Wall Hawks shut out Jim Ned, name stadium after Clayton Weishuhn

WALL -- On a night Wall High School named its football stadium after Clayton Weishuhn, the Hawks honored him with a defensive masterpiece.

Wall's defense stepped up time and time again -- while its offense managed only a field goal -- for a 3-0 win Friday against Jim Ned at the newly named Clayton Weishuhn Field.

Weishuhn, a Wall graduate who was one of the greatest defensive players West Texas ever produced, died earlier this year in a vehicle wreck at age 62.

It was fittingly an old-school defensive battle between Wall and Jim Ned that went scoreless until a 32-yard field goal by Pierce Jameson with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter.

Will Scherr had two interceptions to lead Wall's defense.

Wall improved to 2-1, while Jim Ned fell to 0-3.

"I thought we had a couple of opportunities (to score)," Wall head coach Houston Guy said. "We got down there on the inch line (near the end of the first half) and I thought we could get it in. We just came up short and they had a good defensive front and stopped us.

"I knew it was going to be a tough ball game all the way. I thought our kids played hard and never quit. We've got to clean up some fumbles, but we'll be all right."

Jim Ned, the 2020 state champion, looked like it might pull off a comeback late in the fourth quarter after quarterback Grant Glidewell hooked up with wide receiver Jackson Crane for a 28-yard completion that set up the Indians at Wall's 38-yard line.

Three plays later, Wall's Lee Brake sacked Glidewell for a 17-yard loss on third-and-11 from the Hawks' 39, pushing Jim Ned back to its own 44.

Scherr finished things off on the next play when he made his second pick.

"Nobody's going to get a first game on Clayton Weishuhn's Field," Scherr said. "We're the only team to get a (win) in the first game on Clayton Weishuhn's Field and it feels good. And Jim Ned, it feels good to get a win against them. They're a great team and since they got us the past two years, it feels great to come back and shut them out."

Jim Ned had to play with a lot of backups due to injuries, but the Indians weren't using that as an excuse.

"It was a good hard-fought ball game," Indians head coach Matt Fanning said. "We've got to do a better job executing offensively. Other than that, I saw a lot of fight from a lot of young guys who were playing for hurt guys. When we come through this injury bug, I think we'll have some depth. We've got a lot of sophomores on the field right now, and for the most part, those guys played really well."

Fanning tipped his hat to Wall's defense.

"They're always very good," the Jim Ned coach said. "Coach (Craig) Slaughter does a great job and their staff does an excellent job. They've always got a great game plan when they play us.

"We know it's going to be a tough defensive match. Of course, we feel like there's things we should have done a lot better. We made it a little easier on them than it should have been, but they did a great job."

Naturally, the Hawks were really inspired playing their first game on the newly named Weishuhn Field.

"We talked about the importance of it and what it meant to our community and how many people would be here," Guy said. "We just wanted to represent Wall like we should on a game like tonight."

The Hawks coach said Weishuhn "would've been proud" of Wall's strong showing on defense.

And Scherr had a lot to do with that with his two picks.

"He's one of those guys who's going to show up all the time," the Hawks coach said. "He's going to play great defense, and he's a guy that we transition over to the offensive side sometimes, too, because he's such a tough back and tough kid, but he had a great night tonight."

Wall junior Nathan Pepper returned to the lineup after missing last week's game against Cisco due to an ankle injury.

"We weren't going to use him tonight, but he came in there and gave us a spark there offensively a little bit and helped us move the ball and get it down within field-goal range," Guy said. "He was a huge spark for us.

"We weren't sure (his ankle) was going to be good enough to run the ball tonight, but he came in at halftime and said he could carry it some, so we let him."

When the Hawks and Indians huddled together after the game, Guy told the players for both teams that whenever Wall and Jim Ned compete in the athletic arena, both schools are always going to put forth a great effort.

And this night was no different.

"They have such a great program," Guy said of the Indians. "We look at those guys and we emulate a lot of the things that they do. We want our program to be confident, just like theirs is."

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Wall shuts out Jim Ned, names football stadium after Clayton Weishuhn