The Harlan Hawks put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. They came out on top against Taft by a score of 21-14. Given Harlan's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 106th, while Taft is ranked 287th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Harlan can attribute much of their success to Noah Farris, who threw for 209 yards and three touchdowns. Payton Matthews also helped out with an impressive 89 receiving yards.
Another reason for the win was Harlan's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Nathaniel Tealer and Ronnell Cunningham who racked up five sacks between them.
Harlan's win was their fifth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 10-0. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 Holmes and 1-9 Stevens (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 34% over those games). As for Taft, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 6-4.
Harlan will square off against Eagle Pass at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. That game will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Andres Villarreal and Farris. As for Taft, they will face off against United at 7:00 p.m. on November 10th. United is coming into the game hot, having won their last six games.
