After clinching a playoff spot, Wylie takes the field again fac­ing the 3-2 Garland Owls. They look to pick up their second win of the season after knock­ing off undefeated Rowlett. The Owls have lost two games in a row, both in the district and the Pirates will look to take advan­tage. Here are the three keys to Wylie beating Garland.

1. Limit the Garland pass­ing game

Garland quarterback Cergio Perez has been prolific this sea­son, with 17 total touchdowns on the season. The Owls are a pass-first team, which is some­thing Wylie did not see against Rowlett last week and will have to change up strategies.

2. Continue to hit big plays

In the win against Rowlett, all four touchdowns, includ­ing three passes from Marcus McElroy, were for over 30 yards. Garland has shown they can give up the big play. In their loss to Sachse earlier in the season, the Mustangs were able to get four touchdowns on 30 yards or more on the Owls’ defense.

3. Reestablish the running game

Darrick McClendon and Wil­liam Perry have done a great job all season of running the foot­ball all season long. Last week, they weren’t able to be as effec­tive against the physical defen­sive line of Rowlett and Wylie moved more into the passing game where they were finding a lot of yards.

For the full story, see the Nov. 18 issue or subscribe online.

By Kyle Grondin • [email protected]