Apaches need win for playoff chance

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GONZALES — The Apaches know what it’s going to take to get to the playoffs after Friday’s games. A Giddings (7-2, 4-0) win will push Columbus (3-6, 2-2) to three losses, giving Gonzales (4-5, 1-3) a “win-and-you’re-in” scenario tonight. But the biggest key for the Apaches is to win tonight. The Smithville Tigers (0-9, 0-4) is the team that’ll line up across the line of scrimmage. And despite their record, the Apaches know not to underestimate their opponents.

“In 2013 there was a very heartbreaking game at the end of the season,” Apaches’ head coach Kodi Crane said, “and those seniors decided they weren’t going to lose again and they went on an extremely great playoff run.”

That 2013 game was against a winless-Smithville squad who upset the Apaches for their first win of the season.

“Smithville has been a thorn in Gonzales’ side in years past,” Crane continued, “and more than just that one game as well. So I went back and looked at that game, I evaluated it and broke it down and tried to leave no stone unturned.”

The Tigers come into this game winless, again. With nothing to lose, the Apaches will be expecting a team that will throw everything including trick plays to spoil their playoff chances.

“Wade Miller was on that [2013] football team,” Crane said. “He remembers what happened. A lot of our seniors continued into the playoffs as freshmen. They saw it firsthand. Vice versa, [Smithville’s] seniors were freshmen too and they saw it firsthand as well. So they know they have one last shot, one last hurrah…no-holds barred here. We got to take care of business.”

Offensively, the Tigers will be riding their leading rusher, Nomar Rivera. Rivera (#20) is third in the district in rushing with 1,034 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns, behind Caldwell’s Domonique Chambers and Gonzales’ Josh Calvin.

“This kid reminds us a lot of the running back in Uvalde,” Crane scouted. “[He] runs extremely hard, very physical, punishing runner.”

The Tigers also have #24 Malachi Jones, originally from La Grange, who recently got his eligibility. With his presence on the team, the Tigers have recently shown more two-back looks in their spread offense. Otherwise, they’re in trips or double twins.

“What they do isn’t complicated, but they do it effectively,” Crane noted.

The key for the Apaches defense is to make sure they tackle and bring down those running backs.

“They run hard, they run over people, they run around people…they’re good football players.”

Although passing isn’t a strength for the Tigers, the Apaches, Crane said, need to make sure it doesn’t become one.

Defensively, the Apaches expect a four-man front out of Smithville, though the Tigers have shown three-man fronts as well. The Apaches will need to rely on their running attack again as well as continue to improve on their passing game.

“The number one thing we have to do is we got to get in the end zone whenever we have the opportunity,” Crane said. “[We have to] put those points on the board whenever we do have the opportunity down in the red zone.”

For Crane, it doesn’t matter what happens anywhere else in the district. That should not be on the minds of the Apaches tonight. Because if they can’t get a win, then their season is over.

“The hard facts are, we’ll have another football team next year,” Crane explained. “It’s these seniors’ last hurrah at this and [we’re asking our seniors to take] a lot of ownership [and] a lot of leadership.”

Friday night may be a battle between an Apaches team that needs a win for a shot at the playoffs versus a winless Tigers team looking to play spoiler, but the Apaches need to make sure that they are also the team that retains their focus. Fans in the stands and coaches in the sidelines may be scoreboard watching, but even if Giddings wins to give Gonzales a shot at making the postseason, there won’t be a playoff game if they lose focus.

“Our football season is out the front of the windshield if we allow it,” Crane said, “it is not through the rear-view mirror. All our goals in front of us, we can make the playoffs, we can have a deep run in the playoffs…. We showed our kids a lot of things to make sure that they understand that that is feasible for them as well. But they got to do it.”

Kickoff in Smithville is set at 7:30 p.m.

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