Frisco Emerson's defense stands tall in Texas high school football opener: ‘Odds were stacked against us'

Mavericks make huge second-half plays to shut down 6A McKinney on first day of UIL season

Frisco Emerson senior linebacker Agape Lawrence (middle) is interviewed following the Mavericks' 17-7 win against McKinney on August 29, 2024. / Buck Ringgold

FRISCO, TEXAS - Sometimes you just can’t measure intangibles.

Or desire. Or heart. Or intestinal fortitude.

Thursday night, on the first night of the 2024 Texas high school football season, several players on defense from Frisco Emerson were Exhibit A as to why measurables aren’t necessarily everything.

• TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD (8/29/2024)

Playing a 6A school for the first time in program history, the 5A Mavericks were unfazed by the bigger Lions from McKinney inside the confides of The Star in Thursday’s season opener.

The Mavericks’ defense, aside from allowing a touchdown early in the second quarter, was on point the entire night, swarming toward ballcarriers and making huge plays. They pitched a second-half shutout with a 17-7 win, holding McKinney to 45 yards rushing.

• Frisco Emerson defeats McKinney: Live updates of North Texas season opener

For one of those so-called undersized players, 5-foot-10 senior linebacker Nate Leal, there really wasn’t anything fancy about what the Mavericks were able to do to stifle the Lions.

“Really, we just kept it simple,” Leal said. “We’re trying not to show everything on film, but we just stayed in our base coverage and just got it done.”

But Leal put together a vertical leap in the second half that rivaled any jumps a taller person might make. With Emerson hanging on to a 14-7 lead late in the third quarter, McKinney faced a third-and-long just beyond midfield.

Pressure forced quarterback Jeremiah Daoud to roll to his left and fire a ball on a line with plenty of zip. All of a sudden, though, Leal timed his jump and grabbed the ball in the air, thwarting the Lion drive.

Leal remarked the pick had origins with a tip from Emerson cornerbacks coach Curtis Holbert, who told Leal to drop back a bit more.

“Coach Holbert was telling me before I wasn’t dropping deep enough,” said Leal, a two-year starter who was also in on a pair of sacks in Thursday's win. “So the next play, I dropped (back) and got that pick, so I credit that to him. … He pulled me aside and said, ‘You need to get a little deeper in your drop,’ and it worked.”

McKinney got the ball back and faced a fourth-and-3 inside the Emerson 45 with time winding down in the third. The Lions decided to go for it, and utilized a huge weapon in Riley Pettijohn, the outstanding linebacker and Ohio State commit, putting him in at tailback.

Another seemingly undersized Emerson linebacker, 5-foot-11 senior Agape Lawrence, instead seized the moment.

He blew through the line and met Pettijohn head on once Pettijohn got the handoff. Turnover on downs.

pic.twitter.com/6u2EkrzNeX

— Agape Lawrence (@AgapeLawrence) August 30, 2024

“They had ran that play on the goal line (in the first half), kind of unexpected, but got a flag on the play or likely that would have been a touchdown if there wasn’t a flag,” Lawrence said. “We came in at halftime, adjusted and called what we were going to call to get ready for that play.

“And I hit the gap on that fourth-and-1 and I was there in the backfield.”

Emerson then forced McKinney to punt on each of its first two possessions. After the second punt, the Mavs put the game away when junior placekicker John Pacheco booted a 27-yard field goal with more than three minutes left for a two-score lead.

But the Emerson defense had one more big play left in them. With time running out, McKinney put together a last-ditch drive deep in Maverick territory. On a fourth-down, though, Cooper Hebert, a 5-11 senior lineman and part of a revamped Emerson front, came up with a sack.

“We’ve been working all summer; we like to say we work harder than anyone else, so we were more conditioned and we were more disciplined,” Leal said.

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“We just kept our energy high. The offense might have had some mistakes, we might have had some mistakes, but no matter what, we kept our heads up and we stayed level-headed.”

Even after the game, the Mavericks’ defense remained amped up. Lawrence led an exuberant charge down the sideline, high-fiving students who leaned over the railing, with Leal and others following.

“We worked so hard, every single day,” Lawrence said. “Even on the weekends, we show up to school, we get our lift in, and we just do things a lot of programs don’t do and that’s why you see us come out on top (Thursday) against a 6A school.

“The odds were stacked against us and we showed why they shouldn’t be.”

There is plenty of talent on an Emerson team coming off a semifinal appearance in 5A Division II. Senior cornerback Maliek Hawkins is committed to Oklahoma, where his older brother Michael Hawkins - the Mavericks’ quarterback last season - has a chance to see action as a true freshman. There’s also rising 6-foot-3 junior Jaxon Cannida, who was in on several stops Thursday.

But it was Lawrence who logged the most tackles with 22. He also had four of the team’s whopping 12 tackles for loss, not to mention even blocking a first-half field goal.

“It’s not a one-man show with our defense, everybody has a role and everybody did their part (Thursday), and I’m just blessed that we came out with a win, dominated like always,” Lawrence said. “We just listened to our coaches and kept the discipline up, so that’s how we came out dominant (Thursday).

“Everybody on this team is a playmaker, whether it’s offense, defense, all of our guys stepped up when we needed to. All of the things that happened (Thursday) isn’t a surprise to us because we did what we were supposed to do and that’s what happens.”

Lawrence definitely has the numbers, especially last season during Emerson’s semifinal run. He had 170 tackles, 102 of those solo, along with 14 tackles for loss and four sacks, good enough to be the defensive MVP in his district.

Other impressive numbers: He is a four-year starter and also carries a 4.0 GPA.

But Lawrence is still waiting for that elusive college offer.

“A lot of guys say I’m undersized, but I don’t look (that way) to me,” Lawrence said. “I play with the gifts God gave me, and you see it on the field every day. Coach (Kendall) Miller says I’m the best linebacker in the state of Texas, so I go out and show it. … And I’m great in school, too; it’s not just on the field, I’m great in school with a 4.0 GPA, and keep my grades up.”

Likewise, Leal is still awaiting that opportunity to play at the next level. He, too, had solid numbers last season, with more than 120-plus tackles, 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks.

But Leal also plays the waiting game when it comes to receiving interest from colleges.

“Honestly, there is nothing going on for me,” Leal said. “I think as an undersized linebacker, it’s kind of harder to get looks, but I’m hoping to change that this season.”

A few more games like that on Thursday from Leal, Lawrence and the rest of Emerson’s defense, and they will definitely be on the radar - big time.

-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX