Wall Finds Traction, Dominates Sonora for First Win of 2018

SONORA, TX —The Wall Hawks got what they were looking for on Thursday with a dominant 40-20 win over the Sonora Broncos at Bronco Stadium on Thursday night.

Wall dominated this game from start to finish.

"After that game last week, I wasn't sure how our kids were going to respond after that first half," said Wall head coach Houston Guy. "We talked to them all week about starting hot offensively...Tonight I thought we did. We had a lull coming out there in the second half, but we were able to get a score there about 7 or 8 minutes into the third quarter. I think we got the momentum back which helped us a ton."

The Hawks posted a season high offensive total with 410 yards of total offense. Their ground game finally found traction with 338 yards coming on the ground. Sutton Braden had 18 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Hawks.

While Braden saw the lion's share of carries for the Hawks, Wall was able to divvy up the carries between their backfield. That was crucial to the Hawk's success on Thursday night.  

"For Sutton, he's one of those backs who's explosive and he's really quick," Guy said. "He's not a super big back, so the pounding he can take, we try to keep it to a minimum. He's had to carry the load for us in the previous ballgames. So, for us to get it to the perimeter stuff was big for us. If we can keep spreading it around, get it in the running back's hands a little more, get it in the wide receiver's hands, I think it's going to be really good."

Wall also wanted to limit their passing, which they did. Junior quarterback Mason Fuchs was 4 of 8 passing for 72 yards with an interception 

Sonora could muster up just 175 yards of total offense in the loss. The Hawks tallied five sacks for 41 yards against Sonora’s quarterbacks Wesley Dutton and Brian Van Winkle. Wall's Joe Walker put up 2.5 sacks for the Hawks.

"We wanted to be really aggressive," said Wall defensive coordinator Craig Slaughter. "We wanted to make [Van Winkle] make throws under duress because he's a really good player. I was really worried about their vertical game. So, we were gonna see how good we could get to him and not let him sit there and pick one out because, again, they're a very good offensive team. We had a really really good night."

Walker stepping up for the defense was not unexpected to the coaching staff. Throughout the week, Slaughter said he preached getting the best out of his players. Walker was one of those guys who stepped up during the week, according to Slaughter.

"The people watching the game were thinking 'Man, they've got some players,' and we have some players," Slaughter said. "We just knew there was another level some of those kids could get to and Joe was one. He's a very good athlete and he's a tough kid to block. He made some huge plays for us, no doubt." 

Wall opened the scoring in a bizarre way in the first quarter when sophomore Chase Rios dove at the goal line and lost the ball. Hunter Teplicek recovered the ball in the end zone for the touchdown. A bobbled snap on the extra point left the score at 6-0 Wall.

Listen: First impressions during the first half:

Mason Kindle found the end zone for the Hawks in the second quarter with a 9-yard run.

Junior QB Mason Fuchs capped off the first half scoring with a 3-yard run to put the Hawks up 19-0 going into the locker room.

Sonora came back and answered with a 2-yard dive by Wesley Dutton to make it 19-6 with 6:52 left in the third.

Sutton Braden and the Hawks answered back with a pair of touchdowns after that. Braden scored from 55 and 22 yards to go up 33-6 in the fourth quarter.

Wilson Johnson got on the board with a touchdown of his own in the fourth quarter. Johnson ran in from 11 yards out to make it 33-12 Wall.

Rios finally got his score in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard run on fourth down to put Wall up 40-12.

Sonora got on the board one last time on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Dutton to Wilson Johnson. Dutton found Willie B. Munoz for the 2-point conversion to make it 40-20 Wall.

For Wall's seniors, this win is the perfect way to end their final chapter of the Sonora-Wall football rivalry.

"It's pretty cool," Braden smiled. "I don't know what to say. It's been built up since we were in junior high and we played them as freshmen. Now, we got to play them our senior year and beat 'em. It's pretty cool."

WATCH: Wall Head Coach Houston Guy on the win:
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Wall improves to 1-2 and will host Big Spring next Friday.

Sonora falls to 2-2 and will travel to Class 4A Burnet next week.

Listen: The game wrap-up