Regional football preview: Dora hosts playoff game

This week’s local games includes a home playoff game for Dora, while two heated rivals — Bovina and Farwell, square-off in a key district showdown. Texico, meanwhile, will look to end its season on a high note.

Eight-man playoffs: Pine Hill at Dora, 7 p.m.

The No. 5-seeded Dora Coyotes (5-3) are coming off of a bye week, as they get set to host No. 12 Pine Hill (3-3) in a first round home playoff game tonight. For Coyotes head coach Mason McBee, the extra week of practice has its advantages.

“Well, it’s nice to have that bye. You know that guys aren’t as banged up, having that extra week to get healthy,” McBee explained. “(However) you don’t get to plan for your opponent with the (playoff bracket not being revealed until after our bye week ended). But, it was nice to finally work on our stuff, as opposed to worry about gameplanning for everybody else.”

While McBee’s Coyotes are used to high-scoring games, as they average nearly 49 points per game — while giving up nearly 39 a game on defense, Pine Hill is a little more defensive-minded. In six games, the Warriors allow 28 points per contest.

However, that’s about as much that McBee himself knows about Pine Hill. As of Wednesday, McBee was still trying to gather information and film on the Warriors, as McBee went on to explain that he’s not very familiar with the coaches of Pine Hill’s opponents — who, for the record, hail from a Navajo Reservation located on the western side of the state.

“I don’t know a whole lot about them. But I know they have a good quarterback and running back that make their offense go,” McBee said. “I know that they don’t play the type of schedule we play, but we’ve played them in the past. I know that some of the Indian schools struggle when they come east.

“But, it’s gonna be a tough game and we’ve been working on defending multiple sets. Basically, we’ve just been working on how we can get better as a team.”

Tucumcari at Texico, 7 p.m.

The Wolverines nearly pulled off a big upset over Raton last week. Texico (1-8, 0-3) had Raton on the ropes for most of the game, but in the end, they ultimately fell to the Tigers, 20-12.

“We got better, and that’s the best game we’ve played to date — I feel,” Wolverines coach Pat Crowley said of the Raton game. “Things are coming together, and the kids are playing together as a unit. We just gotta continue that.”

This week, Texico’s opponent is a little more favorable, as it’ll take on Tucumcari (2-7, 1-2). The Rattlers have lost six of their past seven games, including a 48-7 rout against Santa Rosa last week.

According to Crowley, Tucumcari possesses large offensive and defensive lines. Offensively, the Rattlers are a run-heavy team that makes good use of their fullback, while their defense has talent at the linebacker spot.

For the Wolverines, tonight marks their regular season finale, and for Crowley, he’d like to see continued growth from his football team. “I want to see a continuation of what we started last Friday,” Crowley said. “I think we’ve had a good week of practice and I think the kids are understanding angles and blocking assignments better. (Also) we want to keep running the ball.”

Farwell at Bovina, 6:30 p.m.

Tonight, a fierce rivalry in the Texas 2A-2 Region I District 3 standings takes place, and it has even more meaning than usual. Both Farwell (5-3, 3-0) and Bovina (5-2, 2-0) will battle it out for a district title tonight, as well as a potential No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.

Farwell is coming off of a 54-6 blowout victory over Springlake-Earth a week ago, while Bovina was bye, due to a cancellation. For Mustangs coach Jonathan Lambright, last week’s bye was advantageous, as it gave his team an opportunity to get in a little extra prep time for the Steers.

Despite that, however, he knows that Farwell will be no easy task. “I expect a hard-fought game,” Lambright explained. “It doesn’t matter what your record is. This is such a great rivalry and it’s always a great game.”

Lambright says that the Steers come off of the ball really hard on defense, and his team will have to match that intensity. The Steers average more than 30 points per game and are currently on a three-game winning streak.

The scariest part, however, is that while the Steers will have to travel to Bovina, they actually possess a 4-1 road record, as opposed to just 1-2 at home. As for the Mustangs, they’re undefeated at home and score roughly the same amount of points per game.

For Farwell coach Danny Brittain, while his team may not have had a bye last week, their blowout win over Springlake-Earth helped his squad immensely. According to Brittain, his Steers fired on all cylinders and executed really well.

Brittain is hoping that will be the case once again tonight, especially with a district title and playoff seeding on the line. “It’s a big deal to win the district championship, because you don’t want to get into that tougher bottom-half of the bracket,” Brittain explained.

“We preach to the kids every week that we’re getting ready for not only a district title, but also, the playoffs. So, we always practice for that. (As for Bovina) they throw the ball real well and they put a lot of points on the board. We’re gonna have to do a good job of mixing coverages up, making it more difficult to throw.”

Muleshoe at Littlefield, 6:30 p.m.

Muleshoe just couldn’t seem to win to start the season, but now, they can’t seem to lose. The Mules (4-4, 3-0) extended their winning streak to four games last week, after taking down Friona in a shootout, 55-48.

According to Mules coach David Wood, his team trailed throughout, but managed to finally pull ahead in the late stages of the game. “It was back and forth. We didn’t ever lead until about five minutes left in the game. Then, they went down and scored, before we scored again (to win it),” Wood explained.

“Early in the year, we probably wouldn’t have fought as hard. But now that we’re deeper into the schedule, we’ve found out a little more about ourselves — dig a little deeper. We have a little bit more confidence, and we’re trying to position for the playoffs.”

Tonight, the Mules travel to Littlefield (1-7, 0-3), who lost to Slaton a week ago, 28-16. However, despite the record, Wood says that it doesn’t tell the whole story of the Wildcats.

In fact, the Wildcats have dealt with numerous injuries throughout the year. But now, however, Littlefield appears to be fully healthy and ready to cause havoc in the Texas 3A-1 Region I District 1 standings.

“(Littlefield) is more tougher now, and they’re as good as any team in the district (when healthy),” Wood said. “It’s gonna be a really tough ballgame. I know it’s gonna be a little tougher to keep (my guys) motivated (because of the Wildcats’ record), but they know Littlefield has been hurt.

“Their offense and defense has been the same for the past 40 years — same four or five offensive plays, 50 defense, so we just gotta stop them.”