AUBREY CHAPARRALS
The 0-2 Aubrey Chaparrals hit the road Friday to face the 2-0 Sanger Indians, looking for their first win of the 2026 season.
The two teams enter the contest going in different directions, with Sanger riding a two-game winning streak to start the year with wins over Lake Dallas and Paris.
“Sanger is explosive offensively,” said Keith Ivy, Aubrey athletic director and head football coach. “They have the Austin Martin kid at quarterback, a good running back that is physical and runs with good speed, but a lot of their offense runs through [Wyatt] Pennington. … They have a good football team, so once again it's going to be another really good test for us in our last game before we get into district play.”
Martin, Pennington and running back Bola Ogunwuyi have helped Sangers’ offensive unit average 30 points a game so far this season.
Ivy said containing the three-headed monster will be key for the Chaps’ defense.
“They’re really good at executing their scheme, and like us, they like to run their quarterback a lot, which brings a different dynamic for your defense to account for,” he said. “They also throw the ball well enough to keep you honest, so we have to do our best to limit their yardage in the run game and tackle better.”
Ivy added that the Chaps will also look to improve their turnover luck in the contest.
“That’s a point of emphasis for us this week from Coach [Dana] Bloedel, our defensive coordinator,” he said. “We really want to ramp that up and make sure we can win the turnover battle.”
On the other side of the ball, Ivy said that the Chaps offense, which is averaging over 40 points per game but has struggled in the first half, will look to find the end zone earlier in the contest.
“We’re moving the ball really well this early in the season, but we’re having drives stall here and there, or we get a penalty, and that’s causing us to not put points on the board, so we have to try to finish every single drive with points,” he said. “That’s a tall task, but we need to play with the mindset of finishing drives, and [Sanger] is good at what they do defensively, so we are going to need to get our blocks, get open and make good decisions with the football.”
With the Chaps staring down the barrel of an 0-3 start for second year in a row, Ivy emphasized the importance of Friday’s matchup.
“This is a massive game for us,” he said. “They selected us for homecoming, which ups the intensity, so it’s a big game for both schools, but we need to get in the win column and build a little bit more confidence. … Hopefully, we can get it done, but the biggest thing is for us to improve each and every week.”
