Wall Hawks Shutout Grape Creek Eagles in a Blowout

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Wall Hawks were in a league of their own, scoring a whopping 78 points while posting their first shutout of the season against the Grape Creek Eagles Friday night, Oct. 13.

When speaking on his defense’s performance, Head Coach Houston Guy said, “I think defensively we have gotten better each week. They get to add more fronts more stunts. Coach Slaughter is really aggressive up front with them. He lets them play kind of wild and aggressive. I think that’s the key to these kids that we have on our defensive side.”

WATCH Coach Houston Guy on the Wall Hawks' defeat of Grape Creek:
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Wall dominated from the get-go offensively by starting the night off with a 36-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Rosenquist to Coleman Coon who made an impressive diving catch into the end zone.

For the second straight week, Grape Creek’s offensive unit struggled to find their way behind quarterback Jesse Jio. Running back Austin Ortegon, who was a projected to be one of the stars for the Eagles’ offense, was unable to find any sort of rhythm as the Hawk defense smothered him consistently.

Inconsistencies on offense for Grape Creek forced them to punt early and often leading to several Wall scores. The constant pressure on Grape Creek’s quarterback by the Wall defensive front caused multiple turnovers that led to several touchdowns for the Hawks.

Late in the first quarter with the score already 27-0, Wall’s Lucas Garcia returned a Jio fumble 25 yards for the touchdown, while defensive back Lucas Hurtado contributed to the dominant performance. He later logged a pick-6 off the Eagles’ Jio making the score 47-0 with 6:26 left in the first half.

Lucas Hurtado, who is the brother of former Wall star Thomas Hurtado, said, “We played our best on defense tonight. We have been playing like that all season.” He also attributed Wall’s success on defense to their defensive front. “Our defensive line executed well. It made it easier for our secondary to make the plays we intend to make,” he said.

WATCH Lucas Hurtado on the Wall victory over Grape Creek:
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Through the second quarter the game was already out of reach for the Eagles, and it showed as Wall continued to dominate even as Wall’s reserves began to enter the game.

Garrett Bridgford took over for starting quarterback Brock Rosenquist. Surprisingly, his performance did not seem that of a second stringer. Bridgford posted two rushing touchdowns Friday night and his command of the offense showed as the Hawks offensive unit continued to drive the ball downfield.

Another Key contributor for the Hawks was Dryden Virden who came up big on offense and special teams with a 40-yard rushing touchdown and a punt return that went for more than 50 yards to the house.

After the game Virden said, “The blocks came up good. We just played the best we could the first half. I mean we laid it on them pretty and we did whatever we could in the second half.”

WATCH Dryden Virden on the Wall victory over Grape Creek:
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Caleb Thorpe, Sutton Brady, Casey Braden, and Garrett Stephens all added rushing touchdowns for the Hawks in the blowout.

Wall (6-0, 1-0) looks to build on their impressive season next week at home as they take on another district opponent in Crane (2-4, 0-0).