By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports
Byrd head football coach Stacy Ballew may sound like a calm, cool, laid back guy, but he admits that he had some anxiety coming into the 2024 season.
Of course, four straight wins over four solid opponents have gone a long way to calming Ballew’s nerves — until this week, maybe.
The undefeated Yellow Jackets will travel across the Red River to Preston Crownover Stadium tonight to take on the Parkway Panthers in a District 1-5A battle of the unbeatens at 7 p.m. Both teams are 2-0 in the eight-game district season.
“It’s not the big rivalry game,” Ballew said. “But once you get into district — our district is very competitive with each other. It’s a big game. Both of us are 4-0 (overall) and that has a lot to do with it. Adds some excitement. I’m very excited about where we’re at. I’m excited for our kids.”
The game also has an air of mystery about it. Parkway is recalibrating after starting quarterback Kaleb Williams was knocked out of last week’s 40-12 win over Natchitoches Central and coach Coy Brotherton is keeping mum about his replacement.
Ballew said that won’t change what his team does.
“You just prepare. You don’t change,” he said. “They’re going to find somebody. They’re going to move a running back there or they’re going to move a wide receiver there. They’re going to have their JV quarterback coached up. I don’t think it’s going to change their scheme. It might change some of the play calls. As a coach you don’t reinvent things.”
Ballew will just be counting on his defense to do what it has been doing the past four weeks. Through four games the Yellow Jackets have held opponents to three rushing touchdowns and a total of 262 yards.
“The kids are playing well right now,” Ballew said. “It’s been a different group every week. Week 1 it was all of them, the front and the secondary played well. Week 2, our D-line really kind of shined. Week 3, the secondary did a pretty good job (at Evangel). And then last week I think we could have played a little bit better than we did, but our offense is playing well too.”
Offensively, Byrd and Ballew have long since forgone the new-fangled spread offense and stuck to an old-school triple option with a couple of Wing-T plays in the mix.
Why? “It fits our kids,” Ballew said. “That’s the answer.”
With a stable of power runners, Byrd is averaging 363 rushing yards per game with 17 touchdowns scored, an average of 36.2 points per game.
Leading the way is Christian Maxie, who has rushed for 396 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries. Desmond Simmons has rushed for 340 yards and five touchdowns on 53 carries. He also has one receiving touchdown. And Quinton Hilliard has rushed for 289 yards and five touchdowns on 26 carries. Running the operation is savvy, tough, senior quarterback Harrison Ayres.
Ballew doesn’t call them weapons, though.
“We’ve just got some hard-nosed kids,” he said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them, but they’re a bunch of hard-nosed kids that play hard.”
The game can be heard on 1130 AM KWKH.
Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com