Mistake-free football needed for Apache win

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GONZALES — The Apaches haven’t gone 2-0 since the 2011 season when then-head coach Ricky Lock led Gonzales to the playoffs with a 10-0 record.

It’s early and there’s been little to no talks of going undefeated, especially as the Apaches travel to Geronimo to take on the state-ranked Navarro Panthers tonight. But if the Apaches pull off a win, it could be the biggest one in head coach Kodi Crane’s tenure here in Gonzales.

“Coach [Les Goad] has been there nine or 10 years,” Crane said of Navarro’s head football coach and athletic director. “This year in both polls that I get, they’re ranked number three in the state of Texas. [Navarro has] a really good senior class, good football players.”

In this past week’s Texas AP high school football poll, Navarro was listed as 14th in the poll for all of Class 4A football.

The Panthers begin their season 2-0, taking down Giddings 37-21 and Marion 76-7. Despite the high scoring, Navarro prides itself on keeping the ball on offense and winning the time of possession battle.

“They take care of the ball well,” Crane explained. “Very few penalties. They get after it. Good, hard-nosed, Texas football. They’re good at what they do running the ‘Nasty Slot.’ They’re really good at what they do.”

Navarro wants to gain three yards each snap and are not opposed to going for it on fourth-and-one.

“We got to do a good job of getting them off scheduled,” Crane said, “not letting them make those three yards and putting them in a long down-and-distance situation.”

Running the show under center will be quarterback Will Eveld who is, as Crane scouted, “deceptively fast, accurate whenever he throws it and runs the offense very well.”

The three running backs in the offense to look out for are Jake Wright, Tanner Law and Jared Leal.

“All of those backs run extremely hard,” Crane said. “They’re hard to tackle, you cannot arm tackle those guys. They’re physical, they have great speed, they’re good football players.”

Meanwhile, the offensive line will be returning three players from last year’s squad. Michael Gilbert is the lone sophomore starting on the line, but the rest of the players are “mature” and experienced.

Defensively, the Panthers will run a 3-3 stack which involves three-down linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. The Panthers’ defensive front is aggressive, but their defensive backs play conservatively, meaning they don’t get beat deep too often.

“It’s hard to ‘big play’ those guys,” Crane admitted. “So we’re going to have to move the chains, make first downs, be able to throw it.”

The Apaches’ game plan will be similar to Navarro’s in that they too will need to hold on to the ball for as long as they can. Since the Panthers tend to not get beat deep, Gonzales will need to have drives that last longer than eight plays to have some success.

“We’re going to have to be inventive,” Crane said, “and when it’s time to run the ball we’ll have to be explosive. Our offensive line has got to have a great day.”

Overall, the Apaches need to accomplish two things to grab another upset tonight. They need to win the turnover battle and also win the battle in the trenches.

“If we do these things, we’ll have a chance in the fourth quarter,” Crane said.

Penalties were a problem on Friday, so the Apaches will need to overcome that as well.

This may just be a non-district game for most, but if the Apaches can squeak out a win against the state-ranked Panthers, Gonzales will continue what would be their best start in five years.

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