Guyer has been here before.

    The Wildcats – 13-1 and the No. 1 team in Class 4A – are far from awestruck as they ready to face Longview for the second straight year in the Division I state semifinals. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Dallas’ Kincaid Stadium.

    “We worked hard all season for this,” standout defensive tackle Taylor Bible said following the team’s 28-25 win over Denton Ryan last weekend in the state quarterfinals. “Our ultimate goal was to get back to round five because we’ve been here before.”

    Last year, Guyer led heading into the fourth quarter before falling 41-30. It was the program’s first ever playoff run and the Wildcats didn’t disappoint as they combined with Longview for 71 points, 940 total yards and had three receivers eclipse 100 yards receiving. Guyer racked up 488 yards by itself.

    “This is our big push,” defensive back Ravion Ingram said. “(Denton) Ryan is a good program and we will be better this next week because of it.”

    Head coach John Walsh said his team needs to play better offensively if it intends to make it past Longview – which shares an identical 13-1 record. Longview is coming off a 50-26 romp of Waxahachie, which was the No. 2 team in Class 4A heading in. Longview racked up 436 yards against Waxahachie with three running backs combining for four touchdowns. Longview overcame a three-touchdown deficit and scored the game’s final 29 points.

    Guyer – which to its credit outlasted the only team (Ryan) that beat them this season and racked up 406 yards of total offense in the process – had two uncharacteristic interceptions from quarterback J.W. Walsh as well as four fumbles (albeit none of those fumbles were lost). They also racked up 115 yards in penalties – which has been a problem all season.

    “We knew this game would be hanging in the balance until the very end,” Walsh said. “We’ve got to play better offensively if we expect to advance – and we will.”

    Jaimaine Wilhite and J.W. Walsh rushed for 235 and 116 yards, respectively, in the win. Wilhite scored twice and consistently gashed the Ryan defense for huge chunks of yards throughout the day. His 22-yard touchdown with 9:06 to go in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference.

     The key for Guyer was its defense, which forced five interceptions from quarterback Scotty Young – including three in the end zone. Ingram had two of those picks, including one with 1:55 remaining in regulation to ice the game. Ryan also had two extra points blocked and one failed two-point conversion.

   “Our goal was to play better than last time,” Bible said of avenging their regular season loss to Ryan. “We knew defensively, if we played darn close to perfect, that’s exactly what we would do.”