Llano football to visits Luling
CAPTION: Llano junior receiver Caden White (20), junior quarterback Luke Davis (13) and senior receiver Graham Prokop are part of an offense that average 251 yards passing, 212 yards rushing and has 16 rushing touchdowns and 23 passing touchdowns already this season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Llano High School football team will travel to play at Luling at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, in the second District 13-3A Division I contest for both.
The Yellow Jackets (5-1, 1-0), who are the defending district champions, walloped Florence 58-7, while the Eagles (0-5, 0-1) lost to Marion 49-0 last week.
Luling operates the spread offense led by senior quarterback Gary Cantu, a four-year letterman. Junior running back Haven Montana is the team’s second-leading rusher behind Cantu and junior Malic Leblanc is the top receiver.
“They (run) a lot out of one back and four receivers,” Llano head coach Matt Green said. “And they’ll get in a little bit of two-back stuff. Very rarely do they use tight ends, but they will a little. So they’re a traditional spread team, and they’ll mix in the run and the pass.”
Defensively, the Eagles operate an even front.
“They’re solid,” Green said. “They do have a couple of inside linebackers that are pretty talented, and so we’ll have to get those kids blocked.”
He noted the obstacles — facing a winless opponent on a long road trip after several weeks of practicing and playing.
“It’ll be a nice road challenge for our team,” Green said. “I’m glad that we’re going back on the road, and then we’re looking forward to the bye. Any time you win and go into a bye, that’s a really great feeling. You love that, and that’s what you want and hope for. So, we want to get a win under our belt going into the bye week; that just gives you more confidence. You’re just on an upbeat. So, I’m excited about the opportunity to go get a win Friday night and then obviously get that break. We’ve been going 10 weeks solid. So, it’s definitely time for the kids and the coaches to get a break. Very much needed.”
All district members will enjoy the same bye Oct. 17, which means no scouting since no one is playing. Currently, Ingram Tom Moore, Marion and Llano all have a district win.
Llano welcomes Universal City Randolph (2-4, 0-1) Oct. 24, goes to Marion (4-2, 1-0) Oct. 31 and ends the regular season at home against Ingram (2-4, 1-0).
“I think Ingram and Marion are playing at a fairly high level,” Green said. “You look at the competition that they’ve both faced, and I think they’re both playing well. I think they’re two very different teams. We’ll see. I feel like Marion’s very good on offense, but they tend to give up some points. Their defense definitely surrenders some points. And then on the flip side, if you look at Ingram, they’re a little more balanced. They have some games where they scored some points and won by doing it that way. They’ve also had a couple of lower scoring affairs.”
The win against Randolph last year wasn’t secure until late in the contest when the Ro-Hawks’ two-point conversion failed, allowing the Jackets to prevail 27-26 and claim the district title.
The coach believes everyone will get a better feel for the final weeks of the regular season after a week of rest.
“A lot of things are going to have to clear up a little bit coming off of the bye,” the coach said.
CAPTION: Head coach Matt Green (center) congratulates senior Grayson Lilie on a job well done. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
