Hosting the state’s 7th ranked team in 5A Division II, the Redhawks football team faces a big challenge Thursday at 7 p.m. when they play the Prosper Walnut Grove Wildcats (5-0, 3-0) at Kuykendall Stadium in District 4-5A contest. 

“We’re not going to waste our time looking at the big picture,” assistant football coach Anthony Lopez said. “We’re going to approach this game one snap at a time. We need to play good sound football and complete our assignments, and make sure they don’t play good sound football.”

That’s a tall order, as Walnut Grove is notable for their “Smash The Gas” play style, involving a high-tempo aggressive offense paired with a dynamic rushing and passing game that is designed to create chaos. However, Lopez said the Redhawks are prepared to flip the script.

“They’re a great team,” Lopez said. “We’ll get multiple eyes on their key players, especially on defense, and put them in situations where they’re in conflict with their decisions because they have to make multiple decisions in one snap, situations where no matter what decision they make, they’re wrong.”

Sophomore, wide receiver and defensive back Myles McClain, said that the team has been practicing for this game as if it were any other.

“We’ve been preparing for this and going through practice like we normally would,” McClain said. “No matter who we play or how good they are, we gotta go out there and put up a fight because nobody else is gonna be on the field but us.  We’re trying to rally together, stay strong together, because the biggest part of being a team is playing together.”

However, according to McClain, the execution will be a little different from the plays the Redhawks normally run.

“We’re going to rotate our defense out so they don’t get tired, because Walnut Grove likes to play fast football,” McClain said. “We’ll have lots of long drives, hopefully slow down their fast offense.”