Senior quarterback Dylan Slack had nine total touchdowns on the season before playing Lubbock Monterey on Friday. In that game alone, a 59-14 victory, he had six total touchdowns, two thirds of his season total for anyone counting at home.
Dylan’s performance from Friday earned him a nomination for the Texas Bowl Mr. Texas Football Player of the Week presented by Kroger, though Dylan doesn’t care too much about his personal awards.
It’s cool, but I don’t really like to look at awards and stuff like that,” Dylan said. It wouldn’t be possible without everybody around me making good plays.”
The Eagles ended a two-game losing streak by securing a big win against Lubbock Monterey for their first district game of the season. While every game is important, district matchups have more postseason value than non-district games and bring out a different competition in the athletes and coaches.
“Coach Fullen has talked about [district play] all week,” Dylan said. “Everything goes up a notch. The intensity and practice the way we plan the way we just our mentality for everything. So it’s definitely more intense.”
Not only was the team preparing for the first district game, they were also facing a strong team in Lubbock Monterey, a team whose offense had averaged 49 points per home game before Friday.
“We played good team football and it was just a really good game overall. I think the mentality our team had going into practice every day and going into the game helped us,” Dylan said. “We knew it was a road game and they played well at home, so we knew it was going to be a hostile environment. It was really our mentality and preparation for the game that made the difference.”
This preparation led to Dylan’s impressive performance, which included him completing 81% of his passes for 263 yards, five passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. Although having the best statistical game of his varsity high school career, he gives the credit of the win to his coaches and teammates.
“I think the game plan was just really good this week,” Dylan said. “The coaches did a great job. Everybody really bought into the game plan and we just trusted the coaching and we just went along with it.”
