RSS Feed |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Halloween brings Blackcats to El Campo
For the past few seasons the game between the Ricebirds and Blackcats was nothing more than an early district contest. This time, the teams face off late in the season as El Campo has one more district game to follow while Bay City ends its regular season with the 7 p.m. kickoff at Ricebird Stadium. "It's like it was a while back," El Campo Head Coach Bob Gillis said. "When I first got here, it was either for the district championship or for a playoff spot. The last couple of years, it has been a big rivalry, but the outcome of the game didn't really affect the district. This is the way it ought to be."
Post-season potential gives a little more meaning to an always heated game. The El Campo and Bay City football rivalry is apparently the longest-running in Texas. Even though El Campo didn't field its first football team until 1910 - 98 years ago - the two schools in the early years played each other more than once on occasion. According to statistician Joe Lee Smith, El Campo has won 51 of those games, Bay City 43 and there have been eight ties. Each year brings the promise of intensity, desire and great football. "This is my 11th Bay City-El Campo game and it has been like that every year," Gillis said. "It really doesn't matter about records. One year, I wasn't coach at the time and it was 2000. El Campo wasn't having a great year and Bay City eventually won the state championship and the score was 16-7 (Bay City) and a heck of a game." More than just a football game, more than a game for the playoffs and more than a great rivalry, El Campo versus Bay City is what high school football in Texas is all about. "This is a pretty fun game," Gillis said. "If you can't enjoy this type of game, you might as well not be a football fan or not be a coach or not be a player. It epitomizes Texas high school football - this rivalry. It's not that the other games aren't important or fun, but I think everybody kind of gears up for this one." With a 3-4 overall record and a 1-2 district showing, the Blackcats will come to El Campo looking for an upset. The 5-1 Ricebirds will be favored to win this game and add a win to their 1-1 district record. Bay City is coming off a 21-7 win over the Terry Rangers. El Campo fell to the Rangers 21- 14. El Campo defeated Foster 38-14 to start district play. Foster handled Bay City for a 10-7 win this season. Games like these have jammed up the five-team district and could mean anything come playoff time. "I think if teams are pretty close and even, then anybody can beat anybody," Gillis said. "I think it's proven every week. If someone has so much more talent than another team, then obviously it changes things. I think besides Lamar Consolidated everybody is about even." Bay City's talent cannot be questioned. The Blackcats have the district's second leading rusher, a junior tailback named Letevin Wilcox, who has 131 carries for 725 yards this season. Travis Tomek, the Blackcats' quarterback, has 42 completions on 84 passes for 661 yards. He has thrown six touchdowns and six interceptions. Tomek likes to spread the ball around and has four receivers ranked among District 23-4A's top 11 pass catchers. As a whole, the offense has earned 1,132 yards rushing and 676 passing yards. "Bay City is good," Gillis said. "They've always been good and they've got good athletes. They played Lamar Consolidated a good game and got beat 14-2, they played Foster a good game and got beat 10-7 and they played Cuero a good game and got beat 26-21. "They've played some people very close and they came out and played Terry, got after them and basically didn't let Terry do much. Their defense is awfully good." Bay City's team defense is ranked third in district and holds opponents to an average of 256 yards-per-game. "Bay City has got great talent, as they always do. They're big and they're fast. They've got eight guys back on defense from last year and that's why they play real good defense. They controlled the ball against Terry and didn't let Terry out of a hole." El Campo will answer with a defense that does not quit. The Ricebirds have held opponents to 939 rushing yards this year and holds teams to a districtbest 204-yard average. Offensively, the Ricebirds also bring talent. Landon Appling is ranked third in district rushing yards with 719 on 99 carries and four touchdowns. Maverick Smith has gained 493 yards on 66 rushes this year. Completing El Campo's main trio of runners is fullback Bryan Skow with 53 carries for 332 yards. Aiding El Campo is the use of an open week. After falling to Terry Oct. 17, the 'Birds did not play a game last week and used some extra time to prepare for Bay City. "We got to work on some things that we needed to work on," Gillis said. "Of course, after you lose, you really want to play again, but it went fine. I thought it was productive." Though the Ricebirds had extra time to prepare, the team is guarding against some extra emotion that can come natural with rivalries. The town may be talking about playing Bay City, but as far as the Ricebirds are concerned, it is just another team until game time. "The thing that I think is very important is that we don't play until Friday," Gillis said. "We don't need to be ready Tuesday. The intensity will probably be up a little bit and the excitement will be up and everybody will be talking about it. We just need to practice, not worry about all the outside and get ready for Friday night." That said, no one can be blamed for feeling a little extra anticipation. After all, Friday will mark one of the state's greatest high school football traditions. "It's a long-standing rivalry," Gillis said. "The towns are close and it is pretty competitive. Kids grow up wanting to be Ricebirds and wanting to be Blackcats. I don't really know why a rivalry is like this, but it has been a good, intense, fun rivalry for a long time." |
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)