HITCHCOCK — Many of the Hitchcock Bulldogs had been waiting for three years to play in a postseason contest.
For junior running back Jordan Turner, that made the pre-game jitters a little stronger on Friday night.
“I always get a little nervous before a game,” Turner admitted. “But we had waited so long and put in a lot of work to get to the playoffs. I had a lot more butterflies in my stomach because of that.”
But that nervousness wasn’t telling on the football field. Hitchcock (10-1) celebrated its return to the playoffs with an 18-13 victory over Edna.
The victory sets up a showdown this Saturday against undefeated Salado (11-0) in the Class 2A, Division I regional semifinals. Hitchcock is averaging more than 35 points a game. Salado is allowing just seven a contest. Something has to give when the two squads meet in Navasota at 6 p.m.
“Salado is a real disciplined squad that plays great defense,” said Hitchcock coach Gary Carney. “But I’m not sure if they’ve seen a team with the overall speed that we have. Hopefully we’ll be able to make something happen with that speed.”
Hitchcock’s strategy for most of the season has been to force teams into an offensive shootout. That could prove a little difficult against the Eagles, who will attempt to grind out long drives on the ground and keep the Bulldogs’ offense off the field.
However, after defeating Edna in a rather low-scoring affair, Hitchcock has plenty of confidence if the game turns into a defense battle.
“That was real important how we won that game against Edna,” said sophomore quarterback Morris Tuck. “I was telling my dad after the game, that in the grand scheme of things, it’s a lot better for us to win an 18-13 game than a 38-35 game. It shows me that if we aren’t playing up to par on offense, the defense can step up and win the game for us. That takes a lot of pressure off.”
Carney said a lot of the success can be credited to a few changes they made on defense four games ago. Since then, the defense has improved every game and the players have been flying around the field like Carney said they need to be doing this time of year.
Another weapon the Bulldogs will rely on if Saturday’s game turns into a defensive struggle is punter Matt Cambiano.
“Whenever we need to make a critical kick to pin an opponent, Matt’s come through for us,” Carney said. “He did that for us twice on Friday which made a big difference in the game.”
But just because Hitchcock has the pieces in place to win a defensive struggle, don’t look for the Bulldogs to take their foot off the accelerator. Even though the Eagles have more size, Hitchcock senior lineman Geno Gutierrez said that will be a negative against the Bulldogs’ team speed.
“We’ve faced some bigger lineman this season, so we know what we can do to beat them,” Gutierrez said. “The bigger the lineman are, the slower they are. That just makes it easier for Jordan to run by them. We engage them, and then it’s off to the races.”
Added Tuck: “There’s no doubt we are taking their defensive numbers as a challenge. We have a lot of pride in our speed and are confident that will be the difference.”
Do the Bulldogs believe there is a team out there that can defeat their speed? Only one, according to Turner.
“The only way we are going to lose in the playoffs is if we beat ourselves,” Turner said. “Nobody out there can stop us otherwise.”
