Apaches open season against playoff contender

GONZALES — The past two seasons under Gonzales head coach Kodi Crane’s reign, the non-district portion of their season have been particularly tough. With the new realignment, this non-district looks to be no different with the Apaches traveling to Orange Grove to take on a Bulldogs team that may have a new coach but are picked to repeat as district champions once again.

“They’ve won their district five years in a row,” Crane explained. “They were a 9-0 team last year, had one game rained out. They won their first round game and lost in the second round. Whenever they step on out on the football field they expect to win.”

Under new coach Scotty Pugh, the Bulldogs are expected to still run from a spread on the offense, with returning wide receivers Chris Lauer and Ethan French as key players.

“They can get out and get it, run good routes,” Crane said of the wide outs. “Probably not super top-end speed but their routes are sharp and crisp, they catch the ball well and they catch the ball well in traffic.”

Another change to the offense will be sophomore quarterback Coleman King, listed at 5-11, 155 pounds. He will be making his first start tonight.

“Even though he’s a sophomore you can tell on film that he knows his way around the football field,” Crane warned. “He knows the drill, he’s on his toes, he has a good release, he has a very strong arm.”

The offensive line will be tough to get through with returners such as all-district guard Galen Gallagher, Will Wright and center Jose Soliz. Gallagher is listed at 6-4, 280 pounds.

Defensively, the Bulldogs will be returning four key starters in defensive tackle Noah Villareal (listed at 6-4, 210 pounds), linebacker Heston Vollmering and defensive backs Aaron Alvarado and Scott Meyer.

“We think their defensive front is pretty good,” Crane scouted. “They get off the ball, they have a lot of games that they play up front with their twists and movements, trying to confuse the offensive line. The linebackers are really good. You can tell they are well coached, they have great stances, you can tell their eyes are on their key ready to go and they’re aggressive whenever it happens.”

In order for the Apaches to have some success, the offense will have to rely on their quick passing game with junior quarterback Garrett Rickman under center. But for that to happen, Crane is relying on his protection up front.

“To make the quick-passing game happen we’ve got to protect our quarterback with all the movements and twists,” he explained. “Whenever we get into our running game phase, we’re going to have to know our assignments and stay on track and pick up who comes to us, not necessarily who starts in front of us because of how much movement that they have.”

Defensively the Apaches will be going through a term known as ASKA.

“It stands for alignment, stance, key and assignment,” Crane said. “They have to memorize ASKA Chart for every defensive front, every defensive coverage we have and we tell our kids ‘if you don’t know what to do, ASKA yourself and you’ll figure it out.’”

The first game of the season will bring its own issues, but Crane wants to make sure that his team not only has improved by the end of the night, but is in better shape as well.

“We’ve got to use this game to help us to continue to get in better shape,” he said. “We’ve got to use this game to perfect the three things that we always talk about in skill development, mental toughness and the power of the tribe. If those three things are better at the end of the game than we’ll be a better football team.”

“All we can control is this week’s game,” Crane continued. “We want to get out, we want to be successful, we want to execute a game plan, we want to execute adjustments and we want to play with relentless effort. We do that then the scoreboard will take care of itself.”

Kickoff takes place at Orange Grove at 7:30 p.m.