PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Miles and Sterling City Battle for 2nd Time

WALL- The Miles Bulldogs will have a rematch with the Sterling City Eagles this Thursday at Clayton Weishuhn Field in Wall, Texas.

Miles head coach Jayson Wilhelm and his staff are currently preparing their team for their bi-district match up against a familiar foe in the Sterling City Eagles.

“We have to be us,” Wilhelm said, “we also have to limit our mistakes.” In a conversation, Wilhelm said they got up on Cross Plains early and let them back into the game.

Miles came into the season with a good, young, quarterback in junior Hayven Book who has thrown 122-192 for 1,903 yards, 32 touchdowns, and four interceptions. On the ground, Book has 49 carries for 369 yards, and 12 touchdowns.

The running backs have helped Miles stay balanced and they’re led by senior Tanner Wood and sophomore Devin Medina who have 763 yards and 11 touchdowns. Senior Dylan Garza has added 145 yards on the ground along with four scores and freshman Dalton Fischer chipped in 141 yards and a touchdown.

The Bulldogs have a ton of weapons out wide like senior Carson and sophomore Cooper Ellison who have 1,169 yards and 20 touchdowns. Sophomore Jaylen Torres had 325 yards and three scores in the regular season. Medina and Garza have contributed to the passing game as well.

Defensively, senior Holton Wilson has 72 tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery from a defensive tackle position. Sophomores Lane Godfrey and Jaxon Petillo have 70 and 67 yards respectively and added seven sacks to Miles’s total with Godfrey leading the team with four. Seniors Kade Miller and Tanner Wood follow those performances with 112 tackles, four sacks, and two fumble recoveries.

The defensive backfield is led by Carson Ellison who has five interceptions, two pass breakups, and fumble recovery. The Bulldogs have picked off opposing quarterbacks 19 times this season.

Head Coach Jayson Wilhelm said the Bulldogs have to worry about themselves and cannot be worried about what the Eagles will do.

Also, history is on the line this Thursday as the Bulldogs only have two playoff wins in their history. Wilhelm said, “We want to be a part of that.”

Everyone in Sterling City’s district didn’t want Albany in the first round but this Miles team isn’t going to be a cake walk.

Sterling City is coming into this game and last week head coach Trey Sisco said a rematch would be great to see how much better we’ve gotten from that point in the season to now. His Eagle team wasn’t even picked to make the playoffs this year and they secured a third-place finish against the Eldorado Eagles last week.

Also, Sterling City jumped up to 11-man after the UIL realignment. They still are only two years removed from a state championship and all the experience helped the underclassmen. Some of that state team is still intact and having a 6-man mentality of securing tackles helps.

That is one thing Coach Sisco tried to reiterate to his team. He said several times this season in conversations that 11-man has more players on the field, you have more guys to get there and help make the tackle.

Sisco has been at Sterling City for 18 years and coached 11-man, then 6-man, and now back to 11-man.

Quarterback Ty Turner has some weapons in running back Jonathan Monreal and Tristan Himes. Himes is one of the players’ Coach Sisco speaks highly of.

In Week 2, the Eagles built up a 21-6 lead at halftime but let the Bulldogs back in the game in the fourth quarter where the Bulldogs scored 28 points and held the Eagles scoreless.

COVER1 will have coverage of the Thursday night playoff games so tune into COVER1 on Friday at 4:00, 8:00, and 10:00 p.m. for exclusive coaches’ interviews, score updates, highlights, and to see who is moving on to round two and who’s packing up the pads.