?Decatur vs Kennedale – Wildcat Stadium 7:30 PM?
Tonight, Friday September 13, the Kennedale Wildcats (1-1) will play the Alvarado Indians (0-2). The Cats are the favorite but this is one of those games that is a rivalry game so it cannot be considered a normal game. Anything is possible.? {{more: continue …}}?
Kennedale and Alvarado first played in 1962 according to Lone Star Football Network. Alvarado won 26-14. The two have played 36 times over the years and Alvarado has doubled Kennedale?s win record. However, Kennedale has carried the day in wins the last five years of consecutive play, although some of those have been close wins.
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Last year, for example, the Wildcats survived a 42-40 win over the Indians after Alvarado scored 5 times in the 4th quarter. This year Alvarado is hungry for a win. The Indians lost to Van 34-14 in their opening game, the following week the loss a heart breaker to #8 Decatur 49-42.
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In the Decatur game, Alvarado set a new school rushing record by an individual player when Colby Sampson ran for with 394 yards. He is going to be the challenge this week for the Wildcats, who had to stop a passing game last week against Midlothian Heritage.
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Alvarado Coach Dixon discusses his team? …?
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Alvarado Head Coach Jeff Dixon is proud of his team and said the running game is good ?because of what our hogs did upfront.?
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Sharing his thoughts with A.J. Crisp of the Cleburne
Times-Review, Dixon 15th season, said of their loss to Decatur.?
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?We controlled the clock best we could. Physically, up front, I thought we whipped them. Defensively the screen game is a big part of what they do and we shut it down. They hit some deep balls against us but couldn?t run their bread and butter. Offensively, we hammered them. Our linemen took control of it. We haven?t done that in quite some time against a good team so it was encouraging.??About the Wildcats …?
“They are typical Kennedale. We?ve got to be physical. We?ve got to be able to run the football and then on defense get lined up and play great defense. It should be a battle. We?ve got to try to eliminate the big play. When those backs get to the second level, they?re gone. So, we?ve got to contain the running game.?
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?The strength of Kennedale?s team is on defense this year. Those guys can play. They fly to the football. They?re not as young on defense as they are on the offensive side. It?s going to be all we can do offensively, but at the same time I think we?re good enough to move the football on them.?
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?How Wildcat Coach Barrett sees the game …
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Head Coach Richard Barrett for the Wildcats told the Kennedale News that he rates the game a toss-up.? ?It is Alvarado and it is Kennedale. Anyone can win,? Barrett said. ?They are better than their record ? definitely! They played Decatur toe to toe. In fact, they had Decatur down. They are going to be as tough as nails.?
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?We can?t make any mistakes like we did in the first half last week. They are big. Their front-line lines up toe to toe and lets you know that they are going to just punch it through. We are not as big so we are just going to have to out quick them.??
Their running back [Sampson] is very good. We will face another next week when we play Springtown. So, tonight is going to be a real test [against a strong running game]. We can still go 3-1 before district in two weeks, but we got to get through tonight.”
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?”But really, I do think our kids can do it.? There was so much improvement from the first game to last week. They’ll? just have to play like that they did in the last half of the game against Heritage.”?
Game Time: 7:30 p.m. tonight Wildcat Stadium?Note: The game clock was worked on this week and should be ready to go tonight.?
