LONGVIEW, Texas-Pleasant Grove looks to get into the regional semifinals as it takes on Wills Point today at 7 p.m. at Pine Tree High School's Pirate Stadium.
Pleasant Grove is coming off a 26-14 win over Rusk in the Class 4A bi-district round. Wills Point advanced with a 20-13 win over Bonham.
The winner of this Class 4A area round game will play either Celina or Gladewater in the regional semifinals. The Hawks defeated Gladewater 40-23 at Jack V. Murphy Stadium on Nov. 4.
"Wills Point has been opportunistic," PG head coach Josh Gibson said. "They have been in some close games where it looked like the outcome could have gone either way. They were down with five minutes to go in their playoff game against Bonham, and they tied the game. Bonham drove down, Wills Point intercepted the ball, ran it back to the 10-yard line, and scored. They have a lot of belief, and their kids are executing and winning."
The Tigers won District 6-4A with a perfect 5-0 record, while the Hawks were second in District 7-4A with a mark of 3-2. Many would agree that PG played in a much tougher district than Wills Point. Tiger head coach Greg Cranfill watched the Pleasant Grove-Rusk game.
"They're a well coached football team that have tremendous athletes on the field," Cranfill said. "They have dynamic playmakers all across field. Up front they are physical, maybe the most physical. Their kids believe in what they're doing now, and they are on a roll. Our philosophy is stop them before they get going. We're going to be physical at line of scrimmage and are going to bring people in from different angles. We are going to try to trap them inside the tackle box."
PG is averaging 25.3 points per game and is giving up 26.6 points. Wills Point scores an average of 21.5 points and have allowed 19.2.
Coach Gibson likens the Tigers' offense to some of the other teams, like Rusk, that the Hawks have previously played. Wills Point has played against a couple of Wing-T offenses this season.
"Wills Point is pretty balanced, and they will get in the shotgun and throw it," Gibson said. "Defensively, they like to use two different fronts; one has a lot of guys on the line and the other is just a regular odd front. In those games, they have been able to hold those Wing-T teams to just a few touchdowns.
"We are who we are, and our focus will always be in playing the best ball that we can. We will play within ourselves and if someone is good at shutting that down, then our hats will be off to them. They have done good in preparing, and I think their coaching staff has done a good job. We are looking forward to the matchup, and our kids are ready to go out and execute."
While the teams run different style offenses, they are both hard-nosed teams that want to win in the trenches.
"Pleasant Grove does everything at a high tempo," Cranfill said. "There are some things we think we can do offensively. We are a blue collar team that finds ways to make plays and take advantage of the other team's mistakes. There are several good defensive players on our team, and our guys fight hard on offense."
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TONIGHT'S LINEUPS
(Numbers in parentheses)
PLEASANT GROVE OFFENSE: WR-Xavier Benson (3), TE-Jackson Pace (45), OT-Ryan Forbes (67), OT-Nick Gavriel (77), C-Collier Cordray (52), OG-Austin Toler (76), OG-Jacob Heminger (58), QB-TJ Cole (15), FB-Logan Wesley (20), TB-Keshawn Jones (25), WB-Josh Roberts (22), PK-Matt Day (7).
PLEASANT GROVE DEFENSE: CB-Tyler Kelley (13), CB-Tyler Allen (6), FS-Chauncey Martin (21), SS-Jacob Barbour (42), ILB-Xavier Benson (3), ILB-Cannon McCrary (28), OLB-Keshawn Jones (25), OLB-Bobby Cooks (16), DE-Jacob Whiteside (50), DT-Austin Toler (76), DE-Cole Lipham (44), PNT-Matt Day (7).
WILLS POINT OFFENSE: QB-Caden Bennett (2), RB-Brandon Smith (24), FB-Jacob Moore (40), C-Justin Beeton (65), RG-Lamont Thomas (55), RT-Brody Bushnell (51), LG-Pete Lopez (64), LT-Seth Sherwood (63), TE-Ty Baker (21), PK-Vincent Tobias (30).
WILLS POINT DEFENSE: NG-Tyriq Burnett (15), DT-Emmitt Eckler (1), DT-Gage Dunn (50), OLB-Justin Edwards (16), OLB-Ben Bradshaw (6), ILB-Bryan Mitchell (8), ILB-Sloan Rodberg (5), CB-Tanner Smith (4), CB-Josh Davis (13), S-Trey Patterson (34), S-Brandon Smith (24), P-Vincent Tobias (30).