Wylie ISD -

Article By Greg Jaklewicz

Wylie travels to Wichita Falls Legacy for first 2-5A matchup

Moving Past Stephenville

Coming off a blowout loss to Class 4A, Division 1 No. 4 Stephenville, the Wylie Bulldogs face the best possible opponent to start District 2-5A play.

The 2-2 Bulldogs are on the move again, going to Wichita Falls to face Legacy High School, formerly Wichita Falls High. The WFISD closed both of its campuses, built new ones and changed the names. Rider High now is Memorial.

Legacy went 0-10 in its first season, losing 49-19 to Wylie at Hugh Sandifer Stadium and 51-21 to crosstown rival Memorial.

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine picked the Leopards to finish last again this season.

That’s what is on paper.

Wylie has put Stephenville in the rear-view mirror.

“Obviously, we try to learn from each of our games,” coach Clay Martin said. “A lot of times you learn more in a loss than you do in a victory. We worked pretty hard on that Saturday but that (game) is dead and gone.

“We’re on to the next opponent.”

Building the Bulldogs

Just as important as learning but moving on from the Stephenville game is for the Bulldogs to take a business trip to Wichita Falls and take care of business.

With only six games to sort out things, Wylie—like each team in the district—wants to get off to a 1-0 start.

And for Wylie, there’s a district championship to defend.

Martin likes where his team is after four weeks of competition. The Bulldogs did not return many players and were going to rely heavily on the junior class.

“You never really know when the season starts where you are going to be at different times, but I think we have continued to improve,” Martin said. “The experience we have gained over these four games has been huge. Those guys have stepped in and the game is beginning to slow down for them.

“From a maturity and experience standpoint, it has been great.”

He expects to have junior Dylan Regala back on the field. After scoring twice in the opener against Brownwood, Regala has not played. He is an important playmaker on offense.

Wyatt Kidman took Regala’s place and contributed greatly. Now, Martin and his staff can think about how to use both players, maybe on the field at the same time.

Kidman has nine catches in three games.

“We really created some depth at that inside receiver slot,” Martin said.

And without Regala, Jadin Karleskint has found another go-to receiver in Blaze Ruffin. The two have combined for three touchdown plays the past two games. Ruffin had three catches for more than 100 yards against Stephenville.

“Blaze was going to be a weapon on the outside from the jump and has really come into his own,” Martin said. “He has had some huge games for us so far, and it’s going to be a point of emphasis to get Blaze some touches.

“I think Jadin and Blaze have had some good chemistry, and that is going to continue.”

Ruffin has 13 grabs for 290 yards to lead the team.

Karleskint has been more than solid, making plays both with his feet and arm. He showcased both against Stephenville, whether it was a designed carry or crafty scrambling to find an open receiver. Martin was impressed that his quarterback was able to avoid being tackled yet also look downfield to find his receiver.

Karleskint has completed 42 of 61 throws (69%) for 575 yards and four TDs.

All four players are juniors.

And there was the emergence of even younger players. Sophomore running back Rodrigo Jones showed what he could do against Lubbock Coronado, scoring a touchdown on his first varsity carry. And against Stephenville, sophomore Jayden Naemi caught two passes for 57 yards, including a long catch-and-run TD in the second half.

Senior running back Julius Laine has not yet hit stride. He has had two big games—128 and 88 yards in limited playing time in the wins against Brownwood and Coronado—and two sub-Julius games. Still, he has six running touchdowns and 279 total rushing yards.

Juniors have contributed greatly on defense, along with senior lineman Deandre Rodriguez. Those include Blake Frailing, Bo Kates, Brody Martin, and Landry Pate.

Scouting Legacy

Legacy returned six starters on offense and five on defense, more on each side of the ball than Wylie.

Martin said Legacy has shown improvement.

“Legacy will present some different challenges” than Stephenville, Martin said. “But it’s like that each and every week.”

The offense is directed by sophomore Knox Hodges, who got varsity experience as a freshman. He threw for almost 900 yards and three touchdowns.

Jaravion Neal was expected to be his go-to back.

The Leopards scored 17 points a game and were not shut out, though three times they scored just one touchdown.

This year, however, the Leopards were blanked by Canyon Randall and got only a field goal against Amarillo Tascosa.

Da’Kendrick Jones, a first-team all-district back, is a key player on defense. The Leopards gave up a lot of points last year—46 a game—and already surrendered 53 to Tascosa and 61 to Frenship, two solid opponents.

Martin said the team is not without talented players.

“They are loaded with athletes and have lots of playmakers,” he said. “They are a very dangerous team.”

He said the teams share similar strategies but it will be a matter of which team achieves its goal.

Where he hopes the Bulldogs have an edge is on the line. When Wylie has dominated the line of scrimmage this year, the team has won. Wylie linemen have faced some supersized players; Legacy should not be as big.

“We have some advantages and I think up front is a major one. We need to take advantage of that.”

Sizing Up the District

With temperatures surpassing 100 degrees earlier this week, it’s hard to believe that teams are reaching the halfway point of the regular season.

“It’s a special time of year … this is what we prepared for and what we worked for,” Martin said of the start of 2-5A action. “You want to play well in pre-district but these are the games that count.

“We are looking forward to getting started.”

District 2-5 teams posted a 17-11 record across four weeks of non-district play.

• Wichita Falls Memorial leads the way at 4-0, with surprising Amarillo Palo Duro tied with preseason favorite Lubbock-Cooper at 3-1.

• The Dons have been dandy on defense, allowing 31 points in four games (7.8 a game, or one touchdown).

• The best offensive showing was by Memorial, with 176 points (44.0 a game).

• Legacy got its first win in Game 1, leaping past Class 5A, Division I Lubbock Coronado, 28-22.

Coronado was the district punching bag, also losing 70-14 to Wylie, 49-14 to Lubbock-Cooper and 59-0 to Abilene Cooper.

The big game opening week is Memorial at Cooper. The Cougars are a bit of an unknown at this point, while some fans may wonder if Memorial is as good as its record.

Plainview, which has struggled in district play, lost by a touchdown to Dumas or the Bulldogs could be 3-1, too. Plainview is 3-23 in league play over the past five seasons.

Martin is not taking any team lightly.

“Going into it, I thought our district would be deeper, and I think our district will prove to be a little tougher than it was last year,” Martin said. “Just like it has turned out to be. All seven teams have shown signs of being good teams.

“I think everyone is in the hunt.”

At this point, all seven teams have a shot at the four playoff berths available because each is 0-0.

“You have six opportunities to separate yourselves from the other teams in the district,” Martin said. “This week, it’s pretty simple. Three are going to be 1-0 and three are going to be 0-1. We want to be in that 1-0 group. We want to separate ourselves from Legacy this week, and then each team that we play.”

District 2-5A Standings

Final non-district

Week 4 Results

• Wylie at Stephenville 52, Wylie 13

• Amarillo Palo Duro 35, Amarillo High 14

• Abilene Cooper 59, Lubbock Coronado 0

• Lubbock-Cooper 57, Frenship 56

• Plainview at Dumas 43, Plainview 35

• Randall 27, WF Legacy 0

• WF Memorial 70, Andrews 20

Week 5 / Start of District Schedule

• Wylie at Wichita Falls Legacy

• Wichita Falls Memorial at Abilene Cooper

• Plainview at Lubbock Cooper

• Palo Duro open