Last week was a turning point for the Bridge City Cardinals according to Coach Allen DeShazo. The final score indicated a loss but coach sees some positive signs that Bridge City is moving forward to be a competitive football team. A definite bright spot was the re-emergence of Andy Lara at fullback. Lara carried the ball 18 times for over 100 yards. He will get more carries this week.
During the second half against Jasper, Bridge City focused on the basics, tackling better, lined up better, blocked better, and ran better. DeShazo summarized, “We just had a much better second half effort.”
The Cardinals will be looking for their first win this week as they will play at home for the first time this season. DeShazo analyzed the offense used by the Anahuac Panthers. They do a little bit of everything. The Panthers will spread it out and the will run the option from the Flexbone or the Wishbone.
Anahuac is getting better at running the option. That means Bridge City’s defensive players will need to stick to their specific assignments in order to stop the dive, the quarterback, and the pitch.
The Panthers use multiple backs with Tanner Fugere as the featured back. Tyrone Wilson had over 700 yards on the ground last season. Freshman Zyon Clark runs hard too according to DeShazo. “It’s going to be a test.”
Coach DeShazo explained the Panthers on defense base out of a 4-3. Their defensive line is really big and hard to move. Bridge City needs to attack that big line with quickness, angle blocking, pulling and kicking out. He emphasized the Cardinals’ linemen will need to do their assignments, to stay on blocks, and not coming off too early.
Leaders on defense start with tackle Alex Smith. Another standout on the Panthers’ defense is linebacker Teriyan Nyaribo.
Improvement was seen last week in a loss. DeShazo is counting on the Cardinals to improve each week and the wins will follow. Bridge City cutback on the turnovers last week and actually had two takeaways which needs to continue. The coach would like to get the turnover figure down to zero. Eliminating silly penalties is another goal.
Getting better each week has been preached to the players by the coaches. The players seem to be responding to that positively. The coach is proud of their effort. “It’s going to come down to just doing our jobs.” DeShazo commented.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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