Friday night at Kennedale?s Wildcat Stadium, the Wildcats (1-0) line up against the Gainesville Leopards (0-1) from District 4-4A. Kick-off time is set for 7:30 p.m. Kennedale played Gainesville there last year and came away with a hard fought 14-7 win. {{more}}
Backstory ?
Last week Gainesville lost to Kaufman 48-14. Kaufman held the Leopards to 201 yards (194 rushing and 7 passing). Gainesville wants to prove that it is a team that can challenge Decatur and Graham for the district title. And Gainesville would like nothing else than to upset Kennedale. It was Kennedale who stopped Gainesville?s 2 year home win streak last year.
Kennedale is coming off a strong first performance with the win against Crowley by a score of 49-24. It was a big 3rd quarter that lifted Kennedale from a 12-10 halftime score when the Cats went on a 30 point scoring spree. Kennedale is looking to establish consistency in all phases of the game
Gainesville ?
Gainesville is picked to finish 3rd in a strong football district that includes Graham (1), Decatur (2), Mineral Wells (4), Wichita Falls Hirschi (5) and Burkburnett (6). Gainesville is coming off of a 4-7 season (2-3 district) after finishing 10-2 the year before. The Leopards are returning 9 starters with 5 on offense and 4 on defense.
The offensive line is anchored by 305 lbs tackle Eric DeLeon and will be led by junior QB Hunter Turberville (6?, 155). Running backs shared the ball last week in the game against Kaufman with senior running back Michael Bradley picking up 91 yards on seven carries and sophomore Calion Baker with 92 yards also on seven carries. It was Gainesville who held the Cats last year to their lowest offense production of the regular season when the Cats managed just 279 yards, this for a team that averaged 415 yards per game last year.
Kennedale …
The game last week against Crowley helped fill in some of the question marks left with the graduation of 7 All-State players and a larger number of All-District players. The Kats offense last week exceeded the average of 415 yards from 2014 with 465 yards of total offense.Quardraiz Wadley has made a claim to the spot that All-State player Juwan Washington held for three years at Kennedale as the premier running back with his 5 touchdown and 389 rushing yards. A strong offensive line always makes the running back?s job easier and Kennedale seems to have another one this year.The defense showed early promise as they worked to contain what could be explosive players such as Crowley?s Dashane Sanders who ended up with 104 yards receiving and another 70 in returns and senior quarterback Kenneth Coleman who had just 19 yards rushing and 72 yards passing. Another key position may have been filled by Jace Zeller (Sr) in replacing All-State player Zane Kottwitz (kicker) when Zeller went 5 for 6 in his first start as kicker.
MaxPrep Players of the Game for Crowley vs Kennedale …
- Overall Player – Senior RB Quardraiz Wadley for 30 carries for 389 yards, 5 TDs, 4 returns for 134 yards.
- Offensive Player – Sophomore Jaden Knowles – 13 carries for 66 yards, 1 TD
- Defensive Player ? Junior Baron Browning ? 7 tackles, 1 safety
- Special Teams Player ? Senior Jace Zeller – 5 for 6 PATs, 8 KOs for 482 yds, 3 TBs, 2 punts for 68 yds.
Poll Watch:
In the latest Lone Star Gridiron 4A D-I poll Kennedale is #5
behind Navasota Graham, Argyle and Burnet. Texas?s Dave Campbell poll has the
Cats at # 6 behind Navasota, Argyle, Graham, Carthage and Stephenville. In the latest AP poll that combines Division
I and Division II, Kennedale is up from #10 to #8 behind Navasota, Argyle, Gilmer
(D-II), Graham, West Orange (D-II), La Grange D-II) and Celina (D-II).
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