Matador Stadium as fans have known it will host its final Seguin varsity football game this Friday evening.
Seguin closes old Matador Stadium vs. Austin-Navarro, Friday’s game to air on KWED
(Seguin) – Seguin plays its final home football game at the current version of Matador Stadium before contstruction of its replacement goes full steam when Austin-Navarro visits the Mats in District 12-5A-Division I action on Friday.
Last week’s 66-28 loss to Dripping Springs dropped Seguin’s overall record to 4-4 and the district mark to 4-1 in Travis Bush’s fourth season as head coach. The playoff-bound Matadors are tied with Austin-LBJ for second place and look to maintain that spot heading into next week’s regular season finale against the Jaguars.
A number of Austin ISD teams in District 12-5A-Division I have struggled this season, but none to the extent of Navarro, the school formerly known as Lanier. The Vikings, coached by Losaro Lumbreras, are 1-7 with a 49-0 non-district win over Eastside Memorial on Sept. 12, and have not scored a touchdown in five straight losses since. District opponents have outscored Austin-Navarro by a combined margin of 258-2 since then, including a 59-0 final against LBJ last Friday.
Bush doesn’t expect a Seguin team averaging 38 points and 435 total yards per game to have any problems against the Vikings, and wants to see crisp, precise execution from his starters in the early going.
“We’ve talked about that this week, again, focusing on ourselves,” Bush said. “How much better can we get, how do we bounce back, get back in a rhythm quick and get ready for the games in our future. So hopefully, offensively we come out fast, do what we do well, move the football fast, run the football, and hopefully have an opportunity to get a lead and get some guys in.”
The Matadors look to revive their running game tonight after a season-low 69 rushing yards and 2.2 yards per carry against Dripping Springs. Junior tailback Marques Washington (978 yds., 6.9 avg., 15 TD) is only 22 yards from 1,000 on the season.
Senior quarterback Jhalen Mickles (66 %, 1,288 yds., 12 TD, 2 Int., 6 rushing TD) and a cast of talented receivers including Clark Ullrich (39 rec., 485 yds., 6 TD), Dravan McKnight (23 rec., 363 yds., 4 TD), Jonathan Patterson (23 rec., 339 yds., 4 TD), Tristan Moreno (2 TD) and Trevor Waz (2 TD) hope to balance the running game with a sharp performance before next week’s road test against LBJ.
Austin-Navarro averages just 74 yards of total offense per game, which doesn’t bode well against a Seguin defense seeking a bounce-back from the game that snowballed out of control in Dripping Springs. The Matadors’ statistical leaders on that side of the ball include sophomore linebacker John Michael Mata (91 tackles, 11.4 per game), defensive end Ian Box (6 sacks, 19 TFL), and cornerbacks Micah Rodriguez (2 INT), and Desvonn Smith (9 pass breakups).
Running-back Junius Taylor leads the Vikings with 122 yards and two touchdowns on 68 carries. Quarterback Keillan Moore has thrown for 245 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.
Friday’s kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. The game will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com. Pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 with the Navarro, Marion, and Lifegate coaches’ shows.
Navarro looks to continue momentum vs. struggling state champs
(Geronimo) – These aren’t your big brother’s Cuero Gobblers, but Navarro head coach Rod Blount still has a ton of respect for the defending 4A Division II state champions, despite the 2-6 record they bring to Friday’s District 13-4A-Division II matchup at Erwin-Lee Field.
“They’ve had a tough schedule,” Blount said. “That non-district schedule was extremely tough, and the guys in our district are playing really good football right now. There’s a lot of talent still on their team, they’re going to be fighting for their playoff lives, and it’s going to be a good ballgame.”
Navarro is 8-0 overall, 3-0 in district play, and ranked anywhere from No. 2 to No. 8 in the various 4A Division II state polls after scoring six unanswered touchdowns in a 42-14 home win over Wimberley last week.
Cuero lost the bulk of its 15-1 state championship team to graduation in the off-season. The Gobblers defeated Bay City 28-15 in the season opener before suffering a six-game losing streak, including district setbacks to Bandera (16-15) and Llano (35-16). Cuero snapped the skid with a 69-0 win over Eastside Memorial to keep their playoff hopes alive last week.
The Gobblers have run the football effectively in spurts, but lack the offensive they’ve strived for in previous seasons. Jackson Hardwick (556 yds., 9 TD), Cavin Smith (416 yds., 2 TD), and J.D. Notaro (393 yds., 3 TD) have been Cuero’s most productive players. Notaro also enters Friday with 402 passing yards, three touchdowns, and four intercpetions, but only a .417 completion percentage. The net result is the Gobblers averaging just 22.1 points per contest.
Meanwhile, Navarro keeps chugging along with its Slot-T rushing attack. The Panthers average 44.6 points and 403.1 rushing yards per game (9.9 per carry). Euler Deleon leads the charge with 1,100 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground, and has scored at least once in every game. Jean “MoMo” Sims comes off a 141-yard game with two touchdowns against Wimberley and enters Friday with 593 yards and six touchdowns on the year.
The Panthers statistical leaders on defense include Mark Wozniak (93 tackles), Gabriel Means (10 TFL, 2 sacks), Johnny Alegria (2 INT), and Brady Butler (2 FR).
Friday marks the eighth meeting in seven seasons between Navarro and Cuero. The Gobblers have won six of the previous seven, including a 5-1 mark in playoff meetings.
Kickoff at Erwin-Lee Field is slated for 7:30 p.m. A complete interview with Blount can be heard during the Panther Report just after 6:30 p.m. on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com.
Marion visits Cotulla with district title hopes intact
(Cotulla) – With two weeks left in the regular season, Marion is one of four teams still alive in the District 15-3A-Division I championship race and looks to knock one of the contenders out in Friday’s road clash against Cotulla.
The Bulldogs (5-3), Jourdanton, and Randolph share first place with identical 3-1 district records, and Cotulla sits a half-game back with a 3-2 mark in league play.
The Cowboys, 7-2 in David Silva’s first season as head coach, are a tough bunch to figure out. They turned in perhaps their best performance of the year two weeks ago in a 20-14 win over the Jourdanton team that looked thoroughly dominant in a win over Marion the previous Friday. Rather than carry that momentum into last week, Cotulla suffered a 14-10 loss to Karnes City squad that was previously winless in district play.
Marion comes off the bye week knowing the first defensive priority against the Cowboys is limiting a rushing attack that churns out 261 yards per game, led by senior fullback Cahel Lafferty’s 807 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“They run the ball 80 percent of the time,” Marion head coach Ryne Miller noted. “So we want to make sure that our guys get lined up correctly, that we put our guys in a good situation, make sure we get penetration with that run game, and take Number 2 (Lafferty) away. You’ve got to understand where Number 2’s at on the field. They play him quite a bit with the wildcat package, so we’ve got to make sure we scheme for that. Everything else, as long as our guys go out and execute and eliminate some different things, we’ll be okay.”
Marion’s offensive leaders include senior quarterback Zach Goodwin (1,524 passing yds., 14 TD, 6 Int., 473 rushing yds., 9 TD), running-back Ray Rayos (521 yds., 2 TD), and receiver Jacob Devora (34 rec., 538 yds., 7 TD).
Friday’s kickoff in Cotulla is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. A complete interview with Miller can be heard during the Bulldog Report after 6:30 p.m. on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com.
Falcons host Houston-Texas Christian in regular season finale
(Seguin) – Lifegate concludes its six-man football regular season at home Friday in a matchup of high-scoring teams riding three-game winning streaks when Houston-Texas Christian visits Falcon Field.
The 7-2 Falcons are averaging 50 points per game in John Stout’s first season as head coach after a 66-19 thumping of Mount Carmel Academy last Saturday.
The visiting Tigers of Texas Christian are 4-3 with 45-point scoring average after cruising past Corpus Christi-Annapolis 78-31 last Friday. Texas Christian has scored at least 55 points in each of its last three games.
Stout says his defense will have to be disciplined to slow down the Tigers.
“It’s mainly just containing their running-back,” Stout said. “They’ve got two quick guys that really get after it. I mean, they’re really fast, and we’ve just got to contain them. They get to the outside, you may think you’ve got them contained, and they’ll turned right back up into the middle, then they’re gone. You’ve just got to make sure you’ve got backside help, plus cutback help, and outside contain.”
Junior spread-back Quinten Shellnut leads Lifegate in multiple statistical categories with 1,687 yards and 37 touchdowns rushing, 741 yards and 10 touchdowns passing, 68 tackles, and two interceptions on defense. Barson Schmidt has accounted for seven total touchdowns offensively and made a sizeable impact on defense with 60 tackles, six sacks, and two interceptions.
Lifegate’s TCAL state semifinal matchup is set no matter the outcome of Friday’s regular season finale. The Falcons will face El Paso-Faith Christian next week, but the time and location have yet to be finalized.
Friday’s kickoff at Falcon Field against Houston-Texas Christian is set for 7 p.m.
TLU back home to pursue seventh straight win, Saturday game vs. Belhaven to air on KWED
(Seguin) – Texas Lutheran returns to Bulldog Stadium for its first 1 p.m. home game of the season after two consecutive weeks on the road when the Bulldogs and Belhaven square off in American Southwest Conference play Saturday.
TLU moved to 6-1 in Carl Gufstafson’s third season as head coach and stretched its winning streak to six games with a 35-6 thumping of Sul Ross State in Alpine last Saturday. With a 6-0 conference record, the Bulldogs still share the ASC lead with defending national champion and No. 2 ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor (7-0, 6-0).
Texas Lutheran received votes again this week in both the D3football.com and AFCA Coaches Poll, but landed just outside the Top 25 in both rankings.
Belhaven has struggled to a 1-6 overall mark and a 1-5 ASC record under second-year head coach Blaine McCorkle. The Blazers come off their bye week hoping to end a three-game losing streak. After defeating McMurry 46-18 on Sept, 28, Belhaven has suffered a 28-17 loss to East Texas Baptist, a 31-21 setback to Southwestern, and a 63-7 shellacking at the hands of Hardin Simmons.
The Blazers have kept all games but the HSU loss competitive with a run defense that yields 157.9 yards per game and just 3.9 per carry. TLU figures to test Belhaven in that regard with a rushing attack that ranks No. 2 in the ASC and 13th nationally with 266 yards per outing.
The Bulldogs continue to flourish with a “by committee” approach in the backfield. TLU features four of the ASC’s top ten rushers in Chris Monroe (476 yds., 3 TD), quarterback Wade Freeman (456 yds., 6 TD), Austin Matthews (425 yds., 4 TD), and Ian Leslie (343 yds., 3 TD).
Though TLU prefers to pound away on the ground, the passing attack has been coldly efficient when Freeman has gone to the air. The dual-threat sophomore is completing 66.4 percent of his passes for 944 yards, 11 touchdowns, and no interceptions in 119 attempts. Freeman ranks third in the ASC in passing efficiency with a mark of 163.5.
The Bulldogs’ top receivers include Mason Perkins (29 rec., 354 yds., 2 TD) and C.J. Romero (20 rec., 296 yds., 6 TD). Freeman’s touchdown passes have gone to five different receivers, with freshman tight end Aaron Sotello and sophomore wide-out Joseph Moreno recording their first career scores last week.
Belhaven is only scoring at a clip of 18.9 points per game. Senior quarterback Hunter McEachern enters Saturday with 1,209 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions on 55 percent passing. The Blazers’ top running threat is Brad Foley with 381 rushing yards and six scores on 81 carries.
The TLU defense allows just 16.3 points per game and is one of the nation’s best at forcing turnovers. The Bulldogs rank third in Division III in turnover margin (+16), seventh in takeaways (21), and first in the ASC in both categories. TLU has coralled a conference-high 11 interceptions, with cornerback Daniel Enriquez and safety James Bell each recording three each to share the individual ASC lead. Defensive end Jackson Worley’s 5.5 sacks rank fourth in the conference.
Saturday’s kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium. The game will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com, with streaming video at tlubulldogs.com. Pre-game coverage starts at 12:30 p.m.