Strong defensive outing needed from Apaches defense

GONZALES — As it’s been all season for the Apaches, Gonzales (4-4, 1-2) will be facing yet another tough test in the district, taking on the Caldwell Hornets (4-4, 2-1). The Hornets have had some success recently, including a deep postseason run last season as Caldwell reached the fourth round of playoffs. This year, the Hornets returned just about all of their skill kids, according to Gonzales’ head coach Kodi Crane, and it’s shown in the stat sheet.

Offensively, the Caldwell Hornets have produced the most yards in District 10-4AD2.

On average, the Hornets have had 372.8 yards per game. They’ve also averaged 29.3 points per game. Head coach Kodi Crane cites three explosive offensive weapons as keys to their success.

“#21 [Keyshawn Chambers] is a stud from last year,” Crane said. “1500-yard rusher, breaks his collarbone the first game. This will be his third game back.”

While Keyshawn Chambers was out, little brother #8 Domonique Chambers stepped in and not only played running back, he also lined up out wide as a receiver and under center as quarterback.

“[He] does a little bit of everything.”

The Hornets also have wide receiver #11 Devin Morris, a verbal commit to Texas A&M.

“He is an outstanding receiver and cornerback,” Crane noted.

Domonique Chambers not only leads the team in rushing this season, he leads the district with 1,124 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Morris is up top of the district as well with 528 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

Caldwell’s main quarterback is #6 Will Faust. He “controls the offense well,” Crane said.

“Pretty accurate throwing the ball. Whenever Faust plays quarterbacks, Chambers plays receiver and whenever they switch, they switch it. So it’s not like one of them is in and out of the game.”

Domonique Chambers is more of a wildcat quarterback, however, as Faust isn’t known for taking off and running.

“We got to make different defensive calls depending on who’s in the backfield,” Crane said. Although it wouldn’t be a huge game plan switch, the Apaches defense will need to know who is under center so they can adjust. Not only that, but the Hornets tend to have two different “personalities” on offense.

“They have a spread personality which last week against Smithville they were in in the majority of the game,” Crane scouted. “Then they’ll go up under center and get in the I.”

For the Apaches, they’ll have to match their personnel to what Caldwell shows and make sure the defense plays their “gaps” and “with great leverage” as Crane described it.

“We got to build a fence and all pickets have to be in it,” he said. “We can’t be missing a picket because if we are, they got a chance to go [score].”

Defensively, Caldwell is currently undergoing a change. Initially the team started out in a 4-3 formation. But their top linebacker, #14 Dennis Engelmann, was sick in their game against Mexia, their last non-district game, so coaches opted to run a 5-2 front instead.

“They kind of stuck with that 5-2,” Crane said, “they went to a double eagle bear look and last Friday night they just reassigned their defensive coordinator and put somebody else in charge of their defense…. He’s kind of a split guy, 4-2-5, but they stayed with the 5-2. Now that he has an extra week, they can come out of the 4-2 very easily.”

With that being said, the Hornets will be looking to load the box and force opponents to throw the ball. But the Apaches have gone up against a similar front just last week.

“[Giddings] tried to stop the run, they got up in our face and forced us to run the ball,” Crane acknowledged. “Whenever we did, we had great success. Why did we? Because those five big boys up front did an outstanding job. We developed some schemes where we had good angles to let those guys block and then Josh [Calvin] did the rest.”

The Hornets’ defense, specifically their secondary, has shown to play a bit looser, so that’ll also give quarterback Garrett Rickman the opportunity to find some space to complete some passes.

“We’re going to have to be able to pitch it and catch it some [tonight].”

Two weeks to go and none of the six teams in district have clinched a spot. A win over a Caldwell may not necessarily clinch it for the Apaches but it puts them in the right direction. They’re not in the win-or-go-home situation just yet. But with a tough game tonight, the Apaches need to treat it as such to move to 2-2 in district.

“They’re a good football team, there’s not going to be one easy thing about this football game,” Crane admitted, “and we’re going to have to play it for 48 minutes to come out successful.”

Tonight’s game is at home, with kickoff set at 7:30 p.m.

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UIL District 10-4AD2

as of Week 8   W        L          &        

Giddings          3          0          1.000

La Grange       2          1          0.667

Caldwell          2          1          0.667

Gonzales         1          2          0.333

Columbus        1          2          0.333

Smithville        0          3          0.000

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Tiebreaking procedures

In case of a tie between two teams, the winner of the head-to-head game will earn the higher seed. For example, Gonzales and Columbus are currently tied at 1-2. However, Gonzales is higher in the standings because they beat Columbus head-to-head.

In case of a tie between more teams, the standings are based on point differential amongst the tying teams.

Let’s assume La Grange, Gonzales and Columbus each had the same record. La Grange beat Gonzales 14-6 (+8) and lost to Columbus 31-15 (-16), giving them a point differential of -8. Gonzales lost to La Grange 14-6 (-8) and beat Columbus 14-7 (+7), giving them a point differential of -1. Columbus beat La Grange 31-15 (+16) and lost to Gonzales 14-7 (-7), giving them a point differential of +9.  That means Columbus would be the top seed of the three teams at +9, Gonzales would be next at -1 and La Grange below with -8.