Thursday, October 23, 1997

Bulldogs, Bearcats match could mean playoff berth

By MARK WILSON / Abilene Reporter-News

When Wylie takes on Ballinger in football, fireworks usually fly.

This year should be no different, as the two District 6-3A teams get ready to square off Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Wylie's Bulldog Stadium with a playoff berth likely on the line.

Ballinger's long winning tradition made the Bearcats a target of other teams for years, and Wylie has made a habit in recent seasons of also being in strong contention for postseason play.

"It's been a game both teams target each year because both are usually in the playoff hunt," Wylie head coach Hugh Sandifer said. "For the most part, we've been in the playoff hunt at the same time in recent years. There's also some mutual respect there. They've got such a fine tradition, and we've worked hard the last several years to try and establish one here."

With playoff and district championship hopes usually surrounding their games against each other, the Bearcats and the Bulldogs tend to enter the matchup with an extra spark of intensity. This time, Wylie and Ballinger are each 3-1 and may end up having to settle for a second-place finish.

This season, the only district loss so far for both teams came against unbeaten and fourth-ranked Breckenridge (7-0, 4-0). The two losses for both Eastland and Brady, both 2-2 in district, were to Wylie and Ballinger.

Breckenridge seems to be on its way to an undefeated regular season and its first district crown since 1985. But the Wylie-Ballinger matchup should still be hotly contested since the loser will no longer be in control of its slim playoff hopes in the final two weeks of the regular season.

"It's usually a playoff-game atmosphere, and this Friday night will be no exception," Sandifer said. "It's always got that intensity in the air. Fortunately we're in a situation where we have rivalries like that. We know we're doing something right when they think of us as rivals -- and we think of them the same way."

The Bearcats are coming off a disappointing 4-6 season in which injuries were the dominant factor in bringing one of the preseason favorites -- and three-time defending district champion -- down to a sixth-place finish in the eight-team district.

Head coach Dan Slaughter is 5-2 overall in his first season at the helm in Ballinger. Last week's 43-13 loss to Breckenridge put the Wylie game in a different perspective.

"We went in with hopes of being the district champion," Slaughter said. "That kind of got blown out of the water. Naturally you'll be down, but because we're playing Wylie, I think the kids will get back up and be ready to play.

"Both teams usually come into the game fighting for the district championship."

With Sandifer as head coach during the last 11 years of the long-running series, the Bulldogs have posted a 5-6 mark against Ballinger. Wylie took a 25-21 win over the Bearcats last season, ending Ballinger's three-game win streak over the Bulldogs.

"It's been a great series between the two schools," said Sandifer, whose Bulldogs had their own three-game win streak over Ballinger from 1987-89. "Ballinger's got a very rich tradition."

Things haven't always worked out well for the team favored to win the Wylie-Ballinger contest -- which has only added to the competitive fire.

"In the 80s, we defeated them a couple of times when they were ranked in the state," Sandifer said, "and that kind of got the rivalry going. It probably wasn't much of a rivalry before that, because Wylie probably never beat them much."

The reverse happened in 1995, when Wylie came into the game unbeaten and ranked No. 6 in the state. Ballinger provided the Bulldogs with their first loss, by a healthy 35-14 margin.

Slaughter said, "For years and years one team or the other, it seems like, has been highly rated but it always ended up being a tight ballgame because they get after each other. It (the intense rivalry) had been going on long before I got here, and it's still here."