The start of the football season should be on Friday night for the Bridge City Cardinals. Coronavirus precautions and Hurricane Laura have pushed the first game played for the Cardinals to what is Week 4 of the season.
Coach Allen DeShazo believes Bridge City is ready for some football. The coach and the team are a little disappointed they lost three games because of the hurricane. There was minimal damage done to homes for the players and coaches from the storm.
The players have done a good job following the protocols concerning the Coronavirus, and there have been no cases of the virus on the team. After power was restored to Bridge City the Cardinals resumed practices last week. DeShazo advised, “We’re just ready to get a game under our belt.”
The opening opponent for the Cardinals will be the Anahuac Panthers. DeShazo looked at the Panthers’ offense which shows every formation known to football.
The theory for so many formations according to DeShazo is to get opponents misaligned so that the Panthers can take advantage. They actually only run about three or four plays which they do very well.
The Anahuac quarterback Landon Corbitt started last year as a freshman on defense, but will now lead the offense. Corbitt in the early games has made good decisions with the ball. He is a hard runner and a good thrower of the football.
Zyon Clark is the top receiver for Corbitt’s passes. Clark had 28 receptions last year with five of those for touchdowns. The leading rusher is expected to be Landon Fanus.
The Panthers are good at what they do. “They are going to make sure we stay disciplined,” DeShazo stated.
Bridge City will hope to move the football against a solid Anahuac defense which Coach DeShazo described as being based out of a 5-1 covering up each of the opponent’s offensive linemen. The Panthers strategy is to send more guys than you can block and man-up on the edges.
There is only one linebacker, but he is a good one. Kevin Hernandez is a returning starter and has a nose for the football.
The defensive line is big for Anahuac and gets lots of penetration. The featured player there is returning starter Wyatt Gates at tackle. Logan DeHoyos and Caden Hampton add beef to the front five for the Panthers.
The Cardinals want to carry out their blocking assignments to deal with the aggressive tendencies of the Panthers’ defense. DeShazo pointed out, “The key is to do our job, not try to do too much, and get the ball out of our hands quickly when they bring more than we can take care of.”
This is the only tune up for the Cardinals before they start district in two weeks. This being a non-district game the top goal is to avoid injuries for the Cardinals that would hinder them in the subsequent games.
DeShazo analyzed the importance of this game is to get the players into game shape which Bridge City has a disadvantage since Anahuac has already played a couple of games. He is hoping the Cardinals will have few mental mistakes in this the first game for them and the only one before the district starts.
The district schedule actually begins next week. Bridge City will play this Friday night and then have a bye for the first week of the district season. “After we took three weeks off, we play a game, and we’re going to have another bye to get ready for district that should help us be more healthy,” DeShazo concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Schedule
WOS 0-0 vs Newton 0-1
OF 0-1 vs Buna 0-1
LCM 0-0 at Woodville 2-0
BC 0-0 vs Anahuac 0-2
Vidor 1-0 at Bay City 3-0
Deweyville 1-1 vs Warren 2-0
Jasper 1-0 at HJefferson 1-1
Liberty 2-0 at Shepherd 0-2
Silsbee 1-0 vs Pl.Grove 2-1
Diboll 0-2 at Livingston 1-2
Splendora 1-2 at HFannett 1-1
EChambers 2-0 at Lumberton 0-2
Huntington 2-0 at Hemphill 2-0
Social Media