(Gonzales) — The Gonzales Apaches and the Navarro Panthers face each other on Friday in a battle of the 4th and 5th place teams in District 13-4A.
Gonzales is 1-1 in district. The Panthers improved to 1-2 while handing Jarrell their first district loss last week in a 35-14 drubbing of the Cougars at Erwin-Lee Field in Geronimo. Navarro scored all five of their touchdowns on the ground led by Colorado Kenway, who ran for 136 yards on 11 carries with two scores.
The Panthers have dealt with injuries, but are getting healthier late in the season. Head coach Rod Blount said his offensive line was at full strength last week with Craig Heiman, Grayson Carlisle, Robert Beltran, Kade Pugh and Lane Black along with tight end Mason Harvey opening holes in their run game.
“It was great to have the offensive line all together and all there playing well. I thought they did a great job setting the line of scrimmage and allowing our running backs to get a running start,” Blount said. “It was great having Craig Heiman back (and) Carlisle back with us. Kade Pugh is stepping up his game as well as Beltran and Black. We put Mason Harvey at tight end and he did some good things for us as well.”
Blount said he was thrilled with Kenway’s performance.
“It was very exciting to see Colorado. He’s been given opportunities and he’s doing a great job with them.”
Navarro’s Kade Pugh was selected this week to play on the defensive line in the San Antonio Sports All-Star Football Game in January. Blount says the senior Pugh is a team first player.
“He’s a great young man. He does everything right. He’s a three-year letterman and he’s gotten better every single year. It’s all about the team with him. We’ve moved him from tight end to tackle to defensive end to defensive tackle and he wants to help out and do whatever he can to help us win.
“He has a great work ethic. I’m super excited for him to get that honor. It’s a big-time honor and I’m excited to see him get that opportunity and go play in that game.”
Pugh and the rest of the Panthers will take on Gonzales on Friday night. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Apache Field in Gonzales.
(Marion) — The Marion Bulldogs have a bye this week.
Marion and the rest of District 13-3A are off Friday night. The Bulldogs are tied for first place with Llano. Both teams are 2-0. Marion will play at Ingram Moore next Friday.
(Spring Branch) — And the Seguin Matadors travel to Spring Branch on Friday to face Smithson Valley.
The Mats and Rangers are both 2-1 in District 13-5A with each team suffering their lone district loss to Pieper. Friday night’s game between Smithson Valley and Seguin kicks off at 7 p.m. at Ranger Stadium.
Tune in for High School Football Friday Night on KWED. We’ll kick off our coverage with the Navarro Panther report with coach Rod Blount at 6:20 p.m. on Friday evening. Then we’ll head to Smithson Valley High School for our Seguin football pregame where we’ll have the Matador report with Seguin head coach Craig Dailey inside our pregame show.
Again, kickoff between the Smithson Valley Rangers and Seguin Matadors is set for 7 O’clock on Friday. And we’ll have all the play-by-play action on AM 1580 and streaming at SeguinToday.com.
And there is one game in District 13-5A tonight. Victoria East is at Wagner. Both the Titans and Thunderbirds are 1-2 in district play.