Go Friday Night

Horns vs Socks, sorry, I meant to say Eagles

By Tracy Ebarb
November 28, 2005

Early Longhorns 27 Sanford-Fritch Eagles 7

On a windy night in Wichita Falls the Early Longhorns ‘blew’ away the SF Eagles from out in the panhandle. In fact, had it not been for a questionable penalty on the defense in the 2nd, the Eagles might have been content to leave at halftime, just to get ahead of the traffic! But, the Eagle TD that followed the penalty kept them hopeful, at least for a little while. Meanwhile, Josh Conley had a career night with 35 carries for 259 yds, and 4 TDs! That, together with a Longhorn Defense that only allowed only 169 yds of offense, and you have a solid win for the boys in Purple.

Speaking of Purple, sideline reporter Alan Weathers dubbed the Early Crowd – “Purple Nation”. An apt description for Longhorn fans that out-numbered the Eagle fans by about a 5-1 margin. If I were counting heads like a Baptist preacher I would say that there were probably about 2000+ on the Early side, but since I’d better be truthful, I estimate the Crowd at 12-1500. About 200+ of which started showing up 3 hours before game time for some incredible chili at the Tailgate Party. This week the Purple Nation has a much shorter drive for the Tailgate Party, and plenty of “roast eagle” for the Game. Make plans now for 6pm, Dec. 3rd, Tarleton Stadium, Stephenville. I expect the biggest crowd ever to witness an Early Football Game for several reasons: #1-the Purple Nation seems to grow every week; #2-this is really the shortest drive for a playoff game yet; #3-several members of our Coaching Staff and Administration have deep Stephenville ties;(although Mr. Beck’s friend list is pretty short, the rest of the guys were pretty well liked! Just joking Wes!); #4-in the 2005 Football Playoff season, there is no hotter ticket than the Early Longhorns, everybody else around here is playing Basketball, except Richland Springs; #5-the 2005 Early Longhorn’s are on a journey to the State Finals, and this is the next stop on the itinerary!

I can’t help but mention a couple of stand-out performances from the SF game, although the thing that keeps this team winning is the depth of “team spirit” and unity. Constantly relying on each other and supporting one another marks this group of guys as unique. Not only that, but this team knows how to listen to the Coaches, make the “reads” and trust the game plan. This is a smart, talented, and committed bunch of guys, and they literally feed off the energy that the Purple Nation gives them. When we get excited, they get excited. When we get loud, they get loud. When we are confident, their confidence grows. These guys know how much we love and support every one of them, and every other student at EISD, and when they see us on our feet and hear our voices, I believe it energizes them in ways that can’t be described, only experienced. So, be in Stephenville on Saturday, change your plans, call in sick, close the store, put off the wedding, do whatever you have to do to be there, but BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I mentioned stand-out performances, 1st – Nick Cantu: #55 became the SF offense’ worst nightmare in the 2nd half, with 7.5 tackles and 3 of those for lost yards in the 2nd half! 2nd – David Garcia: #1 had 6.5 tackles on the night, played great pass coverage all night long, and was 100% on “open field” tackles. 3rd-Marcus Gonzales: #58 played the most dangerous position on the field, center, almost flawlessly; remember, if something goes wrong at the “snap”, everything goes wrong, and when you have to switch from ‘gun’ to ‘under center’ to ‘motion snap’ constantly, it takes an incredible amount of concentration to get it right. 4th – the O-Line: what can I say, those guys had something to prove after the Wall game, and I don’t think there was an Eagle left who had any questions about who “owned” the line of scrimmage.

I looked for a word to describe the Purple Nation, the best I’ve come up with is “SOLIDARITY”. Maybe you’ve got another idea, let me know. For now, let’s get ready to give the Argyle Eagles a little taste of Purple Nation. Let me know what you think about the upcoming Game.

I’ll add more later, today’s flight has been delayed, but now they’re calling for ‘boarding’ so I’d better get ready to go. Maybe I’ll look for some ‘argyle’ socks while I’m out this week, I think there is going to be some “kicking” going on this weekend, I might need some new socks.

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