BY DANNY RAMIREZ
Valley Morning Star
CORPUS CHRISTI — The Raymondville Bearkats’ defense will
be staring at a familiar offense when they lineup against the Cuero Gobblers tonight.
The Bearkats will be looking at Cuero’s option, which is similar to that of Raymondville’s. It will be the same scenario for the Gobblers.
Which team it helps the most will be seen tonight as Raymondville (10-2) will take on Cuero (9-3) in a Class 3A Division I Region IV championship playoff game at Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Complex.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
The Bearkats, who had about 2,500 fans at last week’s game, hope to have a big crowd tonight at Cabaniss.
"A big vocal crowd is always beneficial to you," Raymondville coach Jim Hite said. "It’s like, you know people care about you. Hopefully, will have a big crowd again this week."
The Cuero-Raymondville winner will face the champion of Region III. Giddings (9-3) is taking on Hardin-Jefferson (9-3) tonight for the right to advance to the semifinals and face either Cuero or Raymondville.
The Bearkat defense is coming off a pretty good outing in last week’s 36-34 victory over the Sinton Pirates. Raymondville limited Sinton to just 270 total yards, 133 of it rushing. That was pretty impressive considering Sinton came into that game averaging 367.8 yards a game, 311.4 on the ground.
Talented running back Robert Hughes finished with 117 yards on 27 carries after averaging 140 yards a game coming into the Raymondville game.
"They have a good football team," Hite said about Cuero. "Are they better than Sinton? I don’t know. They’re comparable to Sinton. If we win, it is not going to be a runaway. If they win, it’s not going to be a runaway."
The Gobblers come into tonight’s game averaging 320.3 yards per game on offense. Defensively, Cuero is giving up just 162.2 an outing.
Raymondville is churning out 335.6 yards a game on offense while giving up 243.7 on defense.
"They run the option," Hite said. "They have good speed. They have a good tailback, a good quarterback. They’re very, very similar skill-wise to Sinton."
Sophomore Andrew Heard is the team’s top rusher with 1,016 yards and 14 touchdowns. Heard has also been the main quarterback since Oct. 9, when starter Marcus McDonald sustained a wrist injury. Heard has passed for 482 yards and 3 TDs. McDonald, who returned as QB last week, has passed for 344 yards and rushed for 566.
"The thing that stands out about them is they’re pretty quick on the offensive and defensive line," Defensive coordinator Birdie Perez said. "In the last couple of games, our kids have been flying to the football. I don’t think the backs are as fast as the ones we saw against Sinton."
Cuero junior Albert Wade is also a threat, having run for 967 yards and 4 TDs.
"Cuero’s a power team," Perez said. "They’re going to base block you up front. We’re basically going to try to stay with a base defense, with maybe a different look here and there."
"These kids have seen option, really, since they’ve been in the seventh grade," Perez added. "They’re familiar with it. And they (Cuero) do run the option pretty well. Yes, we do have to stop it, but the advantage is we do see it here every day in practice."
Which will be the same case for Cuero. Quarterback Roel Garza runs Raymondville’s option. The senior has rushed for 985 yards and 15 TDs. He’s also passed for 526 yards and 7 scores.
The rest of the backfield is just as good. Sophomore tailback has rushed for 835 yards and 11 TDs. Senior fullback Israel Zamora has chipped in with 715 yards and 6 scores, while senior Hector Vela has added 650 yards and 4 scores.
"I think it will be a good football game," Hite said. "I think we got as good of a chance to beat them as they got to beat us.
"It comes down to who’s going to execute," added Hite. "Who’s going to do the things in the kicking game? Who’s going to take care of the little things? Anytime you get into a big ball game, there’s going to be four, five, six plays that are going to make the difference in the entire game. We’ve got to be sure that we’re giving 100 percent effort when those things come around."