Mustangs, Eagles open district slates tonight

Those who are superstitious will say that 13 is an unlucky number.

Either the Karnes City football team is not superstitious or 13 happens to be its lucky number. That’s because the Badgers scored 13 points in both of their wins – 13-7 over Marion and Randolph, respectively.

While Karnes City (2-1) has found an unusual lucky number, Nixon-Smiley (0-3) is still in search of some breaks. The Mustangs host the Badgers at 7:30 p.m. today at Mustang Stadium in Nixon in the District 15-2A-Division II opener for both teams.

Nixon-Smiley is coming off of its bye week, in which it took time to work on a few kinks. The Mustangs last saw the field Sept. 14 when they lost to Yorktown, 34-12.

“The week off was good for us,” Nixon-Smiley coach Carlton McKinney said. “We got a lot accomplished, improved on both sides of the football and worked on execution. I believe our players have a better understanding of their responsibilities.”

Not only has Karnes City won its last two games by the exact same score, both wins occurred thanks to a tiebreaking touchdown in the final minute of regulation. Quarterback Dylan Lopez scored on a 36-yard run with 31 seconds remaining in the win over Marion on Sept. 7, and he threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to K.D. Glenn with 36 tics left in the win over Randolph on Sept. 14.

“Karnes City has some quality players who are put in positions to make plays when called on,” McKinney said. “They move Glenn around to give him the ball in space. We have to pay attention to where he is on the field.”

The Badgers are led offensively by Glenn and Lopez. Glenn is the leading rusher (28 carries, 76 yards) and receiver (8 catches, 45 yards), and Lopez is the leading passer (12-22-2, 83 yards).

“Karnes City is multiple on offense, but their base is the spread,” McKinney said. “They run a lot of zone read and they try to get Glenn the ball.”

Defensively, the Badgers operate out of a split-6. With the exception of the 28-0 season-opening loss to Kenedy, they have held their own defensively.

If there is one thing Nixon-Smiley has in its favor, it is recent history. The Mustangs beat Karnes City, 40-22, a year ago.

“We need to execute on offense, limit our mistakes and control the ball,” McKinney said. “Last year we were able to control the ball and keep their offense off the field. We need to do the same thing (tonight).”

Luling at SA Cole

To Luling football coach Colby Hensley, his team and Cole are both 0-0. What happened in the first four games means very little to him.

“It doesn’t matter if you go 0-4, 1-3 or 4-0 in nondistrict,” Hensley said. “Everything counts now.”

Luling (1-3) visits Cole (0-4) at 7:30 p.m. today at Cole High School on the post of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. While the Cougars have yet to win a game this season, Hensley is taking his opponent very seriously.

“Cole is a well-coached team,” he said. “They’re triple option on offense, split-6 cover-3 on defense and they have quickness on both sides of the ball.”

Cole operates offensively out of the wishbone, an offense considered obsolete in the era of the spread. The main key to the wishbone is triple option with fullback dive, quarterback keeper and option pitch being the top three plays.

“We have to play good assignment football,” Hensley said. “Our defenders need to stay on their guys at all times.”

The top three rushers for the Cougars are running backs Jerren Scott (41 carries, 222 yards) and Jacob Almquist (28-111) and quarterback Andre Terrell (63-113). Terrell also has passed for 115 yards.

Cypress Christian at St. Paul

A contrast in styles will meet in Shiner tonight when pass-happy Cypress Christian (1-3) visits ground-oriented St. Paul (1-2) at 7:30 at Comanche Field. Tonight’s contest is also the Cardinals’ annual homecoming game.

“Our kids have great school spirit and are involved in a lot of things, but they don’t have a problem staying focused on the game,” St. Paul coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “We’ll be ready to go (tonight).”

Both teams have a common opponent in Fort Bend Christian. FBC beat St. Paul, 36-31, on Sept. 7, and soared past Cypress Christian, 49-13, last week.

The Warriors are not afraid to throw the football as they have more than double the amount of passes than rushing attempts. Quarterback Thomas Glazier has already thrown for 727 yards and seven touchdowns, but also has seven interceptions.

“Cypress Christian is a passing team,” Wachsmuth said. “This is the first time this year that we’ve seen a true passing team. We have to put pressure on the quarterback and mix up our coverages. We also cannot give up big plays.”

Glazier’s top receivers are Frank Aufmuth (31 catches, 371 yards) and Bobby Miller (14 catches, 156 yards). The leading rusher is Blaise Fontenot with 55 yards on 25 carries.

Defensively Cypress Christian operates out of a 50 front with four defensive backs. The Warriors either will line up in a 3-4 or 5-2 with cover-2 or cover-4 looks.

The Cardinals hope to bounce back from last week’s 22-21 loss to Weimar. Adam Hollenbach has rushed for more than 500 yards in three games this season.

“Weimar’s a good team,” Wachsmuth said. “They got out on us, but we battled back to take the lead. We made some mistakes that cost us, but we’ll be alright.”

Shiner at Thrall

The Comanches hope to continue their winning ways tonight when they travel to Thrall to take on the Tigers at 7:30. Shiner (3-1) is off to its best start since 2009 when it went 3-1 after four games.

“It’s been a good start and a good confidence builder,” Shiner coach Steven Cerny said. “We’re doing well in some areas, but need work in other areas.”

After dropping its first two games to Bruceville-Eddy (40-21) and Florence (20-0), Thrall (2-2) bounced back with wins over Jarrell (42-27) and Granger (26-21). Like the Comanches, the Tigers also are aiming for their third straight win tonight.

“Thrall is bigger than us and they’ll try to use their size to their advantage,” Cerny said. “We’ll have to use our quickness to our advantage.”

Thrall’s offense revolves around running backs Alex Kyner and Aaron Salazar and quarterback Joel Salazar. The Tigers are multiple on offense as they operate out of the spread, pistol or offset I.

“They’re similar to Schulenburg,” Cerny said. “They’ll find something that works and go with that. We took the run away from Schulenburg, but they hurt us with the pass. The key for us is to use our speed to get big plays, but also find ways to sustain long drives.”

Shiner is coming off of a 45-7 rout of Randolph last week. The Comanches used seven turnovers to pull away from the Ro-Hawks.

“We took advantage of their mistakes and got a few big plays to take Randolph out early,” Cerny said. “We scored on the first play then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and scored off of that to build a 15-0 lead before they ever touched the football.”