Having a bye week to start the season wasn’t what Manny Gomez and the Harlingen Cardinals had in mind.
However, going into a season-opening game against San Antonio Reagan tonight at Heroes Stadium with an extra week of preparation under their belt isn’t a bad thing for the Cardinals.
In fact, it benefits Harlingen.
“I didn’t plan on doing it that way, but that’s the way it happened and we adapted,” Gomez said. “It worked out great because we were banged up early on, but we were able to get back to about 95 percent healthy.”
Awaiting the Cardinals are the Reagan Rattlers (0-1) who are looking to bounce back from an opening-week loss to San Antonio O’ Connor.
With both squads looking for their first win of the season, the Cardinals are expecting a physical match up against a physically bigger team.
“It’s going to be a physical game on both sides. I know they’re going to be a lot bigger than us, but that’s part of it when you get to the San Antonio area,” Gomez said Thursday. “You want to go out there and compete, match up if we can and play as hard as we can; that’s what we plan on doing.”
Harlingen will look for their defense to come up and put pressure on the Regan quarterbacks.
The Rattlers used two quarterbacks, as Cade Bormet and Kellen Mond got equal snaps last week.
The two combined for 254 yards passing and one passing touchdown.
Meanwhile, Mond also had a rushing score and 90 yards rushing, while Bormet threw three picks.
Gomez hopes his team can turn on the pressure and rely on his secondary led by defensive backs Elijah Deleon and Felix Reyna.
“Quarterbacks make bad decisions because of pressure and that’s definitely one thing we are known for,” Gomez said. “We have to cover all our bases out there and not get hit by a screen. We have a few different packages we are going to throw at them and see what presents the best results and run with it.”
While the defense is ready to go, Gomez also thinks the offense will be prepared for physical Reagan team.
It will be the first game under center for Cardinal senior quarterback Bowie Davis after being a receiver prior to this year.
Davis, who looked comfortable during scrimmage play, has a solid a solid stable of running backs, so the Cardinals are set for a balanced attack to take the pressure of their quarterback.
“I expect Mr. Davis to have a great evening. He’s excited about playing the game,” Gomez said. “We’ll go running back by committee. We have certain plays that we run for some of these guys; every one of them is unique.”
The Cardinals and Rattlers will kick off at 7:30 p.m.