Wall Overcomes Injuries, Lights Up Llano in District Opener

LLANO, TX — A wounded animal is dangerous, and that was certainly the case for the Wall Hawks on Friday at Llano.

Playing without some of their top playmakers — though a banged-up Gunner King did start at quarterback — Wall went on the road and rolled to a surprisingly lopsided 50-14 win over Llano in their District 3-3A Division I opener.

Llano played in the state semifinals last year and was supposed to be a serious test for Wall, especially with the Hawks missing running back Gunner Garza and wide receiver Jager Thompson.

Instead, Wall showed off the quality of its depth by racing out to a 50-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Wall’s 21-game winning streak was snapped last week in a 34-26 setback against Midland Christian, and that loss may have been just what the Hawks needed to refocus for the start of district.

“I was pretty adamant in (the film session) there was a certain way I knew we could play, and that wasn’t it last week,” Wall head coach Craig Slaughter said. “But I think our strength of schedule showed up. The teams we’ve played are no joke.

“We had some really good players that didn’t play tonight, but the next piece of the puzzle was up. Caden Sturm ran his butt off. Our o-line did great. Gunner King was awesome. Evan Boehle, my God what a night. I thought that was a great football game, and we played great.”

Sturm, a junior filling in for Garza, had the game’s first touchdown on a 4-yard run.

King then threw five TD passes — covering 26 yards to Braylon Nelson, 17 yards to Lawson Dankworth, 21 yards to Boehle, and 53 and 18 yards to Hudson Surber.

Ian Reichenau then came in and threw another TD pass to Surber for a 50-0 lead with 9:45 remaining.

“I want to give Ian Reichenau huge credit,” Slaughter said. “Monday and Tuesday, that kid was QB1, and my God did he help prepare our team. By Wednesday, Gunner played most of it, but we were completely confident in Ian if we needed him. It’s a great QB room when Ian is ready to go and Gunner is doing what he’s doing. I’m super proud of both of them.”

Wall, the No. 4-ranked team in the state, improved to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in district. The Hawks will play again next week when they host TLCA San Angelo.

Llano fell to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in district with a game at Ingram Moore waiting next week.

Cole Landers had a 57-yard TD run, while Isaac Rhea scored on a 16-yard run for the Yellowjackets on Friday.