“We are playing on borrowed time,” Coppell coach Antonio Wiley said. “I told my guys to go extend the time.” 

On Friday at 7 p.m. at Buddy Echols Field, the Coppell football team (10-0) and Prosper (8-2) play for the first time in both programs’ history. 

Being the Class 6A Division II Region I bi-district playoffs, this game marks the start of both teams’ playoff campaigns and one will go home. 

“All of these guys know what is at stake,” Wiley said. “They know that they have to go out and execute at a high level.” 

Wiley wants a focused football team in the playoffs.

“I try to do a great job in making everyone understand that we have to forget everything and play football,” Wiley said. “It starts with the coaches being able to block out the noise and execute at the level that we have been; if we execute at the level we have been all season, we should be good.”

Prosper will not go down without a fight, however, with their entire offensive line featuring seniors Connor Carty and Logan Cahill, and junior Zaden Krempin, Sean Stover and Bryce Gilmore having Division-1 offers from schools like Texas A&M, Penn state, and Oregon. 

With an abundance of talent at the offensive line, Prosper will look to control the ball and try and win by any means necessary. 

“We do not know if we will have a big game through the air or on the ground,” Prosper coach Tyler Moore said. “At the end of the day we have to give the ball to our playmakers and let them control the game.” 

Prosper is seeking its second state championship having won the 2008 Class 3A title. 

“The bottom line is that we have to play better and execute at a higher level than we have been,” Moore said. “Coppell is a tough team and we need everything we got to beat them.”

The goal is simple for Wiley and the Cowboys. 

“We want to play in December and we want to win the championship which we can’t do if we are looking too far in the future.” Wiley said.

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