By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Bloodhounds play host to San Antonio Antonian at 7 p.m. Friday night in a TAPPS Division I District 2 game at Canales Field in Brownsville.
San Antonio Central Catholic came back to defeat St. Joseph last week and could wrap up the district title with a win over Austin St. Michael’s. If St. Joseph wins and St. Michael’s defeats Central Catholic, the Bloodhounds would be tied with the others at 4-1 in the district and earn a share of the title with Central Catholic and St. Michael’s.
Antonian has had more than its share of injuries this season — 10 starters have went down with an injury of some type — but is still hoping to finish the season strong.
“Antonian is Antonian, they just got banged up, which is unfortunate,” St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said. “They got banged up before district. But they’re still dangerous.”
The Apaches lost their top running back, senior Daniel Rosenfeld, who had rushed for 1,800 yards as a sophomore and more than 2,000 yards last year. The senior had more than 1,100 yards through five games and was on pace for another 2,000-yard season before he was lost for the year.
“That’s a lot of your offense when you lose that,” Antonian coach Van Fuschak said. “We’ve struggled at times. We have some good plays and bad plays. It makes it tough to do some thing’s without the personnel.”
Regardless of injuries, Antonian isn’t changing what it does best: running the football.
“They love to run it power, run it smash and run it right up your gut,” Villarreal said. “They are going to run the ball and we have to learn to stop it.”
Fuschak knows his defense will have to play well against the high-tempo offense of St. Joseph and quarterback Kai Money.
“(Money) has the run-pass option, and if you don’t contain him, he can beat you either way,” Fuschak said. “Sometimes it takes one or two guys to make everyone else play better, and they’re playing as well as anyone.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle for us.”
“They are going to give us a run for our money,” Villarreal said. “They play for pride, for their program. I know they are prepared to finish their season strong.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.