TAYLOR — Taylor opened its season with a dominant 40-20 victory over Eastside Early College on Friday night.
Junior quarterback Johnny Guzman threw five touchdown passes, with wide receiver Jeremiah Caldwell accounting for three of those scores.
On the Ducks’ opening possession, Guzman wasted little time finding the end zone, connecting with junior wide receiver Tayden Talley for an 81-yard touchdown to give Taylor an early 7-0 lead.
Following a lightning delay, Guzman and Caldwell continued to find success through the air. Guzman connected with Caldwell on a short, 5-yard touchdown pass before throwing another touchdown to Caldwell for 55 yards immediately after Taylor recovered a fumble.
The Ducks took a 27-0 lead into halftime while keeping Eastside scoreless.
“Those guys, that’s what they do. They make plays. They’re playmakers on our team,” Taylor head coach Earven Flowers said. “I was happy to see those guys getting an early connection.”
The big plays from Guzman and Caldwell also provided a spark for the rest of the Ducks.
“Our team rides with them,” Flowers said.
“When they make big plays, our team gets rolling. So, we like to see that.”
Taylor’s success through the air became especially important as Eastside found ways to slow the Ducks’ running game.
“They were actually doing a really good job of stopping the run,” Flowers said. “No. 63, he’s probably one of the better players in the area, defensive linewise, and we had trouble blocking him.”
With the running game struggling, Taylor adjusted by putting the ball in the air and allowing its receivers to take advantage of oneon- one opportunities.
“We couldn’t block them, so we needed to throw the ball to our guys,” Flowers said. “We got some one-on-one situations, and our guys made some plays.”
Eastside eventually found some offensive success in the second half, cutting into Taylor’s lead as the game progressed. However, the Ducks had built enough separation early to remain in control and secure the 40-20 victory.
Despite the season opening win, Flowers said the Ducks still have plenty to clean up moving forward.
“It was the first game of the season,” he said. “We did some good things. We did some things that we’ve got to take care of, too. It’s usually sloppy. We’ve got a lot of guys who are playing Friday night football for the first time.”
Flowers specifically pointed to consistency on offense and tackling on defense as areas Taylor will look to improve.
“We just want to be more consistent offensively and do a better job tackling defensively,” Flowers said.
With the victory, Taylor starts the season 1-0, but the Ducks aren’t putting much stock into what the opening win might mean for the rest of the season.
“There’s no message to them. It’s a message to us,” Flowers said.
“We’re 1-0, and we just need to continue to focus on getting better.”
Taylor will return to action Sept. 4 when the Ducks travel to Burnet to face the Bulldogs in another non-district matchup.
