Friday, September 20, 1996

Wylie traveling to 4A Snyder
By MARK WILSON
Staff Writer

SNYDER - It's a question of balance for teams trying to find the best approach to defending Wylie's offense.

The offensive game plan of the Wylie football team is never simple to prepare for, but the Bulldogs are making it particularly tough for defenses this season.

The next team with that assignment is Class 4A Snyder (1-1), which will play host to Wylie tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the final non-district game for the Bulldogs.

On the way to a 2-0 season mark, Wylie has gained an average of 179 yards a game through the air and 164.5 yards on the ground. Five of the Bulldogs' seven touchdowns have been passes from starting quarterback Brady Hall, who is 25 of 49 for 358 yards with two interceptions entering tonight's game. His completions have been divided among six different receivers.

"We've got a good mix offensively right now, throwing the ball and running the ball," said Wylie head coach Hugh Sandifer, whose team pulled out a 21-19 victory over Class 4A Graham last Friday night on Todd Barnett's 22-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the game. "There's a good balance there. We have a lot of guys contributing offensively. It's not a situation where you can zero in on one guy."

While Hall was passing for 185 yards against Graham, running back Jacob Pruitt added a game-high 134 yards on 23 carries. Pruitt scored one rushing touchdown and also caught one of Hall's two touchdown passes.

"That's a key to a lot of our success, and it will be a key to this year's team," Sandifer said. "We have to make defenses defend the field. It's very important to have a balanced attack. If you put all your eggs in one basket and you're outmanned, you're cooked. It's hard for (defenses), in a week's time, to simulate that and prepare for that."

Not only can the Wylie attack come from a number of directions, the Bulldogs give the defense plenty of different looks with potentially confusing multiple sets, shifts and motion.

Coach David Baugh's Snyder team also displayed some balance in a 27-16 loss to Sweetwater last Friday night. Quarterback Russell Riggan passed for 106 yards, ran for a touchdown and had 98 of the Tigers' total of 259 total yards rushing. Snyder running back L.S. McClain was the leading rusher in the game, with 158 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries.

"I think this is the best team we've played so far," Sandifer said of the Tigers. "It will be a great game to show us where we're at."

Snyder's offense - which out-gained Sweetwater 259-233 on the ground - was turned away twice after reaching the Sweetwater 2-yard line, losing the ball once on a fumble.

"It was a tough loss," Baugh said. "We had two turnovers, and one of them kept us from scoring. Defensively we missed too many tackles. Offensively we had good production, but failing to score twice at the 2-yard line killed us."

Wylie has beaten Snyder the past two years, but Baugh noted that the last three meetings between the two teams have been decided by 10 points or less.