This week the Wildcats take on the Hebron Hawks. Hebron varsity is 3-1, coming off a 21-15 win over Flower Mound.
Wildcats JV are home team at John Clark Stadium on Thursday, September 29, for a 5:30 p.m. kick-off.
Varsity travels to Hawk Stadium in Carrollton on Friday, September 30 for a 7:30 p.m. kick-off.
What will the rest of District 8 be doing Friday night? Lewisville will be at Allen, Flower Mound will be at Marcus, and Plano East will be at Clark Stadium taking on Plano West.
'11 grad Connor Michelsen coaches JV QB's #10 Christian Hutzler (left) and #18 Corey Robertson./Photo by Thad Fenton
For the JV Wildcats the day started and ended with a loss to Hebron JV, with victories sandwiched between.
Plano's JV 7-on-7 team at Farmers Branch Tournament 6-25-11./Photo by Thad Fenton.
At today’s PrimeTime Sports 7-on-7 tournament in Farmers Branch, Plano alumni Tim “Tank” Stallings (’95) and Connor Michelsen (’11) coached the JV Wildcats to an overall 3-2 record which earned the Wildcats 2nd Place.
The Wildcats had a rough start, dropping the first game to Hebron 20-8, but recovered and qualified for semi-final play by defeating (Plano) Jasper 27-14 and perennial 7-on-7 powerhouse Arlington Martin 39-6.
In the semi-final round a cross-town rivalry was revisited this summer at the JV level as Plano was matched against Plano West. In May, Plano’s varsity fell to Plano West in the final game of the Frisco Liberty SQT, but today the table was turned as Plano JV beat Plano West JV 40-26.
With the victory over Plano West the Wildcats advanced to the final round where they faced Hebron again, this time losing 38-26, the same margin of loss as in their first meeting of the day.
The JV Wildcats will play two more weeknight League games before they compete at the PrimeTime Sports JV 7-on-7 State Championship Tournament in College Station on July 9.
Plano 27, West 17 … Plano advances to meet Coppell next week in bi-district playoffs. Game will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Coppell.
| W | P | |
| 5 | First downs | 8 |
| 10-19 | Rushes-yards | 17-29 |
| 124 | Passing yards | 116 |
| 143 | Total yards | 145 |
| 5-11-2 | Passing | 6-12-0 |
| 2-64 | Total punting | 2-69 |
| 2-20 | Penalties-yds. | 10-68 |
| 0-0 | Fumbles-lost | 1-0 |
The playoff picture has gained some clarity after Friday night, with one playoff spot remaining. Three of the four games on the schedule in the final week will bear some significance to the playoff picture and the district championship.
Following is a glance at the district going into the final week of the season. The district’s first tiebreaker is head-to-head result.
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 |
| 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 |
It is hard to grasp from one moment to the next what is happening in District 8-5A this season.
It appears Plano (4-2, 1-2) has a win and two losses against three of the top teams in an alignment featuring legitimate playoff-calibur teams from top to bottom. But then, it also appeared Plano had one of the area’s best defenses before it sacrificed 61 points last week.
Consider that both may be true. Plano has a really good defense – in the spread passing era any team allowing less than 315 yards per game is really good when 500-yard offensive showings aren’t rare. Its district opponents have also been really good – they are three of the top four offenses in the district and offense doesn’t get much better than Flower Mound.
Regardless of what happens by the end of district play, there are going to be some solid, capable teams left out of the playoffs in this district.
At the top of the district standings is Allen (6-0, 3-0), vying for its fifth straight unbeaten district campaign. Each of the teams – Hebron, Flower Mound and Marcus – tied at 2-1 ahead of Plano have yet to play Allen. Plano has already suffered its loss to Allen and if the Eagles run the table in the district Plano has the opportunity to scratch back to second place.
Then consider that Plano is 1-1 against the teams knotted at 2-1 in district play and faces the third – Marcus – Friday. It means, at least in theory, Plano should have the easiest finishing schedule in the alignment. Its final three opponents have a combined record of 9-9, with the other five district teams combining for a 23-7 record. But even that is hard to figure considering the final two games on Plano’s schedule feature crosstown rivals Plano East and Plano West.
The Dallas Morning News’ Matt Wixon tries to figure out the teams in 8-5A here and Plano coach Jaydon McCullough talks about the strength of the district in the video below.
