Tag Archives | Ben Laures

Plano blanks East, 38-0

By on October 30, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

It took a throwback, razzle dazzle play call to create a spark and then five defensive takeaways Friday led Plano to a methodical blowout win over Plano East, 38-0, at John Clark Stadium in front of about 10,000 fans for the 29th meeting between the teams.

Steele Hoetger was on the receiving end of a flea-flicker that helped kick start Plano's blowout win Friday. / Thad Fenton

The victory tied the series, 14-14-1, but more importantly kept Plano (6-3, 3-3 in District 8-5A) in contention for a playoff berth. Plano East (4-5, 2-4) was eliminated with the loss.

Plano meets Plano West in the final game of the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Clark Stadium. It needs a win and a Flower Mound Marcus victory at Hebron to clinch a playoff berth. If either doesn’t happen, the Plano ISD will be locked out of the playoffs.

Believed to be one of the best defenses in the area, Plano showed it Friday. The offense scored 21 points on Plano East turnovers, as the defense compiled five takeaways in a game for the second time this season. Plano East had a late fourth-quarter drive move to the Plano 1 before the fifth turnover helped seal the first shutout victory under coach Jaydon McCullough, the first shutout in 52 games – dating to a 2006 meeting against Richardson Berkner – and Plano’s first shutout of Plano East since the second game of the series in 1983.

For the first time since 1983, Plano shutout Plano East. It marked the first time in 52 games Plano had shutout an opponent. / Thad Fenton

But, it all started when offensive coordinator Linn Dickey dug deep into his bag of tricks and came up with a dandy early in the second quarter. Murat Kuzu took a handoff into the right flat and tossed it to Brandon Hamilton on an apparent reverse, but Hamilton turned it into an old school flea-flicker when he flipped the ball back to Connor Michelsen who launched a 49-yard touchdown pass to Steele Hoetger for a 7-0 lead with 11:17 left in the first half.

The offense had averaged 3 yards per play prior to the flea-flicker and on one play gained more than double the yards it had in the first quarter.

Matt Johnson had an interception and fumble recovery for two of Plano's five defensive takeaways Friday. / Thad Fenton

It seemed to be just the spark Plano needed. Four plays later Matt Johnson intercepted Corey Wesley when pressured by Steven Murray and a pair of Kuzu runs set up a 2-yard Michelsen touchdown run for a 14-0 lead. When East got the ball back, Plano’s defense demonstrated why it should be considered among the best. Taylor May dropped Nathan Meadors for a two-yard loss on first down and on second down Ben Laures and Arthur Skinner pounced on a ball rolling on the turf.

A mixture of ball-control offense and takeaway defense led to the second-half blowout. Plano East opened the second half with an onside pooch kickoff that failed. It was intended to just get past the hands team, but Plano handled it and took advantage of the short field. It drove 54 yards in 13 plays and Chris Moore – who controlled Plano East’s offense all night by pinning them deep on kickoffs and punts – converted a 20-yard field goal into a 17-0 lead, capping a drive that took the first 6:53 off the second quarter clock.

This hit on a safety blitz by Collin Brence led to a 24-0 lead and a Blair Burns interception less than four minutes later sealed Plano's victory Friday. / Thad Fenton

The second Plano East offensive play of the second half turned into a nightmare. Collin Brence, on a rare blitz from his safety position, sprinted into the pocket and drilled Wesley just as he was about to throw. He fumbled and Xavier Harbert made a recovery that one play later resulted in a 5-yard Murat Kuzu touchdown run for a 24-0 lead.

The blowout was on. But the defense wasn’t done. Blair Burns intercepted a pass that resulted in a Michelsen 1-yard score for a 31-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the third quarter. It was a disastrous quarter for Plano East, including two turnovers that led to 14 points.

When Michelsen found Brandon Hamilton on a 55-yard touchdown completion – the fourth time this season the pair has hooked up on a completion of at least 50 yards – with 10:05 left in the fourth quarter, the game was out of reach.

But there was one last thing to accomplish. The defense had allowed one score in three previous games this season, coming so close to its first shutout since 2006. This time it had 10 minutes to go. Plano East marched to the Plano 1 and it seemed the bid would soon be over again. Then Johnson had his second takeaway of the game when a high snap got past Aaron Stelly and after the quarterback’s second attempt to field the ball Johnson grabbed it to seal the shutout.

Plano 38, Plano East 0

Plano 0 14 17 7 – 38
Plano East 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
No scoring
Second Quarter
P – Steele Hoetger 49 pass from Connor Michelsen (Chris Moore kick), 11:17
P – Michelsen 2 run (Moore kick), 7:54
Third Quarter
P – Moore 20 FG, 5:07
P – Murat Kuzu 5 run (Moore kick), 4:11
P – Michelsen 1 run (Moore kick), 0:57
Fourth Quarter
P – Brandon Hamilton 55 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 10:05
P
E
14 First downs 13
35-129 Rushes-yards 33-121
138 Passing yards 123
267 Total yards 244
8-12-0 Passing 10-30-2
5-213 Total punting 5-180
4-40 Penalties-yds. 2-15
1-0 Fumbles-lost 3-3
Individuals
Rushing — P: Murat Kuzu 18-78, Kevin Merrill 3-22, Rakeem Crawford 5-22, Connor Michelsen 7-5, Clayton Parlin 1-2, Richard Lagow 1-0.
E: Gabe Dunlap 9-59, Nathan Meadors 13-31, IB Jamabo 4-19, Dante’ Taylor 2-9,  Corey Wesley 2-4, Aaron Stelly 3-(-1).
Passing — P: Connor Michelsen 8-12-0, 138 yards. E: Corey Wesley 9-24-1, 94 yards; Aaron Stelly 1-5-1, 29 yards; Gabe Dunlap 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Receiving — P: Steele Hoetger 2-62, Brandon Hamilton 1-55, Clayton Parlin 2-13, Kevin Merrill 1-5, Murat Kuzu 2-3. E: Gabe Dunlap 5-56, Ryan Garrey 4-38, Warren Tafah 1-29.
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Plano rolls past Lewisville, 43-21

By on October 23, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

In one moment Plano put the early touches on a victory Friday to keep it in playoff contention and the very next a rare moment in program history took place.

Some of the most loyal football fans in all of the state were momentarily distracted as it was announced the Texas Rangers had won their first American League pennant.

Plano (5-3, 2-3 in District 8-5A) extended its season by defeating Lewisville, 43-21, at John Clark Stadium in front of a capacity homecoming crowd that found a way to enjoy a highlight moment in North Texas sports history and at the same time revel in a meaningful Wildcats victory. Now victories over Plano East and Plano West seem to be all that stands between Plano and a fourth straight playoff appearance.

Kent Bateman's 89-yard interception return with 10:07 left put Friday's game against Lewisville out of reach. / Thad Fenton

They waited out a 39-minute weather delay and Plano awarded their fans’ loyalty with a victory. Murat Kuzu turned in his second 100-yard rushing game of the season, compiled 201 all-purpose yards and scored a pair of touchdowns before the weather break. Connor Michelsen led the team out of the delay by passing for 196 yards and two scores to go along with two rushing touchdowns.

But, as has been the trend at home this season, Plano used a big defensive play to break the game wide open. Linebacker Kent Bateman broke on a ball fluttering to him in the secondary, hauled in an interception and sprinted up the right sideline on an 89-yard touchdown return with 10:07 left to play to give Plano a 36-14 lead.

Lewisville had in one moment been attempting to potentially trim Plano’s margin to a single score and the next found itself down three scores.

Michelsen twice found Brandon Hamilton on big pass plays on the next drive to put the final touches on the victory. He hit the senior on a 37-yard completion to move inside the Lewisville 20. Michelsen converted a fourth down and three plays later hit Hamilton on a 7-yard touchdown pass, marking the senior quarterback’s 24th all-purpose touchdown of the season.

Sam Morell records a tackle Friday. Plano got early pressure on Lewisville's quarterback and until the final moments of the game had held Lewisville under 300 yards of offense. / Thad Fenton

Lewisville had trimmed the deficit to a single score late in the first half, but the longest Plano drive of the season opened the second half. In what may have led some of the old Plano fans to reminisce of power offense days of yesteryear, the team drove 80 yards in 14 plays in 7:01 with only three plays going for more than 7 yards and Michelsen capped the drive with a 1-yard quarterback keeper.

Plano pounced on Lewisville in the first half. It got a defensive stop resulting from a Ben Laures sack of Lewisville’s quarterback and the offense responded with an 11-play, 95-yard drive mixing key passes early in the drive to Steele Hoetger with a pair of big runs late in the drive by Kuzu, including his 19-yard touchdown score.

Taylor May led the defense to a stop on the successive drive. He opened the series with a pressure to force an incompletion and forced a punt when he teamed with Bobby Geibler on a sack. The offense responded with a quick score courtesy of more game-breaking plays from Kuzu. He broke a 22-yard run to the Plano 41 and two plays later scored on a 55-yard pass completion from Michelsen, a score most noted for the blowup downfield block by Skyler Purcell.

But, the weather was threatening. Each time it began to rain, Lewisville seemed to gain some momentum. A heavy, but brief downpour came and the very next play resulted in a Lewisville touchdown that cut the margin to 15-7 with 8:59 left in the first half. It started to rain again after the delay in play and Lewisville scored with 1:24 left in the first half that trimmed Plano’s lead to 22-14 at halftime.

But the skies cleared in the second half and Plano pulled away.

Plano 43, Lewisville 21

Lewisville 0 14 0 7 – 21
Plano 8 14 7 14 – 43
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
P – Murat Kuzu 19 run (Collin Brence run), 4:27
Second Quarter
P – Murat Kuzu 55 pass from Connor Michelsen (Chris Moore kick), 11:50
L – Roderick Williams 31 run (Mason Hale kick), 8:59
P – Michelsen 2 run (Moore kick), 5:03
L – Brandon Odechukwu 11 pass from DeAndre Grimes (Hale kick), 1:24
Third Quarter
P – Michelsen 1 run (Moore kick), 4:59
Fourth Quarter
P – Kent Bateman 89 interception return (Moore kick), 10:07
P – Brandon Hamilton 7 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 5:10
L – Carl Lee 29 pass from Grimes (Hale kick), 0:33
L
P
20 First downs 22
29-133 Rushes-yards 36-158
248 Passing yards 196
381 Total yards 354
21-38-2 Passing 13-26-2
4-128 Total punting 3-115
10-85 Penalties-yds. 10-80
3-0 Fumbles-lost 0-0

INDIVIDUALS

Rushing — L: Roderick Williams 16-71, Brandon Udechukwu 3-59, Israel Smallwood 4-29, DeAndre Grimes 6-(minus-26). P: Murat Kuzu 20-142, Connor Michelsen 10-17, Rakeem Crawford 5-4, Clayton Parlin 1-(-5).

Passing — L: DeAndre Grimes 21-38-2, 248 yards. P: Connor Michelsen 13-26-2, 196 yards.

Receiving — L: Carl Lee 6-101,Brandon Udechukwu 5-50, Darren Harroff 4-42, Quay Bradford 3-32,Humberto Ortega 2-15, Josh Turner 1-8. P: Steele Hoetger 4-64, Murat Kuzu 2-59, Brandon Hamilton 6-59, Clayton Parlin 1-14.

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FM outlasts Plano in shootout, 61-52

By on October 9, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

FLOWER MOUND – The thing about an offensive slugfest is just one misstep, failure to counter-punch just one time can turn fate against you.

It seemed for moments Friday that Plano had managed to outduel Flower Mound, as Connor Michelsen passed for four scores, rushed for another touchdown and then caught a touchdown pass from Murat Kuzu. But Flower Mound rallied with 15 unanswered fourth quarter points to defeat Plano, 61-52, at Neal Wilson Stadium.

Connor Michelsen had 410 yards passing for four touchdowns, rushed for a score and caught a touchdown pass Friday, but Flower Mound edged Plano, 61-52.

Plano (4-2, 1-2 in District 8-5A) turned in its most productive offensive showing in five years and it wasn’t enough to get past Flower Mound (4-2, 2-1).

Michelsen completed 22 of 39 passes for a career-high 410 yards, but it was Kuzu’s touchdown pass to the senior quarterback that appeared as if it would be the first stroke in sealing a victory over the high-octane Flower Mound offense. Kuzu, not unfamiliar to the quarterback position, took a snap out of the Wildcat formation and found Michelsen to give Plano a 49-40 lead with 7:28 left in the third quarter.

Flower Mound answered, but Chris Moore’s field goal with 1 second left in the third quarter put Plano up, 52-47. All the while, the defense had begun to hit stride. After a first half that saw Flower Mound score points on all seven possessions, the defense allowed it to score just once in its first four possessions of the second half.

Then, as quickly as momentum had swung in Plano’s favor, Flower Mound put together a pair of drives that sealed Plano’s fate. Josh Brake caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Paul Millard to go up, 55-52, with 6:18 left. Then, Hunter Lee edged out a 61-52 advantage on a 6-yard touchdown run with 1:39 left to seal the win.

In a passing showcase, Michelsen had matched Paul Millard, who completed 29 of 46 passes for 402 yards against the district’s top defense.

It was a shootout from the onset. Thirty-four points were scored in the first quarter, including 21 in the first 3:43. Brandon Hamilton answered Flower Mound with a 79-yard touchdown reception from Michelsen with 10:10 left in the first quarter. Then Michelsen hooked up with Kuzu on a 20-yard touchdown off a screen.

Flower Mound pulled out to a 27-14 lead with 11:19 left in the first half. Then Michelsen hit Hamilton on a 68-yard touchdown pass and proved he can run when he has to on the next drive when his 28-yard scamper set up his 2-yard keeper to trim the margin to 34-28. His second touchdown pass to Kuzu narrowed the Flower Mound lead to 37-35 with 1:03 left.

Brandon Hamilton was a big play weapon Friday. He caught touchdown passes for 79 and 68 yards.

The only mistake may have been leaving Flower Mound even a minute on the clock. It got into field goal range with 8 seconds left in the half. A 50-yard attempt was blocked, but an infraction was called on Plano and a successive 34-yard Flower Mound attempt with time expired in the first half was good for a 40-35 halftime lead.

Plano responded to take its first lead of the game on a Ben Laures 8-yard return after a fake Flower Mound punt attempt was blocked. Then Matt Johnson’s fumble recovery set up the Kuzu pass to Michelsen for a 49-40 lead with 4:32 expired in the second half. From there, Flower Mound outscored Plano, 21-3, to seal the victory.

As an example of the success Plano had offensively, Michelsen went over 100 yards passing on the fifth snap of the game and Hamilton went over 100 yards receiving on the opening play of the third series. Hamilton finished with 176 yards on four receptions, but Flower Mound had two 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher.

Flower Mound 61, Plano 52

Plano 14 21 12 0 – 52
Flower Mound 20 20 7 15 – 61
Scoring summary
First Quarter
F – Josh Brake 64 pass from Paul Millard (Aaron Stock kick), 11:05
P – Brandon Hamilton 79 pass from Connor Michelsen (Chris Moore kick), 10:10
F – Millard 8 run (Stock kick), 8:17
P – Murat Kuzu 20 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 4:45
F – Nolan LeSueur 12 pass from Millard (kick failed), 2:50
Second Quarter
F – Hunter Lee 24 run (Stock kick), 11:19
P – Hamilton 68 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 10:56
F – LeSueur 3 pass from Millard (Stock kick), 9:16
P – Michelsen 2 run (Moore kick), 7:30
F – Stock 28 FG, 1:52
P – Kuzu 24 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 1:03
F – Stock 34 FG, 0:00
Third Quarter
P – Ben Laures 8 punt recovery return (Moore kick), 8:02
P – Michelsen 4 pass from Kuzu (Moore kick), 7:28
F – Lee 4 run (Stock kick), 4:50
P – Moore 44 FG, 0:01
Fourth Quarter
F – Brake 20 pass from Millard (LeSueur pass from Millard), 6:18
F – Lee 2 run (Stock kick), 1:39
P
F
23 First downs 31
21-45 Rushes-yards 34-119
414 Passing yards 402
459 Total yards 521
23-40-0 Passing 29-46-0
4-153 Total punting 1-51
9-100 Penalties-yds. 15-150
4-1 Fumbles-lost 1-1

INDIVIDUALS

Rushing — P: Murat Kuzu 11-40, Connor Michelsen 8-3, Kevin Merrill 2-2. F: Hunter Lee 24-123, Paul Millard 7-22, Connor Ashley 2-6, Team 1-(-32).

Passing — P: Connor Michelsen 22-39-0, 410 yards; Murat Kuzu 1-1-0, 4 yards. F: Paul Millard 29-46-0, 402 yards.

Receiving — P: Brandon Hamilton 4-176, Clayton Parlin 4-89, Murat Kuzu 7-61, Kevin Merrill 4-47, Steele Hoetger 2-11, Connor Michelsen 1-4. F: Josh Brake 5-123, Hunter Lee 7-119, Nolan LeSueur 10-72, Matt Cavanaugh 2-35, Marshall Williams 2-28, Connor Ashley 1-10, Delvin Holmes 1-9, Brad Bush 1-6.

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Plano turns away Lakeview, 35-18

By on August 28, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

Connor Michelsen passed for three touchdowns and rushed for a fourth Friday as Plano defeated Garland Lakeview, 35-18, at John Clark Stadium in front of a capacity home crowd.

Connor Michelsen passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another Friday as Plano won its fifth season opener in the past six seasons. / Thad Fenton

Plano (1-0) has won its season opener in five of the past six seasons. It meets Irving MacArthur, the only team since 2005 to defeat it in a season opener, at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at John Clark Stadium.

Michelsen paired with Brandon Hamilton on the big play through the air and Kevin Merrill did enough on the ground to keep Lakeview honest. Michelsen completed 10 of 18 passes for 209 yards, including a pair of touchdown passes to Hamilton and another to Clayton Parlin. Merrill had 118 yards rushing as Hamilton turned in 157 yards receiving on five catches.

But it looked like déjà vu early. For consecutive seasons, Plano could only watch as the opening snap from scrimmage resulted in a long score to put it in an early hole in the opening game on the schedule.

But it responded quickly and used a big fourth quarter to put Lakeview away. Parlin scored on a 28-yard pass completion from Michelsen just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter and Hamilton’s second touchdown put the game out of reach with 6:42 left. In between the scores, Michelsen followed a 63-yard Merrill run with a 2-yard score.

"Big Play" Ben Laures proved he's a ball hawk on special teams Friday, blocking a punt on Lakeview's second series. / Thad Fenton

But the opener didn’t come without some hitches, like losing four fumbles on offense and dropping what appeared to be at least three sure interceptions. It finished the game minus-two in the takeaway category.

Hamilton gave Plano the big play in the first half. Michelsen found him on a post pattern and the senior did the rest on a 50-yard touchdown combination to give Plano a 14-6 lead with 6:07 elapsed in the game. He also had a 45-yard reception late in the first half, then came a few more hitches it will look to correct this week. Plano was unable to turn the redzone opportunity into points, one of two final offensive series in the first half that ended in fumbles. The series prior to those began at Lakeview’s 29 and didn’t produce points.

Kevin Merrill got the season started with a 100-yard game despite sharing the backfield Friday with Murat Kuzu and Rakeem Crawford. / Thad Fenton

Lakeview stayed within one score at halftime with a big play of their own when Davonta Black found Jarvis Baxter on a 33-yard touchdown strike with 2:03 remaining. A failed conversion pass following the touchdown proved to be the difference, 14-12, at halftime.

Ben Laures wasted little time before he picked up where he left off last season. He blocked a punt on Lakeview’s second series of the game when he jumped and stopped the ball and a split second later caught it. He landed and rumbled in for a 7-yard touchdown return and Plano led, 7-6.

About half of Lakeview’s offense and points in the first half came on the first offensive snap of the game.

Davonta Black made a nifty move away from a defender jumping to block a pass attempt when he recognized a gaping hole in the middle of Plano’s defensive line – left by an all-out blitz — and went virtually untouched 73 yards, and 17 seconds into the season opener Plano was down, 7-0.

Plano 35, Gar. Lakeview 18
Plano         14              0                0                21           –             35
Lakeview  6                6                0                6             –             18
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
L – Davonta Black 73 run (kick blocked), 11:43
P – Ben Laures 7 blocked punt return (Daniel Moore kick), 8:41
P – Brandon Hamilton 50 pass from Connor Michelsen (Moore kick), 5:53
Second Quarter
No scoring
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter
P – Clayton Parlin 28 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 11:07
P – Michelsen 2 run (Moore kick), 8:45
P – Hamilton 47 pass from Michelsen (Moore kick), 6:42
L – Denton Edwards 3 run (kick failed), 0:00
L TEAM STATS P
16 First downs 12
37-136 Rushes-yards 27-144
69 Passing yards 209
205 Total yards 353
8-22-2 Passing 10-19-0
9-267 Total punting 4-173
13-68 Penalties-yds. 6-67
0-0 Fumbles-lost 4-4
INDIVIDUAL STATS                                                   
Rushing – L: Devonta Black 18-97, Robert Charles 4-15, Styles Winston 3-11, William Reese 8-8, Denton Edwards 2-5, Marquis Denmark 1-4, Sherrod Haynes 1-(-4). P: Kevin Merrill 12-118, Murat Kuzu 4-18, Clayton Parlin 1-6, Rakeem Crawford 5-4, L.J. Ausama 1-3, Connor Michelsen 4-(-5).                      
Passing — L: Davonta Black 7-19-2, 62 yards; Denton Edwards 1-3-0, 7 yards. P: Connor Michelsen 10-18-0, 209 yards; Richard Lagow 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Receiving — L: Jarvis Baxter 3-42, Robert Charles 2-12, Ceaser Brown Jr 2-10. P: Brandon Hamilton 5-157, Clayton Parlin 3-40, Steele Hoetger 1-18, Rakeem Crawford.
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Varsity vs. Lakeview game notes

By on August 27, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

Plano 35, Lakeview 18 (Final)

Plano 35, Lakeview 12: Brandon Hamilton 47-yard touchdown pass from Connor Michelsen. 6:42 left. Hamilton has 157 yards and 2 TDs.

Plano 28, Lakeview 12: Connor Michelsen 2-yard touchdown run following Merrill 63-yard gain. 8:45 left.

Plano 21, Lakeview 12: Kevin Merrill just went over 100 yards rushing with a 63-yard carry to the Lakeview 3, 8:49 left in game.

Plano 21, Lakeview 12: Clayton Parlin 28-yard touchdown reception from Connor Michelsen, 11:07 left in game.

Plano 14, Lakeview 12 (end of third quarter)

Another Plano fumble in redzone results in another squandered scoring opportunity early in second half. Plano has lost three fumbles.

Haltime Statistics:

L   P
5 First downs 6
20-94 Rushes-yards 11-28
50 Passing yards 96
144 Total yards 124
4-9-0 Passing 5-11-0
5-136 Total punting 3-134
7-32 Penalties-yds. 3-22
0-0 Fumbles-lost 2-2

Plano 14, Lakeview 12 (Haltime)

Plano 14, Lakeview 12: Jarvis Baxter 33-yard touchdown pass from Davonta Black. 2:03 left in first half.

In a timeout and with 4:28 left in first half the score is Plano 14, Lakeview 6. Lakeview has 30 yards since opening play of game.

Plano 14, Lakeview 6: End of first quarter.

Plano 14, Lakeview 6: Brandon Hamilton 50-yard touchdown pass from Connor Michelsen on a post pattern. 5:53 left in first quarter.

Plano 7, Lakeview 6: Ben Laures scores on a 7-yard punt return after recording the block. Chris Moore’s kick gave Plano lead. 8:39 in 1st Q.

Lakeview 6, Plano 0: QB Davonta Black 73 run for touchdown. Blair Burns blocked kick. 11:43 left in first quarter.

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Scrimmage wrap-up

By on August 21, 2010 in '10 Fall Season

The most pressing question in football camps around the state right now starts with an assessment concerning readiness.

Teams, like Plano, playing in zero week, have to be ready in a short amount of time. So, one scrimmage is all they have to make assessments.

Plano seems to have answered a few questions Friday at E.H. Hanby Stadium. There were some mistakes, as can be expected in a scrimmage, but by and large it was a good showing.

“I think we have a chance to be a good football team,” Plano coach Jaydon McCullough said.

But, he wasn’t pleased with two turnovers in the 12-minute timed quarter.

“If we make two turnovers a quarter, we’re not going to be a very good football team,” McCullough said.

Offense

Anyone who missed the junior varsity games last season may have been surprised by the performance of Plano’s backup quarterback Friday. Richard Lagow’s performance demonstrated that like most every other position, this team has depth.

“We used this as a situation to let him have a lot of reps,” McCullough said.

One reason is Connor Michelsen is locked in as the starting quarterback, according to McCullough, and also played well.

At running back, Plano has some options. Rakeem Crawford and Kevin Merrill appear as if they give the offense a pair of speed-back options and Murat Kuzu can fill the power-back role. The combination of the trio could be lethal, and McCullough has committed to using all three.

Plano may split out only one receiver measuring more than six feet tall this season, but there are some capable playmakers. Steele Hoetger and Brandon Hamilton appear locked in as the outside receivers. Clayton Parlin and L.J. Ausama will play the slot, with Kuzu and Merrill also being effective tools in the receiving game. Sam Leavitt was used at tight end.

On the line, the team could have the personnel to go two-deep at every position. Clayton Bennett anchors the unit at center.

“I think we’re going to be strong in the interior,” McCullough said. “The years we have been strong in the interior we’ve been pretty good.”

Defense

The secondary may have stolen the show with a pair of interceptions late, but some credit had to go to the defensive line Friday.

Taylor May and Arthur Skinner at tackle and Xavier Harbert and Dwayne Hicks at end gave Mesquite some trouble up front.

“I like our offensive and defensive lines,” McCullough said.

The linebacking corps mixed players in and out with success. McCullough doesn’t think the group is getting overlooked, at least not by him.

“I feel like we’re two deep there,” McCullough said.

He’s already compared Matt Johnson to Chris Mendenhall, an undersized but more than capable linebacker who helped key the 2007 defense alongside hard-hitting linebacker C.J. Martin. On this team that player is Ben Laures, a key to last season’s defense, at middle linebacker.

In the secondary, Austin Hall and Kobie Douglas both played the cornerback position opposite Blair Burns, who showed he can play physical when the time calls for it. Each cornerback position came away with an interception in the game.

Special Teams

The structure of the scrimmage didn’t offer much of a look at special teams, but there were a few things to take away.

Hoetger was worthy of mention. His first two punts of the scrimmage were for 55 and 47 yards.

Chris Moore took the placekicking chores.

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