Football Looks to Slow Down Undefeated Ysleta

Armando Yanez, Sports Writer

The Bowie football team will play against undefeated Ysleta High School on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, on Ysleta’s home turf. The Bears are coming off a huge win against Clint High School and will look to hand the Ysleta Indians their first loss of the season and improve to 3-1.

 

Indians quarterback Joziah Salazar, who averages 251.7 yards per game through 3 games this season, will challenge the Bears pass defense who have only allowed an average of 95 passing yards per game, despite not having faced a dangerous air attack offense in their first 3 games of the season.

 

“We just gotta play good coverage and lock up the receivers. We also need to get pressure on the quarterback, to where he feels pressured and can’t make a good read”, defensive back John Moran said.

 

The Bears will also look to keep their dominant running offense going against Ysleta’s run defense, who have only allowed an average of 136.7 rushing yards per game this season, while the Bears have averaged 224 rushing yards per game this season. Although the running backs are responsible for getting the ball into the end zone, the offensive line have the important job of picking up blocks and helping them get there.

 

“We need to keep our blocks a little bit longer and be able to adjust any defense they throw at us” left guard Alejandro Longoria said.

 

Ultimately, the Bears have measured up well to their opponents this season and Ysleta will put up a good challenge in order to keep their three game winning streak alive.

 

“I feel confident on all three [offense, defense, and special teams], I think we practiced and improved on all three areas from last week, and that’s really what we want these first four games before we go to district.” head coach Robert Padilla said.

 

“We want to show improvement in every area from last week to this week. We expect them to run lots of different plays and formations. We are gonna expect the unexpected, everything that they‘ve run a lot or maybe even once, to see if they can catch us on something. They’re quick on defense, so we got to pick up our blocks to keep the run effective for us”, coach Padilla said.

 

After a good week worth of practice, coach Padilla will lead his team in search of improving to a 3-1 record heading into district play, as they take on the 3-0 Ysleta Indians in their last non-district game on Sept. 21, 2018 at 6:30 pm in Hutchins Stadium at Ysleta High School.