Hornets determined to finish at the top in district

HOOKS, Texas — Hooks Despite a deceptive overall record of 2-4, the Hornets are 2-1 in District 10-3A, D-II and could earn their share the title if everything falls into place.

“Getting healthy has been the biggest positive for us,” Hooks head coach Chris Birdwell said. “We started off without our starting quarterback and starting tailback for the first three or four games. We are just now starting to get healthy, and it showed up quickly on the game scores.

“The three games we played in the preseason were against bigger schools, and we played those games without our starting quarterback and tailback. Benji Johnson and Davarious Clark are probably our two best athletes and each are college-caliber players.”

Johnson, the QB, has committed to New Mexico. Clark, the tailback, has yet to commit. TJ Rigsby and Dawson Adams have been the other two team leaders.

” TJ and Dawson stepped up into leadership roles while Benji and Davarious were out,” Birdwell said. “TJ has been a leader for us on defense. Benji and Davarious each start at safety so we had missed them quite a bit on defense. We had a freshman, Keyshawn Walls, step up in his play in the absence of those guys.”

Rigsby and Walls each play linebacker. Rigsby also lines up at defensive end on some plays. David Johnson also contributed to anchoring the defense and is a top tackler.

Hooks (2-4, 2-1) plays at DeKalb (5-2, 2-2) today at 7:30 p.m. in a district clash. If the Hornets win, they could still have a chance to share the district championship.

“DeKalb is always a rival,” Birdwell said. “We always play them in basketball and baseball. We don’t always play them in football. They are always going to play hard against us. We match up with them in size just as well as we do with anybody. We are more of a speed and agility team, and they are kinda the same. It’ll be an interesting matchup for both sides.”