Falls City has an overall 5-3 record for the year. They opened the season with a loss to Three Rivers, 28-27 followed by a beat by the Poth Pirates, 5113, The Beavers were victorious in their last three preseason games against Stockdale, Brackett, and LASAA. In district they opened with a win against Louise 48-7 before being narrowly defeated by Dave Campbell’s Football Magazines predicted district champion, Shiner, 213. This past week was a shutout win against Charlotte, 51-0.
The Beavers and Wildcats met up last season in district play with the Falls City squad coming out on top, 38-0. Last season, the Beavers were 10-4 overall and 6-0 in district. They went four rounds deep in the playoffs before losing in the State Quarterfinals to Chilton. They are returning several from that squad but most notably quarterback Braylon Johnson.
At the helm of the Beaver’s is athletic director head football coach Mark Kirchhoff who has been quoted as a legend by Dave Campbell's Sports Magazine. He has an impressive overall 267-114 record with the career highlight of winning the state championship in 2010. Traditionally, the Beavers offense pounds the ground for yards, and this year appears to have the same offensive strategy. The Beavers only average 47 passing yards per game and instead rely on quarterback Johnson’s speed. Johnson averages 12.6 yards per carry. He has carried the ball 88 times for a total of 1,111 rushing yards. The Wildcats mirror the Beavers offensively averaging most of their yards from rushing while averaging 48.7 passing yards per game. Wildcat quarterback Brody Metting has the majority of the carries for the Yorktown squad having rushed 135 times and averaging 9.2 yards per carry while McKenzie Yanta averages 8.1 yards from his 93 carries. When the Wildcats and Beavers go head to head the Wildcats will have to contend against Johnson the 2023 District 14-2A Div II Overall MVP as a sophomore and the 2022 District 14 2A-Div II Offensive MVP as a freshman. Riley Ehrlich has accumulated 5 sacks and could be a factor.
Besides Metting and Yanta the Wildcats will utilize Mathew Olguin and Rylan Rau. The Beavers will have to strategize how to keep Rau from causing fumbles since he has caused three throughout the year as well as not putting the ball near Olguin who has recorded four interceptions.
The Wildcats have not been challenged since week one when they took a loss to Karnes City and since have been defeating their opponents by fairly large margins. This matchup should be a true test and has fans excited for a duel between these two teams. The Wildcats come into the game undefeated in district play while Falls City is 2-1. However, the Wildcats haven’t faced Shiner, the team that dealt FC their loss. The WIldcats and Falls City have both played common opponents Charlotte and Louise and both defeated the teams by large margins. Both teams come into the matchup with high confidence after having shutout victories this past week. Dave Campbell’s Texas High School Magazine predicted Falls City as the favorite, but both teams and fans know the game is decided on the field. Kickoff is set for Nov 1, at 7:00pm in Falls City.
