Gonzales-Cuero Preview Game Story
From the Gonzales Inquirer
Apache football fans may see a 1-2 record next to Cuero, but don’t be fooled. Those Gobblers are still a tough bunch, according to Gonzales head football coach Mike Waldie.
“They got really good football players and there’s a lot of people where if they play Yoakum and El Campo, with some absolutely thoroughbreds by the way, they’re going to lose back-to-back,” he explained. “They are two really good football teams. Cuero is way better than their record, they’re still the defending state champions, I’m very impressed with some of their schematics, I’m very impressed with their toughness, they got a lot of kids playing both ways, but this is still Cuero and trust me, they’re still the defending state champs until somebody knocks them off and that’s the mentality that we have.”
After knocking off Yoakum last week, the Gonzales Apaches (2-1) hope to not have a letdown game this Friday at home against their rivals.
Waldie explained that his method for avoiding those letdowns is to be as honest to his athletes as he can.
“I told them Saturday morning, don’t get Yoakum’d,” he said. “What I meant by that is all week I preached to them, Yoakum just beat Cuero, huge rival game, they’re not thinking about you. They’re reading their press clippings. Whether that had a factor in the game or not, I don’t know. But that’s what we preached last week, so immediately we flipped the script.”
The key to the game this Friday will be the battle the offensive and defensive lines for both teams.
“They are talented up front, that’s the strength of their offense,” Waldie said. “It’s going to be o-line vs. d-line on both sides of the ball. Thankfully we got 4 [Lion Williamson] and 32 [Diego Diaz De Leon] with two good noses in ‘Silvy’ [Silvano Reyes] and Ivan Reyna that make it really fun to us.”
Waldie praised the Apache fans who showed up to Yoakum and effect the game as well as they did. The head coach hopes for the same energy for this week’s game at home against Cuero.
Overall, the Gobblers have the series advantage up 43-36-1 all time against Gonzales. The Apaches’ last win over Cuero was a 28-0 tilt in 2011.
Kickoff this Friday is set at 7:30 p.m.
