Wall vs Brock: A Young Rivalry With Huge Implications

SAN ANGELO, TX-- When the second-ranked Wall Hawks line up across from the seventh-ranked Brock Eagles this Friday, it will mark the fourth consecutive year these two teams have faced each other...in the playoffs.

Brock, a program in just their fourth year of varsity football, has quickly risen to the top of the Class 3A D1 ranks. In 2015, their second year of football, the Eagles knocked off perennial power Cameron Yoe for the 3A D1 State Championship.

"[Brock's] football team is like all their programs," said Wall Head Coach Houston Guy. "If they're going to play it, they're going to compete and they do a great job at it. Coach [Chad] Worrell and their coaching staff do a great job getting them ready. They play hard. That's the thing about their football team. They're always going to play hard. When they take the field, you can expect that. They're going to get after you, they're going to be aggressive, and they're going to be well coached."

Wall has been dominant in Region 1 since 2010, going 96-13 overall in eight seasons with four appearances in the Regional Final and one appearance in the State Championship.

The Hawks beat Brock for the first time in a tightly contested, 28-17 victory for Wall. However, Brock knocked off Wall in 2014 and 2015, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the Hawks.

"I watched [previous teams] play Brock and it left a bad taste in my mouth," senior quarterback Brock Rosenquist said. "I was a sophomore. I didn't even get to step on the field. But it still hurt to watch us go down. Then last year we got our redemption, but we're still looking to tie the series."

In the all-time series, Brock leads 2-1 and have outscored Wall 83-62.

Going in to week 11 of the season, it looked like Brock and Wall were on a collision course for a date in the Regional Finals, as was the case a year ago. But an upset by unranked Breckenridge took the district title out of Brock's hands and put the Eagles in the second playoff spot from District 4, setting the course for the same matchup just a week earlier than expected.

While it may not be the Regional Final, everything is on the line for these two teams.

"It's two great, tradition rich programs and I think it's going to be a great atmosphere for the game," Coach Guy said with a smile. "It's going to be one of those [games] that you're going to want to see. It's going to be exciting."

A win means a likely contest with Comanche in the Regional Final. A win over Comanche would probably mean a date with Kemp or Grandview in the State Semifinals. Those are three teams that both Brock and Wall match up well against. So that means the winner of this game would have a favorable path to the State Title game in Arlington.

In their first meeting, back in 2014, Brock and Wall met at Gordon Wood Stadium in Brownwood in the third round of playoffs. In the fourth installment of this budding rivalry, Brock and Wall will meet at Gordon Wood Stadium in the third round of the playoffs. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm this Friday.