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The Cisco Loboes and the Eastland Mavericks meet on Friday night and the winner of the Eastland County War is the district champ. Brianne starts our coverage with a look at the Eastland defense, then Mary Margaret takes us to Cisco with the Loboes offense.
The Eastland Mavericks have scored 190 points against district opponents this season. That's pretty impressive, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the defense who has allowed just 24 points in all of those district games.
Bryson Blackwell said, "Mainly we just decided on playing fast and free, flying around to the ball all the time."
The Mavericks are very experienced. There are plenty of returning defensive starters.
Chris Fambro said, "Anytime you can do that and there's not a lot of changes for the kids it allows them to play with a lot of confidence in what they're doing. There's not a lot of learning from week to week."
Another thing that makes this defense so good is their physicality and aggressiveness.
Fambro said, "Right now we've got a good bunch of kids that buy into playing physical football. You know it's nice when you don't have to coach that."
Blake Sharp said, "We define ourself on being physical and being the best defense out there."
And if you don't want to be physical, they'll find another place for you.
Fambro said, "You know the kids that don't we kind of turn them into wide receivers and let them play offense the whole time."
Speaking of the offense. The defense benefits when the offense scores a lot of points.
Fambro said, "It's helped tremendously the last several weeks with the offense coming together and playing as well as they have."
So Eastland has a solid defense, and they're about to clash with a high powered offense in the Cisco Loboes.
Now while the Eastland defense might be stout, they're going to have a hard time here in Cisco on Friday. So far, the Loboes in district play have put up 40 or more points in all of their games, including two shutouts, so Eastland's going to have a hard time keeping them out of the end zone.
Jackson Hearne said, "You always have to have that mindset. You always want to go score the ball so you can put your team on top in the end."
The offense starts with the guys up front, and Cisco head coach Brent West is proud of how his offensive line has come together.
Brent West said, "I think our offensive line has come a long way from the first few games. We really struggled early on moving the ball, we had some great competition and I feel like those guys are probably the most improved part of our offense."
Even though the offense has been dominant, the Loboes have suffered a lot of injuries throughout the season, but they're thankful that the backups have stepped up and continued to lead the team.
Dathan Harding said, "The backups that we've had this year have been just great. They've really stepped up."
West said, "We've certainly struggled with some injuries on both sides of the ball, but offensively because of a few injuries, we've discovered a couple of sophomores."
The Loboes have won 40 district games in a row, and in their last 10 meetings with Eastland, Cisco's beaten the Mavericks nine times.
Michael Pullen said, "Just trying to keep the tradition going, we haven't lost in about 8 years, so just gotta keep going."
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The Eastland Mavericks have scored 190 points against district opponents this season. That's pretty impressive, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the defense who has allowed just 24 points in all of those district games.
Bryson Blackwell said, "Mainly we just decided on playing fast and free, flying around to the ball all the time."
The Mavericks are very experienced. There are plenty of returning defensive starters.
Chris Fambro said, "Anytime you can do that and there's not a lot of changes for the kids it allows them to play with a lot of confidence in what they're doing. There's not a lot of learning from week to week."
Another thing that makes this defense so good is their physicality and aggressiveness.
Fambro said, "Right now we've got a good bunch of kids that buy into playing physical football. You know it's nice when you don't have to coach that."
Blake Sharp said, "We define ourself on being physical and being the best defense out there."
And if you don't want to be physical, they'll find another place for you.
Fambro said, "You know the kids that don't we kind of turn them into wide receivers and let them play offense the whole time."
Speaking of the offense. The defense benefits when the offense scores a lot of points.
Fambro said, "It's helped tremendously the last several weeks with the offense coming together and playing as well as they have."
So Eastland has a solid defense, and they're about to clash with a high powered offense in the Cisco Loboes.
Now while the Eastland defense might be stout, they're going to have a hard time here in Cisco on Friday. So far, the Loboes in district play have put up 40 or more points in all of their games, including two shutouts, so Eastland's going to have a hard time keeping them out of the end zone.
Jackson Hearne said, "You always have to have that mindset. You always want to go score the ball so you can put your team on top in the end."
The offense starts with the guys up front, and Cisco head coach Brent West is proud of how his offensive line has come together.
Brent West said, "I think our offensive line has come a long way from the first few games. We really struggled early on moving the ball, we had some great competition and I feel like those guys are probably the most improved part of our offense."
Even though the offense has been dominant, the Loboes have suffered a lot of injuries throughout the season, but they're thankful that the backups have stepped up and continued to lead the team.
Dathan Harding said, "The backups that we've had this year have been just great. They've really stepped up."
West said, "We've certainly struggled with some injuries on both sides of the ball, but offensively because of a few injuries, we've discovered a couple of sophomores."
The Loboes have won 40 district games in a row, and in their last 10 meetings with Eastland, Cisco's beaten the Mavericks nine times.
Michael Pullen said, "Just trying to keep the tradition going, we haven't lost in about 8 years, so just gotta keep going."
More...