The Bishop Badgers host Mexico’s Monterrey Tech at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams met here last year with Bishop winning the contest. (Photo by Rey Sifuentes Jr.) Bishop High School’s varsity football team hosts Mexico’s Monterrey Tech at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The Badgers are coming off of their first victory of the season, a 38-8 victory over Santa Gertrudis Kingsville Academy last Friday.

“That was really big because our kids had been fighting the flu the week before,” Head Coach Larry Vincent said. “The kids have also been down because we have done a lot of things really well this season but have found ways to lose games so winning on Friday night was a big confidence booster for us.”

The Badgers defeated MT last year and that game showed Vincent that teams from Mexico have done their homework in regards to learning American football.

“The group of kids from Monterrey Tech that came over here last year were pretty darn good,” Vincent said. “Those coaches have done a great job of incorporating American football. I met that staff 15 years ago and they travel all over the country and have attended clinics at places like the University of Miami so they are serious about competing and their kids are physical, play tough and do a great job in the weight room.”

Pride

Santa Gertrudis Kingsville Academy High School’s varsity football team visits Benavides at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The Pride continue to focus on the nuts and bolts of their varsity machine.

“We just need to execute, that has been our biggest problem for most of this season,” Head Coach Wally Moon said. “If we follow through with our assignments, we should be in the ball game.”

Slowly but surely the bulk of Academy’s hurt players have been healing.

“They are getting better, though we still have one guy out with a broken thumb,” Moon said. “We have another player out with a tweaked hamstring but most everybody else is back and ready to go.”

Almost halfway into their second varsity campaign ever, the Pride have been schooled in how they need to perform.

“I think our guys have learned the level at which we need to compete if we are going to be successful,” Moon said. “Whether or not they follow through on it is going to be pretty much up to them. As a coaching staff we just have to continue emphasizing fundamentals.”

Part of that edification has come through playing schools of higher classifications and with bigger rosters.

“All along I have equated our season to an N.F.L. season with our first four games being our exhibition as we start getting ready for district,” Moon said. “I think our guys are glad to have these predistrict games behind them and are ready to get into contests with schools their own size.”

Brahmas

H.M. King High School’s varsity football team begins district play on the road when they visit Laredo Cigarroa at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. After finishing their non-district season with a win against Corpus Christi Miller two weeks ago, the Brahmas used last week’s bye to get in better condition.

“We got back into shape and went over the fundamentals in preparation for the district race,” Head Coach Andrew Hrncir said. “We had three weeks of (nondistrict) things we needed to work on. Bye weeks can be Catch-22 because we ended non-district on a positive note and you would like to get back to playing quickly but we also wanted to get healthy while improving on what needed attention because these games count now.”

H.M. King plans on sticking to their blue print when they visit the Toros this weekend.

“We just need to play our game and take care of the football,” Hrncir said. “We can compete with anyone in our district if we do that.”

Seahawks

Riviera-Kaufer High School’s varsity football team visits Premont at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

After losing against Agua Dulce by committing too many fumbles the week prior, the Seahawks easily disposed of Benavides this past Friday.

“It is like everybody else, when you do not give the ball away and capitalize on what you are doing then good things will happen on the field,” Head Coach Arturo de la Rosa said. “When you make mistakes, then you pay the price.”

The Seahawks demonstrated the ability to score through running, passing and special teams plays.

“When you see different people doing well it pays off because you give somebody a rest while sending in another player who can also produce,” De la Rosa said. “Keep in mind that only one of our backs is not playing both ways but the rest of them are.”

Previously, the Seahawks had September 25 and October 2 as open dates. De la Rosa, however, got on the phone and found an opponent for Friday.

“The thing with having two consecutive bye weeks is that there is too much time between games and the kids are going to lose their focus in a hurry on what needs to be done before beginning district,” De la Rosa said.

“Plus, the coach who is at Premont preferred to play us instead of not playing and I also think it is beneficial to play this game and then have that open week (October 2) before district.”