Go Friday Night

Early Longhorns 21 Bangs Dragons 12

By Tracy Ebarb
November 1, 2005

Early Longhorns 21 Bangs Dragons 12

First of all, let’s don’t get ahead of ourselves – Phase II of this season is not over, the Coleman Bluecats come to McDonald Field this Friday night, and they certainly want a share of the District Title. As I said last week, the Bangs game was important primarily because it was the next one on the schedule, not because of the ‘hype’ surrounding it. This next game is just as important! However…

Wasn’t it great to drive over to Bangs last Friday night and watch a strong and confident and talented team of Early Longhorns do their trash talking with the way they played the game! As I said last week, Bangs is a fine football team, and they are well coached, but, they were no match for Robbie Tindol’s Longhorns. Consider this, the dragons had more yards punting than total offense. The dragons, who have dominated the line of scrimmage against opponents all year, had less than 100 yds rushing,completed only 41% of their passes, and were absolutely unable to advance a punt or kickoff more than 1 yard. Their average field position on the night was their own 27. Give them credit, they tried to stay in the game, and to be honest, they kept us from playing our best. But when the time came for players to step up and make a play, it seemed like every Longhorn on the field wanted to be the one.

· Think about Josh Conley rushing for 44yds on the opening drive and ending the drive with a 1 yd run for 6 points
· Think about Wills Setzler’s punt downed on the Bangs 2yd line early in the 2nd quarter.
· Think about the Longhorn Defense forcing the Dragons to punt on their first 4 possessions.
· Think about Eric Skaggs hitting Tim Chandler in full stride for a 77yds and a touchdown, along with whatever Tim was doing with the fumble and the recovery and the dive and whatever. (Note to Tim: Stop trying to dribble the football, you won’t be playing basketball until sometime in December.)
· Think about Taylor Singleton flying through the Bangs O-line to block the PAT after Bangs’ Travis Snyder hit Caleb Hall on an absolutely perfect TD pass late in the 2nd.
· Think about the Longhorn offense mounting an 80yd, 5:33 drive to go ahead 21-6 early in the 4th.
· Think about the Longhorn Defense stopping the 2-point conversion that would have made it a ‘one score’ game for the dragons.
· Think about Brian Cochran going 3-3 on PAT kicks, and how important those 3 points were.
· Think about the ‘sea of purple’ that was on it’s feet almost all night cheering the Horns.
· Think about how the stands on the ‘green’ side of the field began to empty after the Horns last score.
· Think about how good the burgers at the tailgate party were before the game, and how awful the “humble pie� must have tasted to the good folks from Bangs.

There really is a lot to think about, and to remember, but for me, the thing that stands out the most, happened about 10 hours before game time, at the Longhorn’s Pep Rally. When the Team gathered at mid-court for their usual rally cry, Wills Setzler and the rest of the guys shouted that it wasn’t just the guys in pads that were important, but the entire Student Body, and the entire Student Body emptied out of the stands onto the gym floor for the “Ain’t no party like a Longhorn’s party…� rallying cry! I knew then that there was no way the Bangs Dragons could beat Early, they might’ve had our number in years past, but they were only playing the Football Team in those years, this year they had to face the entire Herd! Consequently, they got trampled!

Now it’s time to complete the task at hand, and earn the District Championship. I think we played Coleman last year, it seems like I remember something about the game, but that seems like a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away. This year, when the Band plays the “Imperial March� the Coleman Bluecats are going to wish they were in a galaxy far, far, away! Coleman has a very good team, in fact, I think they may be the best representative for District 3-2A, in Division II, that is. I guess we’ll have to wait and see who wins all the potential tie-breakers between them, Bangs, and Ballinger, because Coleman will be 3-2 in District play after Friday night. I expect the Horns to finish District with a strong 35-12 win.
And then, we get to start Phase III, and the march to a state title will begin!

Note to Chris Cadenhead: My shirt size is 16 neck, 35 sleeve.

Congratulations to the Longhorn Marching Band on a great showing at the Area Competition! We are very proud of all of you! And for the Longhorn’s 9th Grade team on a great 5-5 season.

This Thursday at McDonald Field the Middle School teams will complete their season, and the JV squad will travel to Coleman. Although football in Early is not going to be over anytime soon this year, this will be the last opportunity to catch these teams, so don’t miss out.

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