Apaches face tough test in Giddings

GONZALES — The Apaches (4-3, 1-1) face a tough test tonight as they travel to Giddings (5-2, 2-0) to take on a Buffaloes team that was picked in the preseason as a playoff-caliber squad.

[Giddings] is an extremely good team,” Apaches’ head coach Kodi Crane said. “They’re big, fast, athletic. They’re skills kids can run. They have done a good job of mixing the run and pass. They’re very aggressive on defense, they’re just a good team all around.”

Offensively, the Buffaloes run a spread offense with an occasional formation where they’d bring a tight end on the field.

“Last week they had #12 [Rustin Grimm] start and played two series maybe,” Crane scouted, “but then #25 [Chabastin Taylor] came in, he’s their wildcat quarterback. He played basically the rest of the game until the last series.”

The Buffaloes want to give Taylor the ball and have him run play such as counters to get him up the field.

Overall, Giddings has the ability to run their offense in a more traditional form or in the wildcat with Taylor. With these options, the Apaches defense will have to take notice of what’s in front of them and adjust.

“We’ve had to do it before in the past,” Crane said. “Last week, for example, we had to [adjust], not necessarily at quarterback but who was in at running back.”

“It’s a matter of where we call our front, how we move our front.”

Defensively, the Buffaloes are a four-man front with mostly man coverage behind it, Crane said.

“It’s a little bit of zone, but they’re most up in your face.”

Players to look out for include defensive end #28 Alexis Orocio who has been a three-year starter.

“He’s a good football player,” Crane said. “I’ll be glad to see him graduate. I might send him a graduation present.”

Another player to watch out for is #17 Kyle Thiele at free safety and #34 Reed Walther at linebacker.

“They got corners that can shut you down, [Giddings] is good,” Crane admitted.

The biggest key for the Apaches is to get their run game going. Last week, Josh Calvin, Matthew Grauke and quarterback Garrett Rickman had carries. Tonight, the Apaches may be inclined to get some touches to other players in the backfield including Aaron Hunt who lined up mostly out wide.

“We’ll try to see who has the hot hand,” Crane mentioned when asked about the carries.

The Apaches were able to knock off Columbus (1-6, 0-2) last week and will need to be “physical” again tonight, as Crane described it, to knock off another playoff contender.

“We got to be more physical, over and over for four quarters.”

Right now, La Grange sits up top with Giddings at (2-0). The Apaches are with Caldwell at (1-1). Columbus and Smithville are at (0-2). With three games left, Gonzales would set themselves up for a postseason run with a win tonight.

They play in Giddings with kickoff set at 7:30 p.m.