Sweeny-Fulshear football game preview story

From The Brazosport Facts

SWEENY — A young team that’s still working on finding its groove, Sweeny couldn’t quite get the ball rolling in the Battle of the Bernard last week, but players haven’t lost their drive or lowered their expectations.

“Practice has been good this week; the kids have been working hard,” Sweeny head football coach Randy Lynch said. “Everything kind of just snowballed for us last game, but we’re still working, aiming to get the whole team better.”

Sweeny (1-2) will host the Fulshear Chargers (0-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Bulldog Stadium, another young team looking to improve.

The Bulldogs will try to establish the running game with backs Xavier Woods and Trey Fields against a Chargers team surrendering 242 rushing yards per game. Woods leads District 11-4A D-2 with 248 yards on 48 carries and three touchdowns while Fields is fifth with 143 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown.

“That’s our mentality going into every game, to have success running the football and setting up the play-action pass,” Lynch said.

Columbia didn’t let the Bulldogs do that last week in dominating their rival, 38-7. Sweeny gained 222 yards of total offense, including only 105 rushing yards on 30 carries. Woods, who came into the contest averaging more than 6 yards per carry, managed just 22 yards on 11 tries against the Roughnecks.

A bright spot to build on for the Bulldogs is Justice Clemons, a wide receiver and defensive back who played his first game of the season last Friday. The senior caught three passes for 54 yards and a touchdown and added three runs for 31 yards.

Lynch knows Clemons is a good asset to the Bulldog program, but also knows it takes more than one player to have a successful season.

“We’re trying to get the whole team better, it’s not just the Justice Clemons show,” Lynch said. “Other guys have been playing well.”

Seeking their first win of the season, the Chargers will lean on quarterback Jackson Edge, who has 315 yards and two touchdowns passing, completing 62 percent of his passes.

Sweeny hasn’t had much time to focus on its pass defense, but they’re working on it as much as possible while forced to practice indoors.

“Weather’s kind of hurt us because we haven’t been able to practice the way we want to,” Lynch said. “We’re working heavy on pass defense, and they have some big boys on the front lines. They throw the ball around more than we’ve usually seen, but they can still run the ball, too.”

Fulshear has dual-threat running backs T.J. Fields and Tosin Ogunlana who will pose a challenge. Fields has run for 177 yards while adding 87 yards receiving and two total touchdowns. Ogunlana has 133 yards rushing to go with 74 yards receiving this season.

Sweeny dominated the teams’ only previous meeting, winning 51-14 last year at Fulshear.