The first win of the season is always special, and last week’s victory for the Orangefield Bobcats was the first for many of the Bobcats who were playing in only their second varsity football game. Returning to lead the defense will be safety Zach Dischler who missed last week’s game with a knee injury.
This week Orangefield and Coach Josh Smalley play the Diboll Lumberjacks. Smalley analyzed the explosive Diboll offense. The Lumberjacks run the Spread with mostly two running backs, but they will go with one back.
The main weapon for Diboll is running back Ty Hamilton who has rushed for over 700 yards in the Lumberjacks first four games. Stopping him will be the focus of the Bobcat defense according to Coach Smalley.
They also have a senior quarterback Nathan Garcia who has weapons out wide especially in Jemarcus White. Smalley admitted, “We’ve obviously got to contain the run and try to contain the running back because he is one of their studs, but they have the ability to hurt you through the air, so defensively it’s a tremendous challenge for us Friday night.”
The Lumberjacks are coached by Blake Morrison whose specialty is defense, so Coach Smalley knows the Bobcats will have a tough time running the ball against them. They line up in a five-man front much like West Orange-Stark’s 50 Defense. That will most likely change to eight men in the box. Morrison helped lead Coldspring to the state championship when he was their defensive coordinator. Diboll will be well coached defensively, take a lot of pride in it, and will run to the football real well.
Leading the Diboll defense is defensive end Noah Goins, a senior. Lucio Monrroy at linebacker is another senior leader for the Lumberjacks. Herbert Gums is just a sophomore, but is a physical specimen at outside linebacker or defensive end. “Again, just like defense, offensively we’ve got our work cut out for us too,” Smalley believes.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Morrison and his offensive coordinator Cris Stump. Morrison coached previously at Orangefield. Stump was the Head Coach at Bridge City previously as well. Smalley hopes to spoil their return to Orangefield.
On defense the Bobcats must eliminate the big play, rally to the ball, and then tackle well. On offense Orangefield has got to not turn the ball over or get into long yardage situations which would prevent the Bobcats from keeping their offense on the field.
The Lumberjacks are much improved over last season when Orangefield won at Diboll. They have already won as many games this year as they did all of last season. Their only loss is to the very good Newton Eagles. “We’re looking for a very tough, but very competitive ball game Friday,” Smalley concluded.
The Orangefield Bobcats play the Diboll Lumberjacks Friday night. The kickoff will be at 7:00 PM at Orangefield’s F. L. McClain Stadium.
Social Media