'Birds play for district crown
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley One By Air Anthony Terrell made El Campo's only reception here from quarterback Landon Appling and scored his fourth of five touchdowns on the night.

24-4A Football DISTRICT STANDINGS

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Big-Hit Bryan Bryan Skow and the Ricebird defense played the Spartans strong Friday. El Campo held Seven Lakes to only 155 yards, including 20 rushing yards on 30 carries.

Though the Ricebirds will face La Marque in the first round of the playoffs regardless of Friday's outcome with Lamar Consolidated, El Campo still has plenty of reasons to play.

El Campo plays in Rosenberg at 7:30 p.m. at Traylor Stadium.

A good outing Friday could give the 'Birds momentum going into their first playoff game of the season, but El Campo's football team can also grab a share of the District 24-4A crown.

To do that, the Ricebirds will have to stop a tenacious offensive attack featuring one of the best running backs in the state.

"The thing about Lamar Consolidated is, obviously, one of the best high school football players I have seen in my entire career," Bob Gillis, head coach of the Ricebirds, said. "You can't deny it. You understand going into the game that Jacquizz Rodgers is going to get his yards, get some touchdowns and he'll make some big plays. We just need to play good, solid defense and do what we do.

"We had a good game with them last year and, of course, they came out on top. Hopefully, we'll have another good game to help us go into the playoffs. That's the main focus. You want to win the game, but we want to get better for the bi-district game, which is La Marque."

Last season, the Ricebirds and Mustangs played a close game in El Campo. The Ricebirds held Lamar in check through the first half. The Mustangs pulled ahead in the second half for a 42-33 win to claim the district championship after scoring two touchdowns on take-a-ways.

El Campo has another chance at the district title this year and will need to contain Rodgers to come away with the crown.

Rodgers, who has committed to playing football at Oregon State University, is the leading rusher in the district with 1,776 yards on 251 carries. The speedster has run for 19 touchdowns with his longest carry for 70 yards.

Not only is Rodgers a threat on the ground, but he has good hands to catch passes as well. He has 15 receptions for 298 yards and two touchdowns. His longest catch went for 84 yards.

Most of the balls Rodgers catches are screen plays where the running back moves out a short distance for a pass. Then, several blockers screen away defenders from reaching the running back.

Usually the play goes for short yardage, but district opponents can attest a screen to Rodgers can be lethal.

"You just try to get your guys in position and try to find (Rodgers)," Gillis said. "Then, you don't want someone else to beat you. When (Rodgers) gets in space, he's hard to tackle because he's got such great moves and balance and he's so strong.

"You just try to do a good job of staying up and down the line of scrimmage. Then when you get to him, hang on. He's tough to bring down by yourself, so you hang on until reinforcements come."

Complimenting Rodgers very well is Lamar quarterback D.J. Smallwood.

A junior, Smallwood is ranked as the district's third best passer. He has completed 60 passes on 119 attempts for 1,155 yards and 15 touchdowns while throwing two interceptions.

Along with a tough offensive attack, Lamar brings in the district's second-ranked defense.

The Mustangs trail only the Ricebirds in defensive stats. They have given up 1,513 rushing yards and 1,050 yards passing this season and hold opponents to an average 284.8 yards per game.

"Their defense is awfully good," Gillis said. "Lamar Consolidated runs an eight-man front and they're awfully quick. They're not huge by any means, but they're quick. Their defense does a good job of getting their offense back out on the field. That's what we don't want. We don't want their offense to be on the field just like they probably don't want our offense to be on the field."

Much like El Campo, Lamar is hoping Friday's game will prepare them well for the playoffs. The Mustangs will face Dickinson in the first round.

"I think it's going to be a good ball game," Gillis said. "I think they want to play well so they have a good taste in their mouth for Dickinson and we want to play well to have a good taste in our mouth for La Marque. We'd love to win the game, but our main focus is to play well and get ready to go to the playoffs. I feel real good that our kids are going to work hard and play hard. It's kind of a no-lose situation."

Though there may be no good preparation for a team with skill players like Lamar, the Ricebirds game Friday may prove to be a good transition game.

El Campo faced one of the district's most efficient passing attacks last week with Seven Lakes and played strong against the Spartans for a win.

Ricebirds 41,

Seven Lakes 14

El Campo dominated with a great ground game to get an easy win in the Ricebirds' final home game of the season.

Fullback Anthony Terrell scored five touchdowns, including a reception from Landon Appling, and Tyler Woods kicked two field goals to help El Campo to the win.

The Ricebirds used both Woods and Appling throughout the game at quarterback and Gillis said he plans to do the same against Lamar.

"We plan on using them both in the game," he said. "We felt like it was time to get Landon in and he came in and made some great plays and Tyler made some nice plays. I think they compliment each other.

"That also frees us up that if Landon is in at quarterback some, then Tyler can go play defense. And if Tyler is in there on offense, then Landon can play some defense. It kind of opened some options up for us."

As a nice surprise, Wes Condra came in to finish the game out for El Campo at quarterback.

Condra started the year as El Campo's backup quarterback, but fractured his collarbone in the Ricebirds' scrimmage with West Columbia.

Since starting quarterback Dakota Pietsch went down with the same injury a few weeks into the season, Woods and Appling have been sharing duties at quarterback.

Though Condra only gave hand-offs to running backs late in the game, Gillis said he is excited to have him healthy and back playing to finish his junior year.

"We wanted to get him into the game," Gillis said. "We didn't want to put any stress on that collarbone. Therefore, when I put him in the game, I basically told him to just hand the ball off. The next step is now, once you start handing off and start working the sweep, now you've got to go block. It's a natural progression."

Perhaps the best outing of the night was the showing by El Campo's defense. The Ricebirds held Seven Lakes to 155 total yards, including 20 yards rushing, and made several great third-down plays.

"I think the defense played really good," Gillis said. "They scored the first seven points real quick, but that's going to happen. We came back and scored really quick on offense and the defense settled down and really played it.

"One of the keys is that in the Foster game, they made some real crucial third-down plays. Seven Lakes did not and that's a credit to our defense. There was a lot of three and outs and that got the ball back for us."

Gillis is hoping his team can do the same against Lamar.