El Campo faces Falcons in battle of birds
Ricebirds hope to keep perfect record going strong Friday against Foster
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Chris Barbee Unstoppable Opposing teams know what's coming when the Ricebirds near the goal line, but that does not mean they can stop it. Fullback Anthony Terrell plowed his way for a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:21 left in the game Friday to tie Bay City 18-18. Tyler Woods' extra point put El Campo in the lead 19-18 and ultimately meant a win in this heated rivalry.

Friday promises a bird fight as the Ricebirds travel to Rosenberg to take on the Falcons.

El Campo's football team is 7-0 on the season and will try to keep its winning streak alive against a 1-6 Foster Falcon squad.

Ricebird Head Coach Bob Gillis said fans should not look past the Falcons simply because of their record. Foster will bring a solid rushing attack to try to catch the Ricebirds coming off a 19- 18 Bay City win this past week.

"They'll be ready to play, I promise you, and so we need to be ready to play," Gillis said. "As we talked about in our meeting earlier, Bay City is done, over, so forget it. Everybody is very happy about it and that's great, but it's over and we need to get ready for Foster."

It is unlikely that the Ricebirds will overlook the Falcons. Gillis said his team wins because of the effort they give every week and he expects the 'Birds to be consistent with their intensity this week.

"Any success that we have is that we go out and play hard," Gillis said. "Most of the time, we're not going to go out-athlete people. We just have to play hard with a lot of heart and determination. That's what we have to do this week and the next week and however long we get to play. That's the only way we're going to have any success. I think we understand that and I know we're going to go back to work and be ready for Foster."

The Falcons bring the district's fifth best running back to face the 'Birds.

Isaac Kerry, a senior, has 429 yards and 5 touchdowns on 90 carries this season.

Foster will try to control the clock with its running game - the same strategy El Campo used to win its last two games including the big one over Bay City.

Ricebirds 19, Bay City 18

El Campo made a great comeback against the Blackcats to come away with a key win in the second week of district competition.

The Ricebirds moved the ball well and trailed 18-12 at halftime. El Campo's defense stepped up and shut down the 'Cats in the second half, allowing one score in the fourth quarter to determine the game.

Among several key players for the Ricebirds was El Campo quarterback Tyler Woods.

Though he never completed a pass against the Blackcats, Bay City cannot deny the quarterback's leadership of the Ricebird offense - a task that Woods said comes easy because of the skill and mentality of his teammates.

"They listen real well, they calm themselves down real well and it's an all-around team effort," Woods said. "We worked hard in the weight room and work hard in practice every day. It's not hard to lead these boys."

Woods was solid for El Campo with several crucial runs. He had six carries for 43 yards. Bursts for short yardage to keep the clock moving may be what happens naturally when a linebacker plays quarterback, but Woods gave credit to his offensive line for great blocking to open up holes.

"You've just got to stay low," Woods said. "You've got to get behind your big boy at center, Chase Bullard. You know Russ Graves is going to make a tackle. It's all about the line. The offensive line is blocking and making the holes.

"Chase would lead block on a linebacker and all I had to do was choose a side to go. If I go left, if I go right, I can pick up three more yards. That's a big play for us. Some people rely on the big play, like them. They rely on 40-yard plays, we rely on a 4- yard play. Nothing big, nothing hard about our game. We just play hard."

Perhaps it was the offensive line that played the hardest for El Campo. Consistently, El Campo's front line opened up holes that gave the Ricebirds 406 total yards, all rushing.

Fullback Anthony Terrell took care of most of the carries for the Ricebirds. Terrell ran the ball 39 times for 206 yards and continued his dominant season to break the 1,000-yard mark.

The fullback ranks second in District 24-4A among rushers with 152 carries for 1,114 yards. He averages 7.33 yards per carry and has 15 touchdowns.

The perfect compliment to Terrell's bulldozer style is the quick punch of tailback Maverick Smith.

The speedster ran the ball 15 times against Bay City for 146 yards and is fourth in the district among rushers. Smith has 82 carries for 588 yards and 2 touchdowns with a 7.17-yard average.

The Ricebirds rushing attack was quite heralded going into the Bay City match, but Blackcat quarterback Shaun Rutherford received a lot of attention for his running and passing ability as well.

On the season, Rutherford has 2,089 passing yards on 154 of 230 completions and 236 rushing yards on 70 carries. The quarterback has a total of 12 touchdowns.

Rutherford still managed to pass for 303 yards, but thanks to a stingy Ricebird defense that came up with several sacks, the quarterback ran the ball for negative 15 yards.

Several defenders had big games stopping the quick quarterback, two of them were brothers Bryce and Bryan Skow.

"We practiced on it all week and had to change our defense all up," Bryan Skow, a linebacker for the 'Birds, said. "My main job was to spy the quarterback and I guess I did a pretty good job of it."

The defensive line worked on keeping Rutherford in the pocket and not letting him scramble too much.

"We just have to keep the outside and contain, that's all," Bryce Skow, an El Campo defensive lineman, said. "We'd rush him, we'd get past him, break off and keep him inside the pocket to make him make bad throws. The more he waited, the worse he got."

The defensive backs had a great game as well. There were a few more of them than usual, and with Bay City's passing attack, each of them had to step up their play. Even the linebackers had to drop back into pass coverage frequently.

Gillis recognized Bobby Jack Polasek, a linebacker, and Darius Parks, a defensive back, for their great effort.

"Bobby Jack had a great game," Gillis said. "Those outside linebackers are out there covering receivers and backs. A lot of things are coming at them and they have to also play the run.

"Darius Parks played well. We had to make some defensive adjustments because of their spread and he did a good job and so did the other outside linebackers. We normally had five or six defensive backs in there at one time or another."

After the win, the Ricebirds huddled around their coach as Gillis pointed to next week. The win, he said, was great, but the 'Birds need to focus on Foster instead of celebrating another notch in the Hwy. 35 rivalry. It seems his team gets the picture.

"It's always going to feel good when you beat somebody 19-18, but it's just another win," Bryce Skow said. "We've got to go, got to roll and make it to the playoffs."

24-4A Football DISTRICT STANDINGS