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LUBBOCK — A slow offensive start proved too much for the Wylie football team to overcome Friday in a 21-15 loss to Lubbock Cooper.

Trailing 14-2 at halftime and 21-2 four seconds into the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs tried to rally over the final 11:56. But a couple of short touchdown passes by Balin Valentine were all WHS could muster in dropping its second consecutive game.

CANYON — The Wylie football team couldn’t get any offense going against Canyon Randall on Friday, amassing just 175 total yards in a disappointing 28-14 loss to the Raiders at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.

Coming off their best offensive showing of the year last week against Wichita Falls High, the Bulldogs managed just 84 yards rushing on 32 carries, allowing Randall to create some distance in the fourth quarter.

Wylie, now 3-2 overall and 1-2 in District 3-5A Division II play,  is now a game behind Randall for third in the league standings and is looking at a likely three-way tie for the final two playoff spots if it cannot upset Lubbock Cooper on the road next week.

Wylie senior Balin Valentine has a pretty simple view of his job as the Bulldogs quarterback. He’s back there to make plays, plain and simple. 

Viewing each and every play call as a potential touchdown, Valentine treats each snap with that type of urgency, refusing give up on its success until the whistle is blown.

With a knack for scrambling and the ability to throw accurately on the move, Valentine’s fearlessness and gunslinger mentality have served him and the Wylie offense well this year. And while those things may or may not have added a gray hair or two to the head of Clay Martin, the first-year Wylie head coach isn’t about to change the way his quarterback views or plays the game.

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Longtime Wylie football coach Hugh Sandifer never in his wildest dreams imagined having a statue of himself inside a stadium with his name on it. But such was reality on Friday, when the school honored the legendary mentor as part of its homecoming celebration.

After being inducted into the WISD Hall of Honor alongside his wife and longtime Wylie counselor Brenda earlier in the day, Sandifer joined a crowd of supportive fans inside Hugh Sandifer Stadium to watch his former team rout the Wichita Falls High Coyotes 44-14. 

The game served as a fitting end to a day devoted in large part to honoring Sandifer, who came to Wylie in 1979 intending to coach there just one year.

The Wylie football team christened Hugh Sandifer Stadium in style Friday, dominating Wichita Falls High in all three phases for a 44-14 homecoming win.

Playing their first home game of the season due to multiple COVID-related schedule changes, the Bulldogs built a 28-0 halftime lead and stretched that to 38-0 before the Coyotes finally got on the board with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

Wylie outgained Wichita Falls 472-226 and won the turnover battle 4-0 to bounce back from last week’s District 3-5A Division I-opening loss to No. 8 Wichita Falls Rider and improve to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in league play.

WICHITA FALLS HIGH (2-2, 1-1) AT WYLIE (2-1, 0-1)

7 p.m. Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium, Abilene

If you were picking from a lineup of Wylie defensive players, Reece Gooding wouldn’t be the first guy you’d peg as a standout inside linebacker.

At 5-foot-6 and 130 pounds, he doesn’t exactly look the part.

But in watching the senior play, it doesn’t take long to find out that looks can be deceiving. Though smaller than almost all of his peers, Gooding has — through sheer effort and play-making ability — made himself an invaluable part of the Wylie defense. 

And while even coach Clay Martin had his doubts at first about Gooding’s ability to compete at the Class 5A level, he’s now as big a believer as there is in the linebacker and his ability to impact games. 

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WICHITA FALLS — Playing its first game since Oct. 2, the Wylie football team was noticeably rusty in its District 3-5A Division II opener against Wichita Falls Rider on Friday at Memorial Stadium.

But ultimately, the eighth-ranked Raiders just had too much firepower for the Bulldogs to handle in a 35-14 win that was more dominant than the final score might indicate.

Rider (5-1, 2-0) outgained Wylie 352-35 over the first two quarters on its way to a 35-0 halftime lead and turned to its reserves to take things home after the break.

WYLIE (2-0, 0-0) AT WICHITA FALLS RIDER (4-1, 1-0)

7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium, Wichita Falls

Continue reading “VIDEO: Wylie’s Martin discusses team’s district opener against No. 8 Rider” →

In a season full of challenges, the Wylie football team will be facing one of its toughest yet this week, when it hits road for its District 3-5A Division II opener against No.  8 Wichita Falls Rider.

But coming off a three-week layoff due to COVID-related schedule changes, the Bulldogs are just glad to be talking about on-field obstacles again.

Idle since Oct. 2 after having nondistrict games against Cooper and Amarillo Palo Duro canceled and a district matchup with Plainview postponed to the end of the season, Wylie will have no time to ease back into the swing of things against the 4-1 Raiders. But that’s of little concern to the Bulldogs players and coaches, who are just thrilled to be playing anyone at this point.

If you had told Clay Martin in January that his team would be undefeated four weeks into his first season as a head football coach, he’d likely have happily accepted that outcome.

If you had told him all of the challenges he’d face to get there, he likely wouldn’t have believed you.

Hired to replace longtime Wylie head coach Hugh Sandifer on Jan. 31 after spending more than a quarter-century on the Bulldogs staff, Martin has been tasked with navigating one of the most unique seasons in Texas high school football history. And with his team in the middle of what’s likely to be its third consecutive week off due to COVID-19 cancellations/postponements, he’s adopted an age-old coaching cliché as his guiding philosophy.