SONORA -- Wall turned to its defense, and the Hawks answered dominantly.
Wall won its first game of the 2018 high school football season, holding Sonora to 147 total yards to run away for a 40-20 win Thursday at Bronco Stadium in the Standard-Times Game of the Week.
The Wall defense set the tone.
"They played lights out," Wall head coach Houston Guy said. "(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Craig) Slaughter had them dialed in tonight. He pressured the quarterback when we needed them to, they covered the secondary when we needed them to, covered them backs out. He had them dialed in just like we wanted him to."
The game was moved to Thursday in advance of storms expected in Sonora on Friday.
The Hawks allowed just one first down in the first half and collected four sacks as they built a 19-0 lead they never relinquished in winning their 12th consecutive game against Sonora, which last beat Wall in 2000 when the Broncos won the Class 2A state championship.
The Wall defense finished with seven sacks against Sonora's quarterbacks, resulting in 33 rushing yards for the Broncos as they punished starter Brian Van Winkle for a net loss of 53 rushing yards.
Wall also had four quarterback knockdowns and 11 hurries.
"I was very worried about the home run ball and some of the double moves (by Sonora receivers)," Slaughter said. "I really thought the best way to defense it was don't give them time to throw some of those. That was the defensive plan coming in.
"I didn't know if we'd get to him as good as we did but we had a lot of success with it," Slaughter said.
Joe Walker, had back-to-back sacks on Sonora's fourth possession -- where the Broncos finally gained their initial first down of the night -- to stamp out any life the Sonora offense might have found after going 3-and-out on its first three possessions.
"I'd like to give a big thanks to our coaching staff," said the junior defensive end. "We put so much pressure on that quarterback and that really made a big difference in the first half."
Walker said the first win brings relief.
"It feels good," Walker said. "This game was almost as hyped up as the Mason game and for us to come out and beat them was quite an accomplishment for us and for our coaches."
Wall (1-2) opened the season with a 27-21 loss to now-No. 1-ranked Mason, from Class 2A Division I, had a game rained out and then fell last week 35-34 to Midland Christian after falling short on a two-point conversion.
Sonora (2-2) has now dropped its last two, including its own loss to Mason (27-0) last Friday.
Broncos' head coach Jeff Cordell said he's not surprised that either team -- which are both coming off 2017 seasons that saw each go through the regular season undefeated -- has blemishes on their overall records at this point in the season.
"We knew Wall's record....wasn't an indication of how good a ball club they are," Cordell said.
The Broncos travel to 4A Division I Burnet next Friday.
"We knew this was going to be a gauntlet part of our schedule," Cordell said. "We really feel like these setbacks, these quote-unquote failures and adversity, is what's going to make us stronger in our run that we want to try to accomplish with our season goals."
The Broncos were held off the scoreboard until midway through the third quarter when Wesley Dutton snagged the second of two Sonora interceptions against the Hawks and then moved to quarterback and drove the team from the Wall 36. Dutton punched it in from two yards out to pull Sonora within 19-6.
The breathing room allowed the Wall offense to solve some early-season problems with ball-handling in the flexbone offense led by junior quarterback Mason Fuchs.
"It felt OK to punt it every now and then and play defense," Guy said.
"The defense played lights out tonight," Fuchs said. "I have 100 percent faith in them. Every time I mess up, they've got my back."
On the possession following Sonora's first score, Sonora's Jansen Morris got his own sack -- a 10-yard loss on a third-down play -- but then Wall forced the Broncos over on downs.
Fuchs and fullback Sutton Braden then pounded the Broncos until Braden broke through for a 56-yard score that pushed Wall's lead back to 26-6 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.
On Sonora's next possession, Austin Gray had a pass-defense, Lex Dusek and Walker teamed for another sack and then Cameron Barnes came up with the third-down interception to stop the threat.
"We were Cover 1 and I was floating over the middle, just rolling around, covering whatever, and I saw the quarterback drop back I read the play and he threw the ball and I was in the perfect spot for the pick," said Barnes, a senior. "Our main job was to really move around and confuse him as much as we can where he'd force throws and I think we did a good job of that."
Wall hosts Class 4A Division I Big Spring next Friday.
WALL BLITZES SONORA FOR FIRST WIN
