If there’s one thing to be said about playing defense in District 27-4A, it’s that it never gets boring.
Last week, Canyon faced off against Steele’s power rushing attack. Two weeks ago, it was San Marcos and the Rattlers’ shifty, tricky Slot-T offense. Now, the Cougars are geared up to tangle with Kerrville Tivy’s spread passing game today at 7:30 p.m.
“We kinda see all of it,” Cougars coach Les Davis said of the diversity around the league. “We went from the Slot-T at San Marcos to Steele with their power running game, and now we’ve got Tivy and their spread. Their quarterback throws the ball extremely well, but he’s also a great runner. We’re going to have our hands full.”
John Manziel has been elusive and accurate for the Antlers so far this season. The senior quarterback has passed for over 700 yards and also has a team-high 571 yards and 11 touchdowns rushing.
“He’s not afraid to tuck it and run,” Davis said. “At the same time, he’s got a good arm. He makes you cover the whole field.”
Manziel spent substantial time at quarterback and receiver last season, when Tivy’s frenzied, chaotic passing attack rolled up almost 600 yards and paved the way to a 40-28 victory over Canyon at Cougar Stadium.
“Last year they called it ‘controlled chaos,’” Davis said. “They’ll give you a million different looks, but they really don’t run a whole bunch of different plays. We’ve got to get pressure on the quarterback. But at the same time, we’ve got to contain.”
Tivy (2-4, 2-1) comes into the game at Antler Stadium with a losing record that may be a somewhat misleading. The Antlers stacked their non-district schedule with stout 5A squads, and they got kicked around by teams like Madison, Wagner and Roosevelt.
“Their non-district schedule was killer,” Davis said. “They’re a good football team.”
Canyon (3-3, 2-1) comes into the game on the heels of a 27-7 loss to eighth-ranked Steele. The Cougars gave up more than 300 yards rushing in the loss, but Davis said his team is poised to confidently rebound.
“This group of kids has been resilient all year,” he said. “Every week they come back and they’re eager to move on to the next thing. They played hard, and Steele is a good football team. We weren’t able to win, but we came from it knowing that our kids are not afraid to line up against anybody.”
To give the Cougars their best shot at winning, Davis said the Canyon offense will have to capitalize on drives against Tivy’s defense.
The Cougars moved the ball last week against Steele. Quarterback Lane Fife passed for 233 yards and a touchdown, but Canyon struggled in the red zone.
“We executed against a very solid defense,” Davis said. “They were very athletic. They took away some of our screens by their alignment. We still moved the ball and we had opportunities to score. But we kept getting to about the five, and we couldn’t score.”
On the other side of the ball, the Cougars naturally will also have to defend Tivy’s spread offense – one of many vastly different offenses the Cougars have faced lately.
“It’s a new challenge every week,” Davis said. “That’s a great thing about high school football.”
