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Vipers next target for running Ricebirds
Victoria is under new direction with Head Coach Mickey Finley at the lead. Memorial finished the year 1-9 last season, but this year Victoria has taken a quicker start to the new season. The Vipers are 1-1 on the season after starting out the year with a win over McAllen Memorial and a loss last week to San Antonio Roosevelt, two Class 5-A programs. El Campo faces the daunting task of traveling to Victoria Friday to take on the Vipers in their first home game of the season. Ricebird Head Coach Bob Gillis said the road trip may be a good thing when it comes to his team being mentally prepared to play. "I just say in general that when we play at home, in my opinion, there are more distractions for us," Gillis said. "We're here in our home dressing area and everything, but there are a lot of
you get on the bus and get on the road and get into kind of an isolated dressing room, there's not as many distractions." Gillis said he is looking forward to participating in the rivalry game and said Friday should bring some good experience for his team. "We'll be playing in a bigger stadium," he said. "The next four games out of town, we'll be playing on an artificial surface. That's something we'll get to play on prior to district, which is good. "I really think they're going to be very excited in Victoria about playing their first home game after two road games. It ought to be a good, friendly rivalry, be- cause we're right down the road from each other." Last season, the Ricebirds got the better of the match by taking down the much bigger Memorial Vipers 47-20. This year, Victoria and its 3,665-student enrollment will try to avenge the loss to El Campo. "They've got a large line and a defense that just flies around," Gillis said. "They've got good running backs and I'm real impressed with their quarterback. They're a big high school and we're just a small 4-A, so we'll do the best that we can." Despite being the smaller school, at just over 1,000 students, El Campo's defense has proven tough in the first two weeks. Gillis thinks they should do well just like last week, when his Ricebirds topped Angleton 27-14. "The main thing that we try to tell all our defensive guys is that you've got to be in the right position and take the right pursuit angles," he said. "Then, when you get there, you've got to make good tackles. For the most part, last week, we were able to tackle. All in all, I think against Angleton, our defense played pretty good. "We're going to have to get better as we go. We'll see a different style this week. They've been in some shotgun. They've got a fullback who's real good also. They're going to present some different challenges for our defense." The Vipers are mainly a running team and used the ground game in the first two weeks in close matches. The Ricebirds have proved in stopping the run and putting pressure on the opposing quarterback that their defense has enough speed to compete with strong offensive attacks. "That's one thing that I think most coaches want - quickness on defense," Gillis said. "I don't know how much speed we have. We've got some kids that can run, but I think we're pretty quick up front. Our defensive line last week was able to keep the offensive linemen occupied so our linebackers could make plays." Ricebirds 27, Angleton 14 El Campo moved to 2-0 after travels to Victoria last week's win over the Angleton Wildcats. A strong defensive push and a quick attack helped the 'Birds take an early 20-0 lead before the first quarter ended. "That was big," Gillis said. "The good kick-off return and then scoring, then the interception return and then we got a fumble and scored - that was big." The Ricebirds started the first drive of the game on Angleton's 41 yard line thanks to a nice kick-off return by Thad Deiss. Anthony Terrell, El Campo's fullback, finished off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown run to take the first lead in the game. A few plays later, Angleton gave the ball back to the 'Birds on an interception. Bobby Jack Polasek picked a pass out of the air and returned it 35 yards for the second score. The Wildcats dropped the ball again in the next series to set up another Ricebird score. Bryce Skow reached Angleton's quarterback and had him halfway down to the ground, when the ball came out. Kris Escobar dove in for a recovery and gave El Campo the ball again on the 31 yard line. Only a few plays later, quarterback Dakota Pietsch connected with wide receiver Jac Axel on a 12-yard touchdown pass. The play was Axel's first varsity touchdown and Pietsch's first passing touchdown for El Campo. "I was feeling good after that," Pietsch said. "I was ready to go back and do it again." El Campo was up quickly 20-0 with 3:46 remaining in the first quarter. A great defensive effort helped the Ricebirds leave for halftime with no change in the score. El Campo even recovered another fumble, when Landon Appling dove on a loose ball. Midway through the game, El Campo practically had it won. Gillis said his team may have stepped back a bit in the second half. "The good part was that we got up on them early and the bad part was that we may have relaxed a little bit," he said. "That's our first real, full football game. There's good things and bad things about every game. The good thing was that we got an early lead. "Some bad things happened to us in the third quarter - we didn't play very good and Angleton played good. We came back in the fourth quarter and played pretty good. We were challenged and we met the challenge. It was a tough win, because those guys, any time they touch the ball, they can go." Angleton responded with a few scores on some broken plays in the third quarter, but another Ricebird touchdown sealed the game for El Campo. With the score 20-14, Terrell broke free for another nice run. He used two spins and a burst of speed against the Wildcat defenders in an 18-yard touchdown run for the last score. Great defense in the fourth quarter, including some major stops by Bryan Skow, Bryce Skow and Christopher Raun helped the Ricebirds come away with the 27-14 win. "I think the kids did learn how to play four full quarters, because that's what you have to do against Angleton," Gillis said. "This week against Victoria, those guys are good and they're big up front. Every week for us is something new and it's going to be a challenge." |
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