Apaches begin district with familiar foe

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GONZALES — The Gonzales Apaches (3-2) start the district season tonight against a tough, yet familiar opponent in La Grange.

The Leopards finished their non-district season 1-3, with their game against Liberty Hill rained out. But La Grange isn’t a team to sleep on, especially with the caliber of teams they’ve played against.

“They’ve played some really good people,” head coach Kodi Crane mentioned. “That 1-3 record is totally misleading.”

Plus, the Apaches have twice gone 0-5 in non-district to then go 4-1 and become district runner-ups. So Crane knows that his Apaches cannot take a playoff team like La Grange lightly, especially with their successes in the past.

“[La Grange] are a perennial playoff team,” Crane continued. “They come out every Friday night expecting to win football games and that mindset, our kids have to understand that and they will understand that and match their intensity Friday night.”

Looking at their offense, La Grange tends to keep the ball on the ground, according to Crane.

“They’re a running football team, first and foremost,” he said. “[But] depending upon their personnel they’re a high-run tendency and then they can switch their personnel and be a high-pass tendency.”

Players to look out for on their offense include tight end #9 Julio Ramirez. Listed at 6-feet 2-inches and 215 pounds, Crane considers the senior “one of their best offensive football players.”

“He will go play tight end, play receiver,” Crane explained. “He’s all over the place, [La Grange] wants to give him the ball.”

Another to player to look out for is sophomore Jericho Haardt who is an explosive back that has filled in for the injured J.K. Dobbins.

“[Haardt] is a really good football player,” Crane noted. “He’s explosive, has big-play capability.”

Quarterback Colter Siptak is also a top player on the team who can deliver the ball and has shown that he can take off and run.

Although Dobbins has been hurt with a reported ankle issue the past few games, the Apaches have prepared this week in the chance that he returns.

On defense, the Leopards are a 3-4 team that will mix it up playing man or zone. The Apaches will need to run the ball well in order to have success against this front.

“We got to understand and be able to execute our run-blocking schemes,” Crane said. “We also have to keep our quarterback upright and give him time to deliver the football.”

At the end of the day, the Apaches will have to do three things to win the game.

“We’ve got to win the turnovers,” Crane said, “we’ve got to win special teams and then we got to execute every other part of the game.”

Tonight’s kickoff is in La Grange, scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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