Friday, Nov. 07, 2008

Playoff-Bound Panthers Face Grapevine

CHHS Football

By Kevin Lonnquist

Staff Writer

The 2008 version of the Colleyville Heritage Panthers may be the most dominant to ever come through the school.

However, that doesn’t mean that a deep playoff run is assured. The Panthers (8-1, 5-1 in District 5-5A) will get their chance as they return to the postseason for the third consecutive season. They clinched their berth in last week’s 42-10 romp of Keller.

Consider that the Panthers have scored no fewer than 28 points in any of their games. They have scored at least 41 in six of them and 35 in the other two. They have tallied 376 points for the season.

"It doesn’t feel like it sometimes, because we have just been consistent and done what we are capable of doing," coach Mike Fuller said.

Now comes the test in tonight’s regular season finale against winless Grapevine (0-9, 0-6). The Panthers are overwhelming favorites against their rivals. This is the 13th meeting between the two teams. Grapevine leads the series, 8-4 but Colleyville Heritage has won the last two meetings.

The concern Fuller has is to make sure his team does not come into this game overconfident because of the season it is having and the season Grapevine is having.

"I don’t think it will come down to us overlooking them, because this is a rivalry that started when they were in kindergarten," Fuller said. "We understand what is happening. We will not take them for granted."

Bi-district Playoffs at Texas Stadium

Coaches from District 5-5A and 6-5A met on Wednesday at Texas Stadium for preliminary discussions.

The districts have locked down the Stadium for their bi-district games on Saturday, Nov. 15. The game times are 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. According to Marcus coach Bryan Erwin, the district champions will have their picks of time.

Regardless of its result with Grapevine, the Panthers will go into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Division II. Euless Trinity will be the No. 1 seed in Division I. Ironically, should Carroll win its season finale with Lewisville, the Panthers and Dragons will meet in the bi-district round, because Carroll will be the No. 2 seed in Division II.

The Defense Rests

Over the last two weeks, Colleyville Heritage’s defense has started to swarm and shut teams down. Keller Central’s first-team offense was limited to three points, while Keller was held to 10.

It’s a combination of trust, sacks and tackles for loss making the difference. Going into tonight’s regular season finale, the Panthers defense has recorded 32 sacks and 125 other tackles for loss.

Senior defensive tackle Matt Hornbuckle leads the team with six sacks and is second with 18 stops behind the line of scrimmage.

"We had some trust issues, but I believe we have gotten those behind us," Fuller said. "There are some things we will give up but if we can keep them to a minimum then we’ll give ourselves a chance."