By Richard Greene | Published Thursday, October 22, 2009
A week after picking up their first win of the season, the Decatur Eagles still have their minds set on attaining their No. 1 goal for the year - making the playoffs.
The Eagles can take a big step toward that goal Friday with a win over the Burkburnett Bulldogs. Decatur (1-5) will play Burkburnett (4-3) at 7:30 p.m. at Eagle Stadium.
Since last Thursday's win over Wichita Falls Hirschi to break a season-long losing streak, Decatur coach Kyle Story said there has not been a great change in the attitude of his team.
"It was not a lot different," Story said. "Just because we'd been losing, they didn't get down. They definitely felt good about themselves, and you could see some smiles and a sense of accomplishment.
"We set as our goal to make the playoffs and be playing in week 11. That is still in front of us. In a four-way tie, we have as good of a shot as anyone," he said.
At 1-1 in District 5-3A, Decatur is tied for second with Vernon, Burkburnett and Iowa Park. Bridgeport owns the league lead as the only 2-0 team. To secure one of the three playoff berths out of the district, Story figures they will need two wins in the final three games. Along with focusing on a gameplan for Burkburnett, Story said the team briefly talked about the next three weeks.
"We talked about the overall picture and what it takes to make the playoffs," Story said. "Our central focus is Burkburnett. But if we don't get this one, it becomes a playoff scenario each week."
Burkburnett is coming off a 48-14 dismantling of Vernon Friday. A week after dropping its District 5-3A opener to Bridgeport, Burkburnett rolled up 487 yards in the win over Vernon and scored on its first five possessions.
"They were very impressive against Vernon," Story said. "Their quarterback does an outstanding job of running their mid-line veer. All their backs run well. I was most impressed with their offensive line."
Burkburnett quarterback Cannon Cornelius ran for 129 yards and three touchdowns against Vernon. Cornelius also completed five of his six pass attempts for 68 yards.
"He's good; even if you hit him he falls forward for three or four yards," Story said.
He was one of three Burkburnett backs with more than 100 yards. Fullback Malachi Naef had 100 yards. He ran for 138 against Bridgeport.
Decatur was solid against the run during last week's win, holding Hirschi to 98 yards on the ground. Decatur also picked up its rushing defense in the second half of the overtime loss Oct. 9 to Iowa Park. The two Iowa Park scores after halftime came on long pass plays.
Story said playing against the potent ground game of Iowa Park and having success against it in the second half could help this week against Burkburnett.
"Some of Burkburnett's power running game is similar to Iowa Park's," Story said. "It helps to have a defense in place to attack them. The defense played better in the second half [against Iowa Park]. We stopped their running game, but gave up some plays in the passing game."
Decatur hopes the offense can grind out yards and the clock to help the defense. Decatur ran for 216 of its 325 total yards last week against Hirschi.
"That is a piece of the gameplan - keep the chains moving and throw well enough to keep them honest," Story said.
