Competing for starts

By Albert Trevino
Enterprise Staff

The (0-2) Corrigan-Camden Bulldogs will visit the (1-1) Kirbyville Wildcats in a non-district matchup Friday.

After two straight losses, the young Bulldog varsity team is also competing in practice for starting positions to determine who is truly ready for Friday nights.

“When you are trying to get ready for district play with an inexperienced varsity team, you constantly have to challenge these guys,” said Bulldog head coach Brett Ratliff. “We just give a lot of equal reps with first team on offense and defense to see who is playing and giving the best effort. Right now, they are trying to be the best so they can play.”

According to Ratliff, many of last week’s issues against Elkhart simply came down to details in the offensive execution and playmaking at crucial times.

“We were always in the football game,” Ratliff said. “It is just a couple of little things we have to execute better. I do not think it was a lack of effort or strategy.”

Kirbyville missed the playoffs last season with a 2-4 record against district opponents. The Wildcats are coming off a 28-14 road loss last week at Diboll, but opened the season with a 46-8 blowout victory over the Trinity Tigers.

Much of the Wildcat offense will remain in the unbalanced, power-based scheme. However, Ratliff is expecting an expanded playbook that will try to test the Bulldog defense.

“[Kirbyville] is a lot more multiple in formations this year. They are going to spread it out a lot more,” said Ratliff. “This is to get you in even more formations to make you misalign. We have to play very sound defensively and line up [correctly].”

Offensive playmakers for Kirbyville will include junior quarterback Jace Huffman, along with senior running backs Trent Cooper and Ashton Anderson.

In the two games so far, Corrigan’s offense has scored a total of just 12 points. Ratliff is confident that his offensive game plan, if executed properly, can create opportunities against the five-man front of the Wildcat defense.

“Their defense is going to try forcing you to spread out and try throwing it.” Ratliff said. “We have to do a good job making plays and get them out of what they are comfortable with. That is just winning the front. We can make them misalign if we do things correctly.”

Kickoff for this Friday’s non-district contest is set for 7:30 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium in Kirbyville.