It’s homecoming celebration week at Tyler Legacy High School.
The Legacy football team hopes to be celebrating a playoff berth after it takes on North Mesquite at 7 p.m. Friday at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.
“If we win tonight, that would qualify us for the playoffs, and of course, that’s a big accomplishment,” Legacy head football coach Joe Willis said. “That’s step one in our goals. That would be a big step moving in the right direction and ultimately setting ourselves up to have a chance to be the top seed and have a home playoff game. It’s a big game tonight, that’s step one. Once you’re in, then it’s a matter of knocking off the next two and then you have the home-field advantage in the first-round playoff game.”
Legacy (4-3, 2-1) takes on a North Mesquite squad that won its season opener but is now 1-6 overall and 0-3 in district.
“This is a good team,” Willis said. “They’re young, and they’re playing with a lot of enthusiasm. We’ve got to put our best foot forward.”
The Stallions are coached by former Tim Seder, who was an NFL placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs. Their quarterback is Seder’s son, Luke Seder.
“He’s done a really good job,” Willis said. “He’s a real talent. There are mistakes. Any time you have a young quarterback, you’re going to have those type of mistakes. He’s got a good receiver out there. We’ve got to make sure we take care him. He’s one of the best in the Metroplex. And the offensive line has gotten a little bit better every week.”
The standout receiver for North Mesquite is four-star SMU commit Cordale Russell.
On the other side, Legacy is using three quarterbacks — seniors Bruce Bruckner and Aaron Sears and sophomore Luke Wolf. All three attempted a pass last week. Bruckner threw for 116 yards and three touchdowns, and Sears ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
“You can never have enough capable quarterbacks,” Willis said. “Aaron comes in and gives us a real burst of speed, and Bruce and Luke are going to continue to compete at that spot. Anybody that steps out there and takes snaps has got to be able to operate the offense.”
“It’s very different from what other schools do, but I have confidence in all three of those guys,” senior receiver LaDavion Butler said. “They all have their own talents. They all can do something different, and that’s what makes us a better team.”
Butler recently returned after missing the early part of the season with an injury. He said he had a torn MCL, blew his PCL and had a bone contusion in his knee.
On defense, the Red Raiders held Mesquite Horn to negative yards in the second half of last week’s 49-27 win.
“We had to get in the locker room and discuss our problems,” defensive lineman Christian Hesse said. “They were coming off hard, and I don’t think we really expected them to come off the ball as hard as they did. But after we got it in our minds and adjusted to that, we came out in the second half and started playing like a team.”
Legacy will be on the road next week to take on No. 6 Rockwall-Heath.
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Raider Rap: The game can be heard live on 92.1 FM The Team with Bill Coates doing the play-by-play and Kevin Simon doing the color commentary. Last year, it was offensive lineman Kendrick Tutt who was named homecoming king. The Red Raiders hope to have a football repeat that feat as LaBrendo Flowers, Donavan Jordan and Bruckner are up for the honor. Legacy is ranked No. 75 in Class 6A by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, which has the Red Raiders as 29-point favorites against North Mesquite. Also in District 10-6A, Mesquite Horn (1-6, 1-3) was scheduled to take on Dallas Skyline (0-7, 0-3) on Thursday. On Friday, Rockwall-Heath (6-1, 3-0) will travel to Mesquite (5-3, 3-1).
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