By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – Southwest Covenant opens District C-2 play Friday with a road trip to Mountain Viewe-Gotebo.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.
The Patriots are 4-1 on the season, while Mountain View-Gotebo comes in with a 1-4 record. The Tigers, though, a 1-0 in district play with a 50-28 win over Grandfield last week.
SWCS posted a 41-14 win over Empire last week. SWCS has only five district games after two teams dropped their football programs.
The Patriots are 2-1 all-time against the Tigers, having won the last two straight. SWCS won 43-16 last year and 50-20 in 2015. Mountain View-Gotebo won in 2014 56-6.
SWCS is picked to finish second in the district race, while Mountain View-Gotebo is picked third.
“Mountain View may be 1-4, but they are a better team than their record indicates,” Patriot head coach Trey Cloud said. “They have played some pretty good teams and have scored some points. We can’t go in thinking that we can just show up and win, we will have to play well.
“They do have a couple of good runningbacks and they like to run the ball,” he added. “They are not as big as some of the teams we have played, but they do have some quick linemen and we will have to play well on both sides of the ball.”
Mountain View relies on the running of Skylar Ahstein (6-2, 180). Fullback Riley Powell gives the team an inside running threat and can also slip out and catch the ball when the Tigers do throw the ball.
The Tigers will run a two-quarterback system. Sophomore Brayden Nicholas is more of the runner of the two, while senior Kamden Urban, a hard-throwing lefthander on the baseball team, gives the team a capable passer when the Tigers do throw the ball.
On defense, the Tigers have had their moments, but have seen teams able to move the ball on the ground against them. Mountain View runs a 3-3 alignment anchored in the middle by Luke Hoyle (6-2, 265). Ahstein and Pearl will anchor the defense at linebacker.
“We feel we can run the ball against Mountain View,” Cloud said. “We have a good balanced attack (SWCS ran the ball 20 times and passed it 11 last week in the win over Empire) and game plan going into this game.
“They do run a 3-3 defense and we will look to spread them out early and will take what they give us,” he added. “We just need to go out and play our game and everything else will take care of itself.”
The Patriots have been explosive on offense in four of their five games. Quarterback Sam Webb had his second four touchdown pass game of the season and has had 19 touchdown passes in five games. He has already thrown for over 1,000 yards.
Trevor Kelly, Cole Shaw and Nathan Hagan have been his favorite targets in the past few weeks. Cloud is also hoping to get Bryce Brown back this week.
Ben Webb has been a defensive leader since returning from an injury. He had seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery against Empire last week.”
