Mustangs need offensive consistency to slow down Poth

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NIXON — After taking a tough 41-14 loss last week to the District 15-3A2 leaders Dilley (4-4, 3-0), the Nixon-Smiley Mustangs (3-5, 1-2) are currently on the outside looking in for a playoff spot. Tonight’s game against the rival Poth Pirates (7-1, 2-1) will be a clash of different offensive philosophies and the Mustangs hope that they can prevail over the school less than 30 miles away.

“[Poth] can score,” Mustangs’ head coach Carlton McKinney noted. “Bottom line is they do a good job of scoring.”

The Pirates have averaged 32.75 points per game and they’ve done so with the help of their spread offense under the direction of quarterback Preslee Moy. Moy is a dual threat, who can read defense well while the Pirates run multiple zone reads and run-pass-option plays.

“They do a really good job of understanding the system,” McKinney said. “They take what the defense gives them.”

Moy has multiple offensive weapons including running back #10 Luke Cantu and wide receivers #81 Luis Gonzales and #7 Cole Harris. The offensive line is also a strength for the Pirates, so the key for the Mustangs would be to slow them down with their own offense.

“They have some firepower,” McKinney explained, “so for us, we got to make sure we can control tempo and move the football and score. More importantly, we have to slow them down.”

Defensively the Pirates will be doing what every other team has done in the district which is put a nose guard down to disrupt the Mustangs’ run offense.

“[Poth’s] very big up front,” McKinney said. “Their secondary will have a Cover 2 look with two deep safeties. They try to keep everything in front of them. Doing that, there’s some opportunities for big plays.”

Despite Poth’s 7-1 record, the Pirates have been in many close games, including a three-point win over Falls City, a one-point win over Ben Bolt, a three-point win over Natalia and a three-point loss to Stockdale. Looking at game film, McKinney has noticed that the Pirates’ defense is one that can be scored on, so long as his Mustangs are consistent on offense.

“We have to be consistent for 48 minutes,” he said. “If we take care of responsibilities, we have a shot to win not only this week but next week [against Stockdale (4-4, 2-1)]”.

Nixon-Smiley is currently fifth in the standings due to their head-to-head loss against Natalia (3-5, 1-2). Only two games are guaranteed for Nixon-Smiley. A win tonight against a rival can get them that much closer to a postseason game.

Tonight’s game is at home, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. 

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