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Plenty of ammunition: Lions have the means to recover from key injury
Photo courtesy of Marc Martin
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
The potent McKinney offense now has one less weapon in its arsenal.
A week after a memorable varsity debut, junior running back Tommy Candela has been sidelined with a broken collarbone sustained during Friday’s 45-21 win against Frisco Heritage.
Candela, who was also kept out last season by an injury, averaged more than 8.5 yards per carry and had a game-high 25 touches in McKinney’s 55-46, season-opening win against Mansfield Legacy. The highlight of his performance came during the game’s second scoring drive, during which he carried the ball six times for 80 yards, including a 15-yard dash for his first varsity touchdown. He followed that touchdown with a 25-yard scoring rush in the fourth quarter to help hold off a late-charging Legacy offense.
“[Candela’s] done a great job for us, but whenever someone gets hurt someone has to step it up and someone has to step in and get the job done,” said Jeff Smith, McKinney head football coach. “His injury happened pretty early in the game, and I was pleased with how the kids responded and finished the game; sometimes when that happens a team has kind of a letdown, but they finished the game well.”
For the time being, junior Xavious Taylor will take Candela’s place in the starting lineup.
That switch is just another adjustment the Lions will have to make in the coming weeks. As opponents pick up more film on them or have more opportunities to scout them in person, they stand a better chance of stopping what worked so well the week before.
Fortunately for McKinney, it has plenty of things working well. The Lions are led in scoring by junior wideout TV Williams, a constant big-play threat who has scored a touchdown on all four of his receptions this season, racking up 190 yards in the process.
“He can really stretch the field for us vertically, but also does a good job on the underneath stuff,” Smith said. “I think that was an area we really excelled in early on, was big-play vertical passing game. That’s going to get harder in some games ahead, I believe, so we’ve got to be better at our quick passing game. That’s an area we need to continue to improve in as well. But TV has really done a good job and stepped up and made some big catches that have really turned momentum.”
Williams, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds, has speed to burn and has used it to pick up a pair of touchdown receptions in each of his two starts this season. In his second varsity campaign, he’s taking a measurable step forward, as his four touchdowns so far match his season total from last year and he’s just a few receptions away from surpassing the 260 yards he posted in 2011.
“We’ve got to be able to take what they give us,” Smith said, “but TV poses a lot of threats. If you start playing off him, we can throw the underneath stuff; when you start getting up in his face, we can throw it deep. He really makes it a challenge out there.”
Williams isn’t the only scoring option available to the Lions, as he’s just one of four players who already have multiple touchdowns. McKinney senior wideout Connor Fuentes has a pair of touchdown receptions, senior Jonathan Shannon has a touchdown reception and two rushing touchdowns, and Candela rushed for two touchdowns before his injury.
The Lions relied heavily on their passing game last year and didn’t get much production on the ground until Shannon took over rushing responsibilities midway through the season, though they continued to throw for the majority of their yardage.
A more balanced attack has already paid dividends this season. The Lions opened the year with a 55-46 win against Mansfield Legacy that broke an 11-game losing streak. They followed that with a 45-21 win against Frisco Heritage and will look to continue their perfect start Friday against Irving Nimitz.
“The kids are doing well, but we really make it a point to say that we have a lot of work yet to do,” Smith said. “This is just the beginning. Obviously we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made over the last two weeks, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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