Cardinals travel to Silsbee on Friday

Bridge City has had a difficult football season. The Cardinals have lost a lot of their starters to injury, and they have lost all but one game this year with two more still to play.

Last week was the district game the Cardinals hoped to win against Hardin-Jefferson which had not won a district game in two seasons. The Hawks broke three medium length passes into long touchdowns to gain their first win of this season 21-7 spoiling the homecoming for Bridge City.

A couple of Cardinals returned to play in the game. Josmany Robleto was back from a knee injury and played quarterback. Unfortunately, Robleto suffered a concussion in the second half. Wide receiver and punter Gavin Bodin returned and scored the only Bridge City touchdown.

Senior Noah Broussard replaced Robleto after his injury as the Cardinal quarterback. Broussard got the Bridge City offense moving with his running and passing leading to the lone Cardinal score of the game.

Cardinal Coach Cody McGuire complimented the work done by Broussard. "He's doing a great job. He plays running back, receiver, went back in at quarterback, and provided a spark for us. The kids follow him and he is a leader," McGuire praised. Broussard is expected to be the starter at quarterback for Bridge City the last two games this season.

The Cardinals outgained Hardin-Jefferson in the first half of the game and actually held the Hawks to negative yards rushing in the game. McGuire commented, "We just missed three tackles in the secondary on three pass plays or it would have been a different game."

The opposition this week for Bridge City are the district leading Silsbee Tigers. Through eight games the Tigers are undefeated outscoring their opponents by almost 250 points.

The Spread is the offense the Tigers use and wide receiver junior Dre'lon Miller is the biggest producer in their very potent offensive output. Miller is being recruited nationwide by colleges to play in two more years.

The Tiger quarterback Mason Brisbane does a great job of leading the offense. Miller may be his best weapon to beat opposing defenses but other talented receivers are Ashton Cartwright, Geremiah Jackson, and Max Brisbane.

When Silsbee decides to run the football there are three good backs Trei Kibbles, Kevin Marti, and Jonah Brown that run hard. "They just have dudes all over the field that can make plays, and anybody that gets the ball for the Tigers can go the distance. So, we've just got to make tackles, we've got to make sure of our tackles, we've got to have eleven guys running to the ball, and we've got to be more physical than them," McGuire emphasized.

The explosive Silsbee offense gets most of the attention, however, the Tigers are very good on defense too. They use various formations on defense basing out of a 4-2-5 but will jump into a 50 look on occasions. The front line will slant and they will send blitzes off the edge and up the middle.

The hub of the Tigers' defense are the two inside linebackers Jayron Williams and Jarmarion Elam. They both run to the ball very well. Williams is also good in pass coverage.

A physical presence in the defensive line is Ryan Drake at one of the tackles. Drake flies to the ball and can deliver a hit when he gets there.

The defensive secondary for Silsbee can be described in one word, athletic. Jonah Brown, Jerrick Harper, Kevin Martin, and Trei Kibbles are all fast, can make plays, and will cover opposing receivers man-to-man.

The Silsbee defense is a big reason the Tigers are undefeated on the season. McGuire summarized, "They're just a solid team. The Tigers do a great job. Coach Smith does a great job over there. They're the team to beat this year, and they've proven it every week, and it's just a great opportunity for our guys to at least change the perception and change the progression of this program for the next few years down the road. It's just going to be an exciting game and a challenging game for us."

With two weeks left in the season for Bridge City some of the goals like making the playoffs having gone by the wayside. The effort being put forth by the Cardinals continues to be very good according to Coach McGuire. "Our kids play hard and they do everything we ask them. We want our kids to play well, to do the best they can every week, and I feel like our kids have been playing hard and have been getting after it. We just want to play well and have a chance to win in the fourth quarter," McGuire evaluated.

A problem for the Cardinals is maintaining their strong play for four quarters. Last week was another example with Bridge City outplaying Hardin-Jefferson in the first half only to have one play put them behind the Hawks. Just when the Cardinals were making a comeback late in the game another long play spoiled it for Bridge City. The coach believes putting four quarters together is the main goal for Bridge City these last two games.

McGuire is not predicting an upset against Silsbee this week, but he does believe the Cardinals can make a contest of the game. "We've got some kids that can play, and we've got some young kids that are coming on, we've got some seniors that get after it and are good leaders, and so we want these seniors to go out on a winning note these last two weeks. Is it going to be hard? Heck, yes it's going to be hard. This is one of the most difficult districts in the state of Texas, but we look forward to the challenge," McGuire concluded.

The Bridge City Cardinals play the Silsbee Tigers on Friday night. The kickoff will be at 7:30 in Silsbee.