Suffering their first loss of the season, the Whiteface Antelopes fall 75-69 versus Borden County Coyotes.
Being able to match the scoring of the Coyotes, it was the inability of the ‘Lopes defense to make the proper stops and come out on top in the game.
Allowing 495 total yards, the ‘Lopes defense surrendered the most yards by any opponent so far this season, including 400 yards of rushing.
“They have an elite running back and we had him wrapped up a couple of times and he squirted loose,” Whiteface head coach Jeff Jones said. “There’s a lot of fundamental things that we need to get better at. We lunged at him a couple of times and you can’t do that to a back, you got to make sure you put your shoulder on him and get him wrapped up.”
Coach Jones understood the challenges the Coyotes will present, and despite the loss, one of his biggest takeaways was how is team was able to respond in adversity.
“The resiliency really impressed me and we’re real happy about that,” Jones said. “We got down two touchdowns and it never really phased us.”
In the loss, the ‘Lopes passing attack found new heights, putting together their highest passing totals this season with 229 passing yards and six touchdowns.
The passing attack paired by Isaak Soliz under center and Luke Gresham out wide, connected for five touchdowns through the air. Being explosive through the air created scoring plays to the ‘Lopes to keep up with the high-powered Coyotes offense.
“When your ground game is working so good, those play actions start happening,” Jones said. “I think the running game still opens up all that passing but its nice to know we have that capability to get to the air when we need to.”
Looking to bounce back from their loss, the ‘Lopes will return home, against Logan at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 and Logan’s unique offensives approach with a quarterback, multiple running backs out wide, and three offensive lineman will challenge the ‘Lopes defense to get better.
“They’re doing things a little bit different to where its going to make us better,” Jones said. “It’s going to improve our eye discipline and how we are able to attack an offense.”