Paris Coach Sees Potential in His Team Going Into Friday Night’s Game; Paris Won Last Year

The Wildcats host Paris Friday night at The Prim for Homecoming. Steve Hohenberger is in his fifth year as Paris Head Coach after a long tenure as an assistant and head coach at Irving Nimitz. His Paris team is 1-1 so far this season with a 47-20 win over Terrell and a 45-13 loss last week to Pleasant Grove. Last year Paris had a good run in the playoffs and Coach Hohenberger feels they have the potential to do that again. However he stresses it’s early and he says his team has work to do. Coach Hohenberger says the Paris offense has struggled so far with execution. They are working with a new quarterback this year and Coach Hohenberger says Paris has had two injuries in the offensive line. Both are seniors and they haven’t been able to return yet. Coach Hohenberger says the Paris receivers are young and inexperienced. However colleges are very interested in two big Paris tackles that weigh 300 pounds or more. Coach Hohenberger says the Paris defense should turn out to be a good one, but like the offense, he says they are still a work in progress. They do have six defensive returning starters this year. Coach Hohenberger was a North Lamar quarterback in high school. One of his blockers was Jeremy Offutt, the current Wildcats offensive line coach. Chris Owens, now the Wildcats Golf Coach, was on Coach Hohenberger’s staff at Irving Nimitz. Coach Hohenberger expects the Wildcats game to be a big test for Paris Friday night.

Paris Game Last Year

From the sports history files, we go back about one year ago to September 9, 2016 as the Wildcats played Paris at Wildcat Stadium in Paris. Paris came out on top, 36-35. The Wildcats actually scored first as running back Lawrence Worth ran for a touchdown from four yards out and the Wildcats had a 7-0 lead with 10:18 to go in the first quarter. Paris rallied back with two short TD runs and they led 14-7 at the end of one quarter. The second and third quarters were good ones for the Wildcats. Quarterback Ryan Humphries threw two TD passes in the second quarter and another in the third quarter. His first touchdown pass went to Simeon Taylor and covered 37 yards. Humphries also found D.J. Hall for a 32 yard TD strike. The Wildcats were up 21-14 at the half. In the third quarter, Humpries hit Cor’Tavius Pruitt from 13 yards out for a TD and the Wildcats led 28-14 after three quarters. Paris scored twice to tie the score at 28-all with 6:18 left. Humphries teamed up again with Taylor for a 49-yard TD pass and the Wildcats moved in front 35-28 with 3:55 left to play. Paris had one final drive in them and they scored with just 1:33 left to play. The dagger was a two point run after the touchdown and Paris led 36-35. The Wildcats still had 1:33 to play but their final drive stalled at around the 30 yard line in the Paris end. The Wildcats are hoping for a better outcome in 2017.

Author: Staff Reporter

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