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McKinney North Football Preview: Denison

After losing 49-3 to red hot McKinney High in last Friday's Crosstown Showdown, McKinney North now has the unfortunate privilege of traveling to Denison to play the team that dominated the Lions 75-37 three weeks ago. After its destruction of MHS, Denison extended its winning streak to five games with victories at Frisco Wakeland (56-28) and Frisco (35-7).

"It doesn't matter what year it is [Denison] is going to play physical," head coach Mike Fecci said. "We just have to make plays against them. We have to gang tackle those guys. On offense, we have to hold onto the football against these guys. They don't need any help. We don't need to give them a short field. We have to control the clock and move the chains and keep our defense off the field."

Offensively, the Yellowjackets are led by senior running back D.J Jones, who carried the ball 21 times for 208 yards and two touchdowns last week.

"He's very hard to tackle and for such a big kid he can really run," Fecci said. "Their quarterback [Jordan Taylor] is the same way. He covers a lot of ground in a hurry."

Against Frisco, Taylor totaled 77 yards on the ground and two touchdowns as well as 166 yards passing and a score. In addition to having an explosive offense, the 'Jackets also have a stingy defense that includes four defensive linemen that Fecci said are as good as any linemen in the area.

If the Bulldogs hope to stand a chance against Denison and possibly pull of an upset they'll have to play much better than they did versus MHS. Improvements that have to be made this week include cutting down on penalties and turnovers. The Bulldogs turned the ball over four times and racked up 75 yards of penalties.

"I saw a lot of things that we need to work on in that game," Fecci said. "We've battled consistency all year long. We moved the ball at times the other night but we had too many turnovers and penalties."

"Defensively we had chances to make plays and we didn't make them. Against an explosive offense like that, if you don't make a play they're going to make you pay for it."

Senior running back Josh Matthews has led the rushing attack for the Bulldogs this season but did not suit out last week. Fecci said Matthews is questionable against Denison.

"He had a pretty bad hamstring strain. It's to the point now where he has a hard time running. He did practice all week, which he did not do last week. We'll know more in the morning,"

Taking the place of the injured Matthews was sophomore backup Devin Smith, who played well in the spotlight with 23 carries for 144 yards.

"He's played a significant amount this year but it was his show last week and he did a good job," Fecci said. "I knew he would have the talent to do what he did but I wasn't sure on the longevity part of it. Being able to carry the ball 23 times and take some of the shots that he took in that game says a lot about him."

"Devin has got a real bright future here for the next two years and we're excited about that."

McKinney North travels to play Denison Friday at 7:30 p.m.