Weatherford Christian shuts out Longview Trinity at home

The Weatherford Christian School Lions (5-1, 2-0) notched their second-straight and third overall shutout of 2019 Friday night at home, routing the Longview Trinity School of Texas Titans, 46-0 in a TAPPS 6-Man, D-III, District 2 game.

Powered by a balanced attack which produced 189 yards through the air and 119 on the ground, along with a defensive performance which forced two sacks and seven quarterback hurries while holding Longview Trinity to 99 yards of offense, WCS took control early and did not look back.

The Lions opened the game with a 24-point outing in the first quarter, before tacking on another 16 points in the second frame for a 40-0 halftime lead.

Longview Trinity, which came into Friday’s district game averaging 45 points per contest, was utterly shut down offensively, with the Titans managing only 12 total passing yards while the team’s ground game failed to reach the 100-yard plateau (87 rushing yards total).

WCS Head Coach Stephen Cox praised his team’ defensive coordinator, Jeff Winfield for devising an exceptional game plan while simultaneously commending the mental focus of the Lions’ defensive unit.

“Coach Winfield did a great job of scouting those guys,” Cox said.

“We were looking at the different formations they were running, their personnel and where they put them, and we were calling out the plays, and our guys were calling out the plays as well. Not only was Coach Winfield saying, ‘Hey, watch out for this.’ The guys were already calling it. We had a great game plan going in.”

Junior defensive end Colton Hasenjeager proved a tackling machine for WCS, tallying a team-high 15 tackles, while teammates Drew Meeks, a junior linebacker, and Wyatt Berry, a senior linebacker, followed closely with 13 and 11  tackles, respectively.

Cox praised the play of his team’s defensive front in particular, saying the unit effectively neutralized the Titans’ run game.

“Colton Hasenjeager was the defensive player of the game,” Cox said.

“He’s doing great there at the defensive end position, and Drew Meeks did great at the linebacker position. Wyatt Berry is right there in the middle making a lot of plays. It didn’t reflect on the stat sheet, but Devon played a big part in that game, especially in the run game shutting it down.” 

WCS’ own offense made use of a change of pace at the tailback position, with Berry getting the majority of the workload in the ground game, racking up 82 rushing yards and a score on nine carries.

Cox said he and his coaching staff felt the hard-hitting power running of Berry matched up well with the defensive looks Longview was showing Friday night.

“It was something we saw with Longview running man defense,” Cox said.

“We’d run a trips set to one side or the other and they’d have a solo guy to the weak side. We figured with Jackson Floyd leading out and Berry running, we could expose that a little bit and make them move a safety off the trips coverage. 

“It’s always a good change to go from speedy wide receivers and then bring in Berry, who’s a downhill runner and maybe catch them with a different personnel package.”

The approach worked, as the Lions finished with nearly 200 yards through the air, with [senior quarterback] Floyd finishing 7-of-13 for 189 yards, four TDs and a pick.

Junior wideout Bryson Smith made the most of his opportunities, hauling in a pair of TD catches (and 95 total yards).

Cox said the the junior’s effectiveness in the receiving game has added another dimension to an already capable Lions’ attack.

“Everybody used to focus on Jarrett Foland in the passing game, and rightfully so, he’s a a great receiver,” Cox said.

“And now we put Bryson Smith in the slot. He’s always had great hands, but with the routes that he runs, he’s really a game changer. You can’t say enough about what he’s done, because you’ve added another weapon. You lose Manning [Marsh] from last year, but you still have Berry who’s a good running back, and Jackson and Jarrett. And then you add Bryson to that, and it stretches the defense out a lot.”

WCS is back at home this week, set to host the Irving Faustina Academy Falcons in a district game at 7:30 p.m. Friday.