The Rangers faced off against the Irving Tigers this past Friday night with a lot of momentum after their precious victory over Skyline. However, Head Coach Brandon Hickman made it clear that “the mentality was to keep improving and not getting complacent and letting [their] guard down after the big win.”
The Rangers stuck to their game plan “to run the ball well and stop their run defensively and make them throw. I felt we did both very well against Irving. We took care of the football and created some turnovers.”
Right out of the gates it was clear that the Rangers defense would continue their season long dominance en route to a 50-0 victory, the Rangers fourth consecutive win.
The Rangers held the Irving offense to a mere 50 total yards of offense and forced a couple of turnovers. Senior safety John Michael Priddy snagged an interception and Junior defensive end Jack Metz recovered a fumble. Metz said, “The defense has really come together and we have been able to play well throughout the year. I do not expect us to slow down and I believe if we keep playing like we have been we will continue to force turnovers.”
Even though the outstanding defensive effort was the most notable part of the game, the offense did not disappoint. The Rangers jumped out to a 30-0 lead at halftime with a rushing touchdown from Adam Holtz ’16 and Jacob Palisch ’17, receiving touchdowns from Max Loughborough ’16 and Rusty Landon ’16, and a 28 yard field goal from John Wengierski ’16.
The rest of the game was a similar story as the Rangers defense finished the job by containing the Tigers; offense the entire game. The Rangers offense found the end zone three more times with both Holtz and Landon adding their second touchdown on the ground and Evan Jackson ’17 too finding the end zone on the ground for his first touchdown.
It was the Rangers third shutout of the year as they advance to 5-1 on the season, and the defense continues to impress. Defensive end Jordan Rice ’17 said, “We continue to get stronger as the season moves on and I believe we will be able to compete with the best as the season moves on like we have proven we can.”
After the big win, Coach Hickman commented on the future of the team: “We have to take it one practice at a time and keep improving throughout district and start to peak late into the season and into the playoffs. Our team is hungry and our seniors realize they only have four more district games left. The senior leadership has been very good and we expect it to continue. These guys are doing the little things right which in turn adds up to big things.”
Travel out to Irving again this Friday as the Rangers look to continue their district dominance versus Irving Nimitz.
