Every Yellow Jacket football player wore a big grin after Friday night's 30-14 win over the previously unbeaten Taylor Ducks at Yellow Jacket Stadium.

The victory finally put Llano in the win column, improving the team's overall record to 1-2. Taylor dropped to 3-1.

"I'm so proud of our boys," said head coach David Yeager. "I tell you what, they fought hard. They just have so much heart and just give such great effort. Things haven't been going our way the last couple of games, and it was nice to put it all together and to see the fruits of their labor and hard work. This is going to give us some momentum going into district now; we beat a good football team."

Running back Clayton Maples rushed for 173 total yards and three touchdowns of 61, 17 and 6 yards each.

But the Ducks scored first on their first series of the game, marching 66 yards down the field on seven plays, ending with a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ricky Cobia to wide receiver Mark Jackson.

Llano got on the scoreboard with 7:39 left in the second quarter on a 22-yard field goal by kicker Estevan Aviles.

On the Yellow Jackets' next drive, Maples darted up the middle on the first play, broke a few tackles, hung a left and sprinted 61 yards down the field for his first touchdown of the game, putting Llano ahead 10-7.

"The whole [offensive] line was fired up," Maples said. "They made holes; it was great."

Taylor responded on the following series as Cobia connected with his tight end Cade Samuelson for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 3:23 left in the half. The Ducks went into halftime with a 14-10 lead.

The second half didn't start out favorably for the Jackets as running back Jordan Cavness fumbled the kickoff return at Llano's 37-yard line.

"We told our kids that we've got to play 48 minutes," Yeager said. "Don't get down on a negative play and just come back to the next one."

The Jacket defense buckled down and forced a three-and-out series from the Ducks.

"I thought our defense played outstanding," Yeager said.

Llano then put together an 85-yard, 13-play scoring drive, eating up 6 minutes and 23 seconds and ending with a 17-yard touchdown dash by Maples.

"One of the points of the slot-T offense is just to grind it, grind it, grind it and keep the ball out of their hands," Maples said.

The Yellow Jackets went into the final quarter with a 17-14 lead.

Llano received some insurance points thanks to an interception returned for a 35-yard touchdown by safety Sterling Jameson with 7:51 left in the game.

Taylor was unable to pick up a first down for the rest of the game, and Llano tacked on six more points with a minute and a half remaining after Maples ran for his third touchdown from 6 yards out.

"We just kept fighting to the end," Yeager said. "That's what Llano football is all about."

Llano dominated the stat sheet, picking up 17 first downs during the game to Taylor's 8. The Jacket offense also racked up 304 total yards, while the defense limited the Ducks to 163.

"To be honest, my class, my team, we haven't experienced this at all. We've never experienced being 0-2," said offensive tackle Josh Gammill. "We were mad; we were fired up; we came out to play. We're very happy about this win."

Llano will now have a bye week before beginning district play. The Jackets' next game will be Oct. 2 on the road against Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg defeated Comfort 21-7 on Friday. The Billies are 2-2 on the season with wins over Comfort and Uvalde and losses to Marble Falls and Brady. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"We're going to go for it," Maples said. "Our goal is the district championship. We might not be the fastest or the biggest team, but we have a lot of heart, and I think we can do it. It's just going to be a tough fight."

For more, see Wednesday's Journal.