(Seguin) — Playoff implications are on the line as the Seguin Matadors host the New Braunfels Unicorns in the 112th Guadalupe River Bowl tonight at Matador Stadium.
Both teams are tied for third place in District 13-5A with 3-2 records. The winner of tonight’s game will clinch a playoff spot.
The Matadors can also secure a playoff berth with a Victoria East loss. The Titans are at first place Pieper tonight.
Last week, Seguin put themselves in a favorable playoff position with a dramatic 28-27 win over Wagner. The Matadors rallied from a 20-point first quarter deficit using a strong running game led by Ian Moreno who had nearly 200 yards on the ground. The Mats won the game when Jacob Burns came down in the back of the endzone with a 20-yard TD pass from Corey Dailey on the final play.
Seguin head coach Craig Dailey said his team never wavered in the comeback win.
“Our kids believe in each other. It’s a team game,” Dailey said. “Defensively, we said ‘just keep getting the ball back’ and we finally got on track on offense. We were able to run the ball. The formula to win is to wear people down. Our tempo started hurting them in the second half and we take pride in that.”
Tonight’s game is the final regular season home game for Seguin’s seniors. It’s also the fourth year as head coach for Dailey at his alma mater. He previously served as a Seguin assistant coach from 2004-06. The seniors on this year’s Matador team have been with their head coach all four years and Dailey calls them a special group.
“It’s 28 awesome kids. They’re not just leaders on our football team, but in our school and community. They’re gonna do big things in this world,” Dailey said. “It’s a special group. It’s the first group we’ve had all four years. There’s a lot of connections with me knowing family members, either coaching their parents the previous time here, going to school with some of their parents and knowing their families. When you have those type of connections, it’s awesome to see these kids be successful.”
The Matadors will be looking to break trends in tonight’s Guadalupe River Bowl. New Braunfels owns a 10-game winning streak in the series. They’ve also won 16 out of the last 17.
Tonight’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. And we’ll have the game on KWED.
In other area games tonight:
(Lago Vista) — The Navarro Panthers, winners of three in a row in District 13-4A, play at Lago Vista tonight. The Panthers are in third place in district at 3-2. The Vikings are in second place at 3-1. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Lago Vista High School.
(Llano) — And the Marion Bulldogs, 2-1 in District 13-3A, are at 3-0 Llano tonight. That game kicks at 7 p.m. tonight at Llano High School.
We’ll have our High School Football Friday Night coverage tonight on KWED. We’ll kick off our coverage at 6:15 p.m. with the Navarro Panther report with Navarro coach Rod Blount.
Then it’s the Marion Bulldog report with Marion coach Ryne Miller. And then we’ll head over to Matador Stadium for our Seguin football pregame where we’ll talk more with coach Craig Dailey inside the Matador report.
It all leads up to kickoff of the 112th Guadalupe River Bowl between Seguin and New Braunfels from Matador Stadium at 7 O’clock tonight on AM 1580 and streaming at SeguinToday.com.
Last night in District 13-5A, the Boerne Champion Chargers beat Wagner 31-26 at Judson ISD Stadium. Tonight, the Pieper Warriors host Victoria East. A win by Pieper clinches a Seguin playoff berth. And Smithson Valley hosts San Antonio MacArthur.