White Oak’s Jake Pullen is the ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Defensive Player of the Week

Half of the teams White Oak has faced, the Roughnecks have held to single digits.

The latest victim was Franklin, which White Oak blanked 31-0 in last week's Class 2A Division I Region III championship.

As it has all season, the Roughneck defense made its presence felt. Junior Jake Pullen had a monster game that pushed him into the top two in East Texas in tackles. Pullen finished the game with 29 tackles and two interceptions, and for his performance, he's the ETSN.fm/Dairy Queen Defensive Player of the Week.

Pullen enters Friday's 7:30 p.m. 2A D-I state semifinal against defending champion Cameron Yoe with 200 tackles, three for loss, four forced fumbles, the two picks, and 10 pass breakups.

Pullen is the fourth safety to earn the ETSN/DQ weekly honor in as many weeks, following Chapel Hill senior Sammy Guzman, Longview senior Travin Howard, and Longview senior Laurent Johnson. Earlier this season, Tatum senior safety Klifton Willis won the award twice en route to an 11-interception campaign.

The shutout was White Oak's second of the year and marked the 11th time in 14 games that head coach Gerry Stanford's squad has held its opponent to 14 or fewer points.

White Oak faces another prolific offense in this week's state semifinal in Allen. Cameron Yoe (13-1), which beat East Texas teams Newton and Daingerfield in the final two rounds of last year's 2A D-I playoffs, enters the contest averaging 45.8 points per game.

Only two opponents have held Cameron Yoe to fewer than 36 points. Lago Vista beat Yoe 27-20 in September, while the Yoemen edged Hallettsville 28-26 in last week's Region IV championship.

White Oak enters the contest allowing only 12.9 points per game.

ETSN.fm/Dairy Queen 2013 Defensive Players of the Week

Filed Under: Player of the Week, White Oak

Categories: Class 2A, Football, News