UPDATE: Llano loses 42-28 to state-ranked Sonora
Llano High School senior running back Mason Brooks runs for a first down during the Yellow Jackets’s 35-21 loss to Smithville on Sept. 1. Llano hosts Sonora on Sept. 8. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
UPDATE: Llano lost 42-28 to Sonora on Sept. 8. Look for stats and more on DailyTrib.com later this week.
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
LLANO — The Llano High School football team is aiming for better results in its Week 2 matchup.
On Sept. 8, the Yellow Jackets (0-1) of District 13-4A Division II welcome Sonora (1-0) of District 3-3A Division II to Llano Stadium, 400 Texas 71 East. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
Llano lost its season-opening game at home to Smithville, 35-21. The Broncos enter the contest after a 54-8 win over rival Ozona in Week 1 in which they led 41-8 at the half.
Sonora, which is a top 5 team in most Class 3A polls, racked up 303 rushing yards on 27 carries as a squad led by senior running back Jarrett Jackson, who had 15 carries for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
Llano head coach Matt Green said Jackson is the leading edge rusher in Class 3A in the state. Last season, he ran for 1,248 yards and 18 touchdowns on 136 carries.
Broncos senior quarterback Kaden Cordell completed eight of 14 passes for 165 yards and had four carries for 11 yards and a score against Ozona. In 2016, Cordell completed 218 passes for 3,714 yards and 52 touchdowns.
Cordell’s biggest advantage, however, might be that he goes home with his head coach, Jeff Cordell, who is his father.
“They have a really good quarterback, running back, and a host of skill kids,” Green said. “They’re good, there’s no question.”
Defensively, Sonora is led by senior defensive lineman Mark Chavez, who had six tackles last week against Ozona, and junior linebacker Carlos Mendoza, who had seven tackles. Junior defensive back Hunter Bunch had 12 tackles.
Green said the Broncos are very disciplined and make few mistakes. Their philosophy is they don’t want to give up the big play, so they keep everything in front of them.
“They’re very sound,” Green said.
He wants to see the Jackets limit the amount of mistakes on the field, something they struggled with during their loss to Smithville last week. The Jackets had 210 yards on the ground.
“Our offense put us in a bind,” he said. “On the offensive side, these kids are learning a new offensive system. We were inexperienced.”
The coach said he’d like to see the offensive line do better at identifying the defensive front so each lineman knows who to block. Three high snaps cost the Jackets 48 yards, so Green wants to see improvement in that area, too.
“I’m going to look for consistency,” he said. “I want to see us go out and play with some consistency. We had too many dropped passes, about eight. Kids wanted to catch them. We have to catch the ball better.”
He noted that he saw plenty of good things, too, especially when it came to effort and moving the ball on offense.
“What was encouraging was we showed signs of being a good team, even with signs of youth and inexperience and a new offense,” he said.