Perhaps no sequence of events illustrated what happened Friday in Guyer’s 56-7 win over Little Elm better than the Wildcats’ final drive with just more than three minutes to play.

Backup quarterback Luke Russell lined up in the “victory formation” unusually early to try to run the clock and end the game.

Then Little Elm head coach Donald Stowers called a timeout.

Stowers called Guyer head coach John Walsh out to the middle of the field and exchanged words with him, telling Walsh to run his offense and to not kneel down with the ball.

“I was trying to be nice,” Walsh said. “We jumped offside [for a false start penalty] on purpose to make the clock roll off. I guess he didn’t like it. He wanted to play, so we decided to keep playing.”

On the next play, Russell took a zone keeper for what appeared to be a 78-yard touchdown run, but it was cut to a 39-yard gain because of a block-in-the-back penalty on Guyer.

Basically everything else on Friday went right for the Wildcats.

Guyer (8-0, 5-0) clinched a playoff berth and kept its lead in District 5-4A with the win, which saw the Wildcats outgain Little Elm 467-173. Guyer’s offense rolled and Little Elm’s wishbone offense was bottled up by Guyer’s strong run defense.

“[Lake Dallas quarterback] James Franklin [last week] is the only one that’s gotten 100 [yards] on us,” Walsh said. “No team has done it, and James did it because he’s special. I fully expected our defense to come out strong.”

Guyer defensive tackle Taylor Bible said the defense was prepared for the wishbone, which features three running backs and an offensive line coming out of a four-point stance, producing a lower pad level than usual.

“We definitely wore them down,” said Bible, who finished with four tackles. “We knew they would come off low and try to cut us a lot. We just said we’d come out lower than they were and more physical and put our weight room on them, and that’s what we did. It worked out well for us.”

The Lobos (2-6, 2-3) rushed 38 times for 119 yards and completed half of their eight pass attempts on the night. On the contrary, the Wildcats averaged better than 10 yards per carry, led by Jaimaine Wilhite’s 12 carries for 96 yards and three touchdowns.

Guyer quarterback J.W. Walsh had an efficient night, completing 10 of 14 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns — to Luke Russell and Quentin Gardener — and rushing for another, finishing with three carries for 89 yards. He also threw his second interception of the season on a fade route to Gardener in the end zone.

“We did what we needed to do tonight,” John Walsh said. “We executed. This late in the year, the biggest thing is you want to be able to execute at a high level, and I think we’re doing that.”

Another positive sign for the Wildcats was in the penalty ledger, where they finished with just three, but only one in the first three quarters when the starters were in the game. That followed a crisp six-penalty outing in last week’s 28-21 win over Lake Dallas, bucking the Wildcats’ trend of being a highly penalized team earlier in the season.

“That’s two weeks in a row,” Walsh said. “Last week we only had three going to the fourth and had three at the end. For some reason, we are penalty-prone early in the season, but it gives us something else to work on. We’re gradually getting ready for the playoffs.”

Another positive for Guyer was in its punt return game, where junior speedster Cameron Hunter made his presence known for the first time since debuting against The Colony in the district opener after transferring from Hebron.

The 5-9, 170-pound receiver caught two passes for 34 yards and returned four punts for 188 yards, including a 95-yard return for a touchdown in the second quarter, which broke a basic rule of punt returning: Don’t field a punt inside the 10-yard line.

“It was so spread out, I just had to take it,” Hunter said. “I knew I could take it home. I had to stiff-arm one dude at the end, but I had to get in. Other than him, it was clear.”

Walsh said Hunter was supposed to touch the ball more on offense, but limited offensive snaps kept that plan at bay. Walsh said Hunter will play more as the regular season comes to an end and the playoffs get going.

“He’s one of those guys that on his second step he’s nearly full speed,” Walsh said. “He’s got great hands. He’s a great addition to the Wildcats. I’m glad he’s here. He’ll make big plays for us down the road.

“We actually had some stuff for him tonight. We just never got to it on the script. I had 32 plays scripted, and we were done at the half. Cameron will be involved in our offense just like Luke Russell is. He just makes us more dangerous.”

Briefly…

Bible was recognized at halftime for officially accepting an invitation to play in the 2010 Under Armour All-America Game on Friday morning in a press conference at Guyer. Bible was joined by John Walsh and his parents at midfield, where he held up his Under Armour game jersey.

“It was amazing and overwhelming at the same time,” Bible said. “It was just a great feeling having everyone in my school come out and see me get recognized for that. It feels pretty good.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.

Guyer 56, Little Elm 7

Little Elm          0          0          0          7          —        7

Guyer   14        21        14        7          —        56

Scoring summary

First Quarter

G — Jaimaine Wilhite 18 run (Nick Leavitt kick), 8:47

G — Luke Russell 2 pass from J.W. Walsh (Leavitt kick), 3:36

Second Quarter

G — Cameron Hunter 95 punt return (Leavitt kick), 9:32

G — Wilhite 1 run (Leavitt kick), 5:10

G — J.W. Walsh 22 run (Leavitt kick), 1:31

Third Quarter

G — Wilhite 15 run (Leavitt kick), 10:12

G — Quentin Gardener 9 pass from Walsh (Leavitt kick), 3:03

Fourth Quarter

G — Russell 11 run (Max Alspach kick), 6:17

LE — Xavier Williams 1 run (Matt Utt kick), 3:14

Team Statistics

            LE        G

First downs      6          15

Rushing            38-119 31-315

Passing yards    54        152

Total yards                                               173   467

Passing 4-8-0   11-16-1

Fumbles-lost     1-1       2-0

Punts-avg         7-45.4  1-29.0

Penalties           3-15     3-20

Individual Statistics

Rushing — LE: Darnell Adams 13-47, Bryant Johnson 6-1, Nic Thompson 3-1, Brandon Dudley 10-64, Xavier Williams 4-2, Matt Marrs 2-4. G: Jaimaine Wilhite 12-96, J.W. Walsh 3-89, Josh Allen 7-17, Cameron Nora 4-14, Brendan Wright 1-9, Luke Russell 4-90.

Passing — LE: Brandon Dudley 4-8-0-54. G: J.W. Walsh 10-14-1-141, Luke Russell 1-2-0-11.

Receiving — LE: Darryl DeMesme 3-19, Clifton Murphy 1-35. G: Luke Russell 4-35, Connor Crane 1-5, Brendan Wright 2-27, Quentin Gardener 1-11, Cameron Hunter 2-34, Austin Otto 1-40.