The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity football team got the Jimmy Thomas era started on the right foot last week with a, 45-6, victory over Dimmitt. This week they turn their sights to their home-opener against the Denver City Mustangs.
Coach Thomas talked about the victory on Friday, saying, “We just kept playing and that was the consistent thing at halftime, we didn’t panic. It’s new, we had a bunch of guys in a new system and a bunch of guys, about 20, who have never played varsity football before. We got stronger as the game went on and the run game helped us settle down and get to where we needed to be. It was positive, very positive.”
The Littlefield Wildcats totaled 461 yards of total offense, including 160 yards passing and 301 yards rushing.
Senior quarterback, Ethan Garcia, was 13-21 passing for 160 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also added 17 carries for 135 yards and three touchdowns. Senior running back, Ty’Jae Chambers, chipped in 19 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
In the receiving game, MJ Randle had two catches for 51 yards and one touchdown, while Mason Jones caught four passes for 34 yards and one touchdown. Javen Jimenez also had one catch for 29 yards and Jordan Trevino tallied three catches for 28 yards.
“We got better as we went on and both of those guys [Garcia and Chambers] are competitors,” Coach Thomas said. “There was a key play in that game where we ran quarterback stretch with Ethan and it was a third and five and we were backed up and there was a guy that he just absolutely ran over to get the first down. And that showed me everything I needed to do.”
He added, “We always look at that stat at the end of the game, and I feel like we really distributed the ball pretty good. It’s not always going to be equal, but we want to get everybody involved in our passing game. I thought we did a good job of seeing what the spread looks like. We were pleased on how we got people touches.”
The coach talked about their defensive performance, saying, “Defensively, we played great, we just couldn’t tackle that big sucker. He was all over the place and pretty elusive. We had 10 sacks on the night, which if you have 10 sacks, we probably could have had 20 sacks if we could have tackled him. They bent a little bit, but didn’t break; we held them to no rushing yards and 100 yards passing; I will take that every Friday.””
He added, “We left them on the field too much in the first half. That was part of the problem offensively, we were not very good in the first half. We played hard; our defensive line had somebody running free every play. We played hard, we played aggressive and I thought we did a good job. We left our defensive backs in man coverage a little long on those scrambles and that is about all they completed. That is tough on a defensive back, when you can’t get to the quarterback and you have to play man for four or five seconds, it is not a good match-up for any week. I was impressed and proud of the kids and I think it gave us the level of confidence we needed.”
Denver City comes to town this week, coming off of a week one loss to Idalou.
“They’re a little bit different too from what they’ve looked like in years past. They have two really good defensive ends, who are really physical,” the coach explained. “That is our concern watching them defensively, they’re a 3-3 stack who is going to spill everything to the outside and they’re going to try and keep us out of the middle of the field. We know we’re going to have to play well up front and we’re going to give our tackles some help.”
He added, “Offensively, they’re trying to find a quarterback, they started a sophomore this week, but they’re rotating some guys and are trying to find an identity. I think we match up to them pretty good. They’re playing really good defense right now and I think they’re a little bit better on defense then they are offense. We’re going to have to play better than we did Friday night, but that is our goal, we’re just trying to get better week-to-week.”
The coach talked about what he wants to see from his team coming out of the gate on Friday, saying, “I just want to see more confidence, that is the thing I saw in the second half last week. At halftime I didn’t go in and yell and scream, I walked in and said that was a very dismal offensive performance, but at halftime we just worked on fixing things that we need to fix. But the effort was there from the kids and as long as the effort is there from the kids, us as coaches have to get it fixed together. I think we’ll see a more confident team come out in the first quarter this week.”
The Wildcats’ home-opener is set to kick-off at 7 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium in Littlefield.