Week 6 Big Game:
DI White Deer (5-0) @ DII Follett (4-1)
This week’s big game will be played in one of the most northern football fields in all of Texas as White Deer travels to Follett.
White Deer has turned in one of the best defensive starts to a season ever, having not allowed a single point in their first five games. It is almost an impossible thing to research, but I have tried, and so far I have not found anyone to challenge that to start a season and only a hand full have ever had a streak of five straight shutouts at all. The Bucks have outscored their opponents 288-0. Their schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but that shouldn’t take way from the difficulty in shutting everyone out. Motley County stands out as their best win, with Groom as possibly their next best victory. However, both those teams are in rebuilding years, after having lost many starters off last year’s squads to graduation. White Deer has done an excellent job of mixing up the offense and has several key offensive weapons in their arsenal. B Gage Freeman, RB Kason Vigil, QB Payton Freeman and TE Hadley Freeman are all major threats. Looking over the season stats, there is no big standout offensively. To no one’s surprise, the team is more concerned with defense. With everyone competing for tackles every week ,Kason Vigil leads the pack in the race for the team’s leading tackler with 44. Dillon Cotton has logged 31 tackles, Drake Damon 26, and Hayden Freeman 21. As a team White Deer is dominating the turnover battle, as they have forced 11 turnovers while only giving up only a single fumble on the season.
Follett is led by QB Christian Barber, who can run and throw better than anyone White Deer has come up against this season. The Panthers have had a tougher schedule; logging wins over tough DI teams, Ira and Paducah, and with their one loss coming at the hands of highly ranked DII Valley, by 24 points in week two. The games against Valley and Paducah were hard fought and went the distance, which lends to the idea that the Panthers may come into this contest with the Bucks as the better conditioned team as White Deer has only had one game go past halftime (week three game vs Motley Co ended early in the fourth quarter). Follett also has the intangible advantages of a history of winning big games, extended seasons and playoff success, all of which makes them a tough team mental to gain an edge on and a hard team to jump on top of and keep down throughout the length of a full game.
Keys to the Game:
Follett will need a big game on both sides of the ball from QB/FS Christian Barber. Barber’s play will determine if the Panthers can crack the Bucks stellar defense, extending the game and winning it down the stretch. For White Deer, conditioning is key, they need to be less worried about giving up points and focused on winning a full game. The Bucks will need to figure out who has the hot hand offensively and keep feeding them the rock. In the end, I see White Deer’s shutout streak ending and the game going the distance, but the Bucks will move to 6-0 on the season.
DI White Deer (5-0) @ DII Follett (4-1)
This week’s big game will be played in one of the most northern football fields in all of Texas as White Deer travels to Follett.
White Deer has turned in one of the best defensive starts to a season ever, having not allowed a single point in their first five games. It is almost an impossible thing to research, but I have tried, and so far I have not found anyone to challenge that to start a season and only a hand full have ever had a streak of five straight shutouts at all. The Bucks have outscored their opponents 288-0. Their schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but that shouldn’t take way from the difficulty in shutting everyone out. Motley County stands out as their best win, with Groom as possibly their next best victory. However, both those teams are in rebuilding years, after having lost many starters off last year’s squads to graduation. White Deer has done an excellent job of mixing up the offense and has several key offensive weapons in their arsenal. B Gage Freeman, RB Kason Vigil, QB Payton Freeman and TE Hadley Freeman are all major threats. Looking over the season stats, there is no big standout offensively. To no one’s surprise, the team is more concerned with defense. With everyone competing for tackles every week ,Kason Vigil leads the pack in the race for the team’s leading tackler with 44. Dillon Cotton has logged 31 tackles, Drake Damon 26, and Hayden Freeman 21. As a team White Deer is dominating the turnover battle, as they have forced 11 turnovers while only giving up only a single fumble on the season.
Follett is led by QB Christian Barber, who can run and throw better than anyone White Deer has come up against this season. The Panthers have had a tougher schedule; logging wins over tough DI teams, Ira and Paducah, and with their one loss coming at the hands of highly ranked DII Valley, by 24 points in week two. The games against Valley and Paducah were hard fought and went the distance, which lends to the idea that the Panthers may come into this contest with the Bucks as the better conditioned team as White Deer has only had one game go past halftime (week three game vs Motley Co ended early in the fourth quarter). Follett also has the intangible advantages of a history of winning big games, extended seasons and playoff success, all of which makes them a tough team mental to gain an edge on and a hard team to jump on top of and keep down throughout the length of a full game.
Keys to the Game:
Follett will need a big game on both sides of the ball from QB/FS Christian Barber. Barber’s play will determine if the Panthers can crack the Bucks stellar defense, extending the game and winning it down the stretch. For White Deer, conditioning is key, they need to be less worried about giving up points and focused on winning a full game. The Bucks will need to figure out who has the hot hand offensively and keep feeding them the rock. In the end, I see White Deer’s shutout streak ending and the game going the distance, but the Bucks will move to 6-0 on the season.
