Battle of the Birds: Grape Creek Tries to Secure First Playoff Win in Program History

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Grape Creek Eagles hit the playoffs well rested coming off a bye week and now will face off against the Crane Golden Cranes for the chance to win their first playoff game in school history.

Grape Creek sat on its bye week last week, unable to improve its playoff seeding but enters the bidistrict round as the No. 3 seed and matched up with Crane. Both these teams are 6-4, but their schedules really tell a story.

The Eagles lost their opening game to San Saba but rebounded against Reagan County to be .500. They then lost to Bangs before ripping off three straight wins to hit district play.

In the district opener, the Eagles took it down to the wire with Coahoma but lost 33-27. The Eagles beat Stanton 52-14 before being shut out against Wall. In their last regular-season game, they beat Merkel 35-14.

Crane played their district twice, being sort of isolated in far West Texas. They lost to Odessa Compass Academy twice, 13-6 and 34-0. Against Alpine and Anthony, the Cranes went 4-0, outscoring their opponents 204 to 34. Just against the Anthony Wildcats, the Golden Cranes scored 106 points and only allowed six.

That does skew their point total a little bit. Over the season, the Cranes have scored 299 points, and they’ve given up 134.

In their nondistrict games they beat Stanton 20-14 and Kermit 42-6. Those two teams are a combined 3-16. Crane then lost three straight to Iraan, Fort Stockton and Odessa Compass.

In short, Grape Creek seems to have a really really good chance at winning its first playoff game in program history. They have to take Crane seriously, however, and they have a darn good answer to help them — running back Darrell West.

The Eagles like to run the ball, and West has toted the rock very well for them this season. Against Merkel, West had 29 carries for 294 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 213 yards against Stanton and 277 yards against Coahoma. So with the exception of Wall, West put up over 200 yards in every district game.

The defense can also absolutely get it done against the Golden Cranes.

In those three district wins, the Eagles feasted. Hayden Simpson had three sacks, while Marcos Perez had two interceptions. Ian Cochran, Ashton Ortiz and Gabe Santillan also had an INT. Zane Durham, Santillan and Konner Linebarger all recorded double-digit tackles in at least one game. Lawson Thiers does the dirty work from the defensive line position and had 1.5 sacks.

They also held Stanton to 67 rushing yards and 121 passing yards.

The Battle of the Birds takes place in Big Lake at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14.