(Universal City) — The Marion Bulldogs and Randolph Ro-Hawks will meet on the gridiron in the second week of District 13-3A play on Friday.
The Bulldogs trounced Luling, 49-0, at homecoming last week to get off to a 1-0 start in district. The Marion defense forced five turnovers in earning their first shutout of the season. Hayden Robbins, Adam Salazar, and Kyle Zamora recovered fumbles. And Eli Parker and Hudson Robles had interceptions for the Marion defense.
Bulldog head coach Joel Call says winning the turnover battle is one of the goals for his team.
“We’ve been challenging them and pushing them all along to set the standards and improve, and one of our goals each week is the turnover goal,” Call said. “We want to win that turnover battle and they stepped up and made it happen. Kudos to them and coach (Bo) Gonzalez, our defensive coordinator.
“Our offense has been doing well, and we wanted our defense to step up. It’s those three phrases — offense, defense and special teams. And we gotta be great in all three to be a great football team.
Marion will face a Ro-Hawk team that fell in their district opener, 35-14, to Ingram Moore last week. The Bulldogs and Ro-Hawks kick off at 7 p.m. Friday in Universal City.
(Jarrell) — The Navarro Panthers travel north up I-35 on Friday for a district matchup with the Jarrell Cougars.
Navarro is 0-2 in District 13-4A after close losses to Wimberley and Salado. Jarrell is 2-0 in district and 6-0 overall on the season.
The Panthers are in the same situation as last season. In 2024, Navarro dropped their first two district games before winning three of their next four to make the playoffs. The Panthers met a 2-0 Jarrell team last year and handed the Cougars their first defeat.
Navarro head football coach Glenn Hill knows his players from last year’s squad are not unfamiliar with what’s in front of them. He says his team leaders are staying composed despite the tough start to the district season.
“There’s no panic. The leadership on our team is great,” Hill said. “We got some really good leaders all around the team, some seniors and some underclassmen stepping into that role as well. We’re not really in a panic mode.
“We know we need to string together four quarters of our brand of football. We’ve lost by a total of nine points in the last two district games. You can look back and pick five or six plays and typically that swings it. We just need to be on the right side of those plays coming up this week.”
The Panthers and Cougars kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Jarrell.
(Timberwood Park) — The Seguin Matadors return to action following a bye last week.
Seguin will play at defending District 13-5A champion Pieper on Friday night. Both teams are 1-1 after losses two weeks ago. The Mats were outpaced by Boerne Champion in a 57-50 shootout, while the Warriors were dropped, 27-17, to defending Class 5A Division I state champion Smithson Valley.
Friday’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Pieper High School. You’ll be able to hear the game on KWED.
Tune in for High School Football Friday Night starting at 6:15 p.m. We’ll have more with Navarro coach Glenn Hill on the Navarro Panther Report. We’ll visit more with Marion coach Joel Call on the Marion Bulldog Report. And we’ll talk with Seguin head coach Craig Dailey on the Seguin Matador Report.
Then we’ll have our Seguin football pregame show from Pieper High School with kickoff between the Matadors and Warriors at 7 p.m. on AM 1580 and streaming online at SeguinToday.com.
There is one District 13-5A game on the Thursday night schedule. Victoria East hosts San Antonio MacArthur. Both teams are looking for their first district wins of the season.