By FREDDY GONZALEZ | STAFF WRITER
This week’s game between the Lyford Bulldogs and Brownsville St. Joseph will prove to be an interesting match up. Two team’s with a lot to prove will step out under the Friday night lights in Lyford to determine which way their respective seasons will head.
On one hand Lyford comes into the contest with a 0-1 record. After last weeks 26-14 loss to the La Villa Cardinals the Bulldogs will be looking to rebound quickly.
Junior quarterback John Rivera threw for 137 yards on 9 for 28 passing attempts, but he also threw three interceptions.
On the ground the Bulldogs didn’t have the kind of success they were hoping for. Miguel Salinas was the teams leading rusher with 24 yards on 5 carries and teammate Josh Mendez carried the ball three times for 19 yards.
But a new development broke Wednesday afternoon when confirmation came of Jaedon Taylor’s arrival to the team.
Last years District 32-5A’s Offensive Player of the Year rushed for 1,467 yards and 19 touchdowns in his junior season at Harlingen south. If Taylor does play today it could relieve some of the pressure off of Rivera and open up passing lanes.
On the other hand Brownsville St. Joseph goes into tonight’s match up 1-0 after coming from behind in the fourth quarter to upset the Raymondville Bearkats 38-34.
It’s no secret that the Bloodhounds will try and air it out against the Bulldogs. Last week freshman Kai Money threw for 306 yards on 26 of 49 attempts and today will no different.
LA FERIA VS. SANTA ROSA: The battle of FM 506 will be missing one key factor for the Warriors; Wally Olivarez. The senior RB standout will miss the game with a sprained ankle that he sustained on the opening drive against Rio Hondo.
The Warriors will be counting on Randy Reyna, Jacob b Castaneda, and A.J Mendiola who between them combined for 75 yards on 27 carries.
But the real question is whether head coach Arturo Garcia will start Mendiola at quarterback or go with sophomore Leo Lara and start Mendiola at RB.
The Lions go into the game with a 1-0 record after beating Donna North 35-13 last week. La Feria moved the ball almost at-will against the Chiefs gaining a total of 445 yards. Senior quarterback Isaac Galpin threw for 150 yards on 8 of 19 passing attempts and sophomore Adrian Torres rushed for 127 yards on 29 carries.
Both teams will be looking for the win, but the fact that it’s a rivalry will only intensify the match much more.
GRULLA VS. RAYMONDVILLE: The Bearkats will try and put last week’s loss to the Bloodhounds behind them as they welcome the Grulla Gators to town. Last week the Bearkats lead up until the fourth quarter when St. Joseph took the lead and won the contest 38-34. In the match Raymondville managed to rack up 451 total yards with 371 of them coming on the ground.
Senior quarterback Christopher Trevino rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns while teammate Miguel Tristan also rushed for 132 yards.
This week however, the Bearkats will try go up against Grulla who loss their season opener to Port Isabel 29-9. The Gators struggled against the Tarpons ‘Sea Wall defense’ managing a total of 169 total yards. In this game look for the Bearkats to keep their strong running game going and put up big numbers against a Gator team that gave up 283 rushing yards against P.I.