They say that district play is the season within the season. And since
the season is so short, it makes district play seem like do or die every
week. Since the Coyotes had already lost their district opener the week
before, their game versus Denton at the Collins Athletic Complex pretty much
had their season riding on the outcome. Consider the Coyotes alive in
District 4-4A with their 20-14 road win against the Broncos.
The Coyoes kept the Broncos off the board in the first half on the
strength of two Ben Robertson turnovers (1 INT, 1 FUM REC), and the Coyotes
used a strong ground game to grind out the victory. With the win, the
Coyotes are now 2-4 overall and 1-1 in district play. The Broncos, who were
playing their district opener, fall to 2-3 and 0-1.
“I thought it was a great win for this football team. We needed this
win to carry us into the open week, where we can get healthy and get some
guys back on the field. We need to carry this momentum on to Little Elm,”
WFHS head coach Jayson Lavender said following the game.
After taking a 14-0 lead into the locker room at the half, this game
turned out to be a lot closer than the visitors wanted it to be. The Coyotes
missed on a pair of FG attempts, had a bad snap on yet another, and couldn’t
cash in when Denton handed them great field position after a 10 yard punt.
“We are still making some little mistakes. We make it hard on
ourselves,” Lavender said. “Our kids battle and work hard. That is what I am
most proud of- they never quit fighting or believing.”
With time running out in the fourth quarter, the Coyotes tried to put
this game away with a Dylan Sheffield keeper on 4th and 5. Just prior to the
snap, the umpire dropped his flag. When Sheffield was stopped short of the
marker, the home crowd cheered their approval, thinking they had a cance to
win the game. The officials got together for a few minutes, and determined
that the penalty, a false start on the Coyotes, should have made the play a
dead ball siuation, and backed it up five. While the Bronco faithful weren’t
happy about the call, the Coyotes used the second life to punt the ball on
the replay of 4th down, which was subsequently downed at the one by Bubba
Mathis. Hunter Wood then recorded the Coyote defense’s third interception of
the night on Dentton Hudspeth, and the Coyotes ran out the clock to seal the
win.
For the Coyotes, they were led by quarterback Dylan Sheffield, who
finished the night with 246 yards and three touchdowns. Running back
D’ahshujuan Hickerson finished the night with 67 yards on 20 carries. The
Coyote defense recorded 4 turnovers.
For the Broncos, they were led bu running back Denzell King, who
finished the night with 110 yards on 16 carries. The senior running back had
to sit out the first quarter for missing practice earlier in the week.
Hudspeth finished with 149 yards passing and 93 yards rushing.
The Coyotes will now enter their bye week before returning to action on
the 14th, a Thursday night game, at home, against Little Elm. Little Elm
defeated the Coyotes last season by a final score of 24-21, a game that
propelled Little Elm to the playoffs, and kept the Coyotes at home when the
regular season was over.