ARGYLE – Chad Hedlund made most of his first career start at Argyle.
The sophomore quarterback threw a pair of touchdown passes to Brady Brown, rushed for a 31-yard score and kicked a 40-yard field goal to lead Argyle to a 44-6 win over Iowa Park on Friday in the season opener at Eagle Stadium.
“It felt great, I was really excited coming into this game,” Hedlund said. “I had a little [nervous] phase before the game, but when it came time to step on to the field, all my nerves left me.”
Hedlund complete 12-of-18 passes for 158 yards and rushed for 42 yards. He hooked up with Brown, a senior wide receiver who has orally committed to Vanderbilt, seven times for 111 yards.
“The energy and enthusiasm was overwhelming,” Argyle head coach Todd Rodgers said. “And they were able to parlay that into a good, comfortable lead and they played well while they were ahead.”
Argyle (1-0) benefited from an early break on the game’s opening drive.
Iowa Park quarterback Lee Clubb scrambled toward the right side of the field, then tossed a bomb to the opposite side, connecting with a wide-open Kris Tucker 35 yards down the field. But Tucker fumbled the ball as he was pulled down to the turf, and Argyle’s Kyle Olson recovered at the 20-yard line.
“It was fortunate for stuff like that to happen,” Rodgers said. “We are playing hard defensively at that time, and being very aggressive up front, I think that contributed.”
Hedlund and the Argyle offense took over and wasted little time.
Hedlund connected with Tyler Sweatt on a 14-yard pass over the middle on third down. Three plays later, Hedlund found Brown for 13 yards to prolong the Eagles’ drive.
A pair of passes to Aaron Landrum brought the Eagles to Iowa Park’s 20-yard line, and Hedlund floated a ball to the back of the end zone where Brown reached over a defender for an 11-yard touchdown.
“We got on top and made a lot of things happen early,” Rodgers said. “We had a lot of pregame focus, they warmed up well and consequently they played well.”
The Argyle defense limited the rushing attack of Iowa Park’s Richard Smoak. The junior running back had just 14 yards on three carries in the first half.
Argyle clogged the middle the entire game and was often able to break into Iowa Parks’ backfield.
Rodgers said he and the coaching staff worked on limiting the Iowa Park rushers.
“That was a big concern of mine as far as preparation,” Rodgers said of Iowa Park’s ability to run up the middle. “So we focused on stopping the inside run and it paid off for us.”
Argyle extended its lead to 23-0 at halftime, and quarterback Patrick Vickery saw significant playing time. Vickery played well, completing 6-of-9 passes for 88 yards and a 10-yard touchdown pass to Justin Bruton.
“Chad played great, and Patrick played great too,” Rodgers said. “They are good young quarterbacks, they showed a lot of poise tonight. We didn’t put them in a position to make too many tough decisions. We tried to allow them to do things that they can do well.”
Argyle running back Kyle Frizzell also had a productive game for the Eagles. Frizzell ran 16 times for 105 yards and a five-yard touchdown to open the second quarter.
Argyle plays next Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Burkburnett.
BRAD McDONNELL can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is bmcdonnell@dentonrc.com.
Argyle 44, Iowa Park 6
Iowa Park 0 0 0 6 -- 6
Argyle 6 17 14 7 -- 44
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
A – Brady Brown 11 pass from Chad Hedlund (kick failed), 6:02
Second Quarter
A – Kyle Frizzell 5 run (Hedlund kick), 8:45
A – Hedlund 31 run (Hedlund kick), 4:22
A – Hedlund 40 field goal, 2:10
Third Quarter
A – Brown 51 pass from Hedlund (Hedlund kick), 10:28
A – Justin Bruton 10 pass from Patrick Vickery (Stephen Holland kick), 3:16
Fourth Quarter
A – Layton Lowry 20 run (Holland Kick), 11:25
IP – Kris Tucker 70 run (kick failed), 11:06
Team Statistics
IP A
First downs 8 26
Rushing yards 32-104 32-197
Passing yards 171 246
Total yards 275 343
Passes 8-10-0 18-27-0
Fumbles-lost 4-2 2-0
Punts-avg 5-27.8 1-35
Penalties-yds 12-80 3-20
Individual stats
Rushing: IP – Richard Smoak 5-21, Lee Clubb 10-(-4), Dustin Palmer 2-(-1), Kris Tucker 6-79, Jesse Harris 5-(-5), Lee Martin 3-9, Colton Herndon 1-5. A – Kyle Frizzell 16-105, Chad Hedlund 5-42, Lance Sutton 1-17, Layton Lowry 5-20, Patrick Vickery 3-8, Scotty Stewart 2-5.
Passing: IP – Lee Clubb 5-6-102-0-0, Jesse Harris 3-4-69-0-0. A – Chad Hedlund 12-18-158-0-2, Patrick Vickery 6-9-88-0-1.
Receiving: IP – Kris Tucker 1-35, Westin McCalip 3-65, Richard Smoak 2-12, Dillam Ross 1-2, Bryce Cross 1-55. A – Brady Brown 7-111, Tyler Sweatt 4-46, Aaron Landrum 2-22, Justin Bruton 2-15, Lance Sutton 3-52.
