They are very talented and have a lot of new players. It is not the same team we have played in the past,” Thompson said. “They had several move-ins from a school that shut down and it made them a lot better.”
Grace has been balanced thus far with Stone passing for 962 yards and the Cougars rushing for 1,235 yards. Uchenna Uduma leads Grace on the ground with 405 yards and six touchdowns while Skipworth and Cole Reed each have 378 yards receiving.
Thompson said Grace needs “to take care of the football and not make the mistakes that are drive killers.”
Trinity Christian has shown to be aggressive on defense. That is something Thompson wants to take advantage of.
“They are not patient and will get out of position,” Thompson said.
Grace’s coach said TCCH also “looks for the big play” so the Cougars defense needs to force the Tigers to “make them drive the football,” Thompson said. “We want to make them impatient.”
BROOK HILL GUARD READY TO START DISTRICT AGAINST PRINCE OF PEACE
Grayson Priestner was an efficient 11 of 16 for 116 yards and a touchdown two weeks ago in his varsity debut at quarterback. The Guard blanked Katy St. John 43-0 and have had two weeks to prepare for their TAPPS Division II, District 2 opener against Carrollton Prince of Peace.
Priestner was thrust into the role due to the season-ending injury to Hood Taylor. Brook Hill’s defense made sure the offense wasn’t needed although that didn’t stop Jermiah McGowen from producing a season-best 154 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
“We had a few hiccups you’d expect with a new quarterback,” Brook Hill coach Scott Ryle said of the win over Katy St. John. “The more reps he has, the more complete quarterback he is going to become. The other thing that happened was our defense dominated.
“(Katy St. John) only had 12 yards of total offense and our defense gave us a lot of short fields. It was three and punt, three and punt, three and punt all night (for them).”
Prince of Peace runs a similar triple option offense that Katy St. John did. The Guard were able to stymie the former and have had two weeks to prepare for the latter.
Prince of Peace (2-2, 0-1) lost its league opener last week 49-16 to unbeaten Bishop Gorman, who is idle this week, while giving up 318 yards passing and 204 yards rushing.
Ryle said the intensity of practices and preparation were ratcheted up in preparation for district play.
“We are in an extremely tough district, but I also think there are a lot of teams that can win it,” Ryle said. “We just need to focus (now on Prince of Peace) and take it one game at a time.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Eagle Stadium in Carrollton.
TROJANS WANT TO REBOUND AGAINST SHELBYVILLE
All Saints spotted Frankston 28 points and lost its quarterback in the second quarter of last week’s 62-14 loss.
The good news for the Trojans is senior quarterback Tanner Towns is cleared to play Friday against Shelbyville. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Mewbourne Field.
“We had a tough night last week,” Trojans coach Drew Starnes said. “Frankston played real well; better than we’ve seen them play. It was homecoming for them and they came out with a lot of enthusiasm.”
Starnes said All Saints began to claw its way back into the game before Towns had to leave in the second quarter. The Trojans also were without their top tackler.
“Our kids played hard, but with those injuries, it didn’t come out the way we wanted it to.”
Towns leads the Trojans with 698 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. All Saints faces a Shelbyville team that is 0-4 and been outscored 114-49. Starnes is quick to point out that Shelbyville’s record is misleading.
“They are explosive and do some really good things offensively and are very aggressive on defense,” Starnes said. “They played a good Corrigan-Camden team last week and played them close.”
Shelbyville’s other games this season have been against Hemphill, Elkhart and Garrison.
“We can beat this team, but it’s going to depend on how we execute on offense and whether we can stay healthy throughout the game,” Starnes said.
TWITTER: CParryETFS