It was a stark turnaround for Calvary on Friday night at Denton High School’s track and field stadium. The Lions rebounded from a season-opening loss to defeat the Wise County Christian Warriors, 32-6.

The Lions learned some lessons from their 80-59 loss to Lucas Christian last Saturday, head coach Jay Houser said.

“Although we played a really good team and got beat, we learned a lot from last week,” Houser said. “We made some changes on defense, and we were subbing a lot more guys in to keep the team fresh.”

Calvary’s stamina was noticeably higher, and injuries were not a problem like they were during last weekend’s heat.

“We wanted this game really bad,” Houser said. “We were really up for this game.”

The Lions’ previous matchup against Wise County did not pan out as nicely as Friday’s. That game ended on the 45-point mercy rule.

Friday was a different story as Calvary (1-1) held Wise County to just 177 total yards and stopped its rushing attack. The Lions gave up just 49 yards on 21 rushing attempts. Sophomore Sammy Quiring led Calvary’s defense with two interceptions in the fourth quarter.

“We made some changes on defense to keep them out of rhythm,” Houser said. “We kept changing out secondary coverages to confuse the quarterback. Part of the new game plan was to get after the quarterback and put the pressure on the ball.”

That change in defensive mind-set helped to hold Wise County’s quarterbacks to a 34.5 percent completion rate on the night.

Calvary’s offense scored fewer points than last week, but Houser said that was a result of strategy.

“Our game plan was to play tough defense, but also shrink the game by running the ball,” Houser said. “We just wanted to keep the ball away from their exceptional quarterback.”

Eight Lions combined for 233 rushing yards and three of Calvary’s five touchdowns.

“We wanted to get the lead and play power football, which is uncommon in six-man football,” Houser said.

Calvary 32, Wise County Christian 6

Wise County Christian    0          0          6          0          --          6

Calvary 0          19         7          6          --          32

Scoring summary

Second Quarter

C -- Kenneth Grunden 1 run (kick failed)

C -- Kenneth Grunden 37 pass from Justin Rush (kick failed)

C -- Tyler Gerwig 22 pass from Rush (Grunden pass from Rush)

Third Quarter

C -- Jesse Wells 24 run (Wells run)

Fourth Quarter

C -- Tim Quiring 24 run (kick failed)

Team Statistics

C          WCC

First downs        10         4  

Rushing yards    37-233  21-49

Passing yards    155       128

Total yards        388       177                             

Passes  12-23-1 10-29-2       

Fumbles-lost      2-1       2-1

Individual Statistics

Rushing: C -- Justin Rush 8-59, Kenneth Grunden 7-34, Chandler Cramer 5-14, Byron Crouch 2-(-2), Jesse Wells 10-69, Tim Quiring 5-59. WCC -- Tyler Farver 15-25, Gerrit Justice 3-13, Bobby Baldwin 1-(-1), Luke Renfro 2-12.

Passing:  C -- Justin Rush 11-22-1-150, Jesse Wells 1-1-0-5. WCC -- Bobby Baldwin 9-25-2-81, Tyler Farver 1-3-0-37, Gerrit Justice 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: C -- Jesse Wells 2-16, Kenneth Grunden 3-55, Chandler Cramer 3-39, Justin Rush 1-5, Ty Grant 1-12, Tyler Gerwig 2-28. WCC -- Gerrit Justice 3-34, Christopher Rodrigs 4-35, Andrew Castro 4-49.