Yellowjackets play Sonora in scrimmage
LLANO — After spending two weeks hitting each other, the Llano High School football team was eager to hit someone else. The Sonora Broncos fit the requirement.
The two teams met in a controlled scrimmage Aug. 13.
Sonora scored two touchdowns on five drives with another one called back because of a holding penalty.
"We did some things well. We made some mistakes, which I knew we would because we’re a young team, and that’s a good outfit over there," head coach David Yeager said. "Sonora has done a good job. They coach well over there, and they got some good players, so it’s not quite the same thing as going against the JV B team in practice. We needed to see that. We needed to be exposed in some areas, and we’ll break them down, we’ll get better. Coaches will identify the spots we got to get better at."
The Broncos used a variety of running plays, including some off the Slot-T offense and the spread.
The Llano faithful reacted in disappointment when the Bronco quarterback escaped to avoid a 10-yard sack. Instead, he turned upfield for a 4-yard gain.
"I’m disappointed in a couple of the big plays defensively, but we were there to make plays," Yeager said. "They just went up to make a heck of a play, and that happens. I’d be more concerned if they were scot-free wide open, but we were there. They went up and made a play, but we’ll make the play next time. I thought we gave good effort, good attitude. That’s the most important thing."
The Yellowjackets stayed in their base defense, preferring to show their blitz packages and stunts.
"I want to really focus on excentuating the finishing part of the play," Yeager said. "We were in position and sometimes their good athletes, and maybe we got out-athleted in some spots. I don’t know. But again, we probably won’t ever go into a game and just play base defense. Some of the stuff they were doing with the jet-sweep motion, we’re going to come off the edge and hit in the mouth. But I didn’t want to do that today.
Once the Yellowjackets got the ball, they knew what to do.
Junior quarterback Rhett Brooks made Sonora pay for pass rushes by moving the pocket on designed rollouts or handing the ball to running backs Story Touche or Zach Baker.
He also hit Issac Hutto, Taylor Sorensen and Wil Siegenthaler on several passes.
One 35-yard pass to Hutto was the result of a broken play when Brooks bought some time and went to his right. He threw to Hutto, who was by himself near the Sonora 5.
Brooks later scored when he dived in from the right side.
"I thought he did a lot of good things," Yeager said. "I think he’s going to be able to keep plays alive with his head and his feet and make some things happen in open space, which will be fun."
The coach also was pleased with the way his other players performed, noting the big catches from Hutto and the explosive running of Baker.
The Yellowjackets will play at San Antonio South Somerset at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18.