The last two years have not been kind to the Salado Eagles come playoff time. They’ve had to face Bellville each time, losing 34-14 in 2016 and 49-7 in 2015.
The Eagles and Brahmas will meet once more this Saturday at the Alamodome. It’s the third of a triple-header and Bellville coach Grady Rowe says his team and staff are excited for the chance.
Led by senior quarterback Marcus Ward, the Brahmas offense can be lethal if given the chance. Ward has 700 yards on only 41 completions, 10 touchdowns and a lonely three interceptions. The senior actually leads the team in rushing, too. His 760 yards and 11 touchdowns are one of few reasons why the team has 3,100 yards on the ground in 2017.
It’s not all Ward, though. He’s joined by freshman Trevon Green (657 yards), junior James Wiley (611 yards) and three others with 175 yards or more on the season.
“Realy it depends what the defense is giving us, what’s going on and we’ll take it,” Rowe said. “Marcus Ward has stepped up really well the past few weeks and done a great job. We feel confident with any of those guys.”
Brahma Defense
On the other side of the ball, Bellville hoists what seems to be one of the best defensive fronts in the state. Last week, defensive lineman Diego Muniz brought down ball carriers 21 times, something that’s unheard of at most levels of the sport. Along with Muniz, there’s Bryan Reese, who has 116 total tackles on the year and Robert Hurtig, with 145.
Rowe knows his defense will have to continue to play lights out defense to win this week. Luckily, he’s hammered in a standard, in which the team aims to allow 14 or less.
That standard has been reached in seven games this year, they are 6-1 in those games. The Brahmas are 7-5 on the year.
“With todays world of football I don’t know how realistic that is but it’s still set there for us,” Rowe said. “We believe you have to be able to run the football and play really good football. That’s been our formula over the year and we will continue to stick to that. We want to make teams to continue to snap the ball, not make big plays on us and play solid defense.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome.
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