(New Braunfels) — The Seguin Matadors and New Braunfels Unicorns will meet today in the 110th edition of the Guadalupe River Bowl. The teams first met in 1922 and have played each other one time or more for 95 consecutive years coming into this year. The Unicorns have won the last eight meetings in the series and 14 out of the last 15. Seguin’s last win came in 2013, a 38-31 win in overtime.
Seguin head coach Craig Dailey played in this rivalry as a player for the Matadors in the late 90’s. He says the rivalry between the two schools means a lot to the community, but he tries to keep his team focused on the game at hand.
“We try to treat it as any other game, but the communities on both sides kind of get it going. The mayors have a little bet going on, but it always a fun atmosphere for kids and coaches to be apart of.”
Both teams come into the 100th anniversary of the rivalry with big victories in game one of the 2022 season. The Unicorns beat state power Denton Ryan 34-33 in Belton last Thursday. New Braunfels found themselves down 33-14 in the 3rd quarter, but stormed back with 3 unanswered touchdowns to get the victory. Dailey called the victory an impressive win for the Unicorns.
“They’re very balanced on offense. They fell behind and their kids kept fighting and found a way to beat a very good Denton Ryan team.”
Seguin got off to a slow start at Matador Stadium, but got 4 touchdowns from junior running back John Jackson in a come from behind 42-39 win over Alamo Heights last Friday. Dailey said the coaches challenged Jackson at halftime.
“We said we’re gonna see how tired you get in the 2nd half and he did a good job. We gave him the ball 22 times and he got in the endzone 4 (times). He was really big for us in the 2nd half.”
The Matadors will look to lean on Jackson and good blocking from the offensive line against the Unicorns tonight. Dailey says they hopes to play mistake free football tonight and try to keep the New Braunfels offense off the field.
“The best defense is holding the ball (on offense). Eating the clock when you need to and take shots when you need to. They can’t score when (their offense) is on the sidelines.”
Kickoff is set for 7:15 tonight at Unicorn Stadium in New Braunfels. We’ll talk more with coach Dailey during our Matador Report inside the Matador pregame show starting 6:45 on KWED. You can also hear all the play-by-play action streaming worldwide online at SeguinToday.com.