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Tigers play for pride in season finale against Needville
Last year's contest had play-off implications as the Tigers beat Needville 29-21 in overtime to knock the Bluejays out of the playoff picture. This year, Needville has already clinched the third and final District 24- 3A playoff spot after beating Stafford 33-0 last Friday to improve to 4-2. Wharton enters the game with a 2-4 district record and was eliminated from the playoffs this past Friday by losing to Columbus 41-7. The Tigers can only play for pride and to defend their home turf. "I'm sure our guys will do their best and play as hard as they can," said Wharton coach Gary Van Sant. "With your last game being a home game, you would think that they would play really hard.
Needville third-year coach Ryan Roark is well aware of the rivalry and formerly was an assistant coach at Rice Consolidated. "When you're only 25 miles apart and play each other every year, it's going to be a rivalry ball game," said Roark. It's no secret that there's no love lost between the Bluejays and the Tigers, who have won eight straight games. Needville beat Wharton nine times in a row from 1988-1998. The teams didn't play in 1990-91. The Tigers blew out the Bluejays before last year's tight contest. Wharton won 47-7 in 2005, 51-3 in 2004, 30-7 in 2003, 35-14 in 2002, 47- 30 in 2001, 41-14 in 2000 and 27-10 in 1999 It's a huge ball game for a lot of reasons," said Roark. "It's a rival game and we're riding a three-game winning streak. Regardless of whether we're 0-10 or 10-0, we're looking forward to playing Wharton," said Roark.
We want to come out and play our tails off against Wharton and it's just that simple." Roark isn't looking at the game as a tune-up for the play-offs. "I promise the 'P' word - which means play-off - will not be mentioned around our field house or practice the whole week," said Roark. "We will have 100 percent undivided attention to the Wharton Tigers on Friday night." Needville's four district wins have been by a margin of 27 points or more. "It's been mental toughness and good senior leadership," said Roark. "I was proud of the way our kids stuck to their guns and got after it. When things got tough, they didn't turn their cheek." Despite Wharton's losing record, Roark expects a tough test from the Tigers. "Anytime Wharton plays Needville, it's been one of those deals where they have been beating the heck out of us, "said Roark. Roark isn't concerned about his team, which is a 23-point favorite, taking the Tigers for granted. "I don't think that there's a chance on God's green earth that our kids are taking Wharton for granted," said Roark. "I can promise you that." This is the 20th time for the teams to play since 1958. Wharton has won 10 games and Needville has won nine. The 27-10 win by the Tigers in 1999 snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Bluejays which started in 1988. "We look at it as a personal challenge and have a bunch of seniors who got humiliated their freshman and sophomore years," said Roark. "The seniors feel like it's their year and their time. They want to get the monkey off their backs. "We don't want to go into this game looking at we're going into the play-offs. "We're going into this with our full barrage of starters and we're healthy. We're going to try and get after Wharton as much as we possibly can. Roark's biggest concern is the Tigers speed. "We have to deal with that every year," said Roark. "That's first and foremost since they have that all over the field." Roark agreed with Van Sant's philosophy of line play. "It always starts up front," said Roark. "You can have all the great skilled kids in the world but if you're not controlling the line of scrimmage, you'll still have a tough time winning ball games." To no one's surprise Roark believes the game will come down to turnovers. "That sounds like a cliché but that's the absolute truth," said Roark. "Whoever doesn't turn the ball over will have an excellent chance to win." The Cardinals along with Sealy, which beat the Roughnecks, clinched playoff spots and own identical 5-1 records. After going 1-3 to start district, losing to Columbus and Sealy, Needville has bounced back to win three straight. Needville's defense has allowed only two touchdowns in the past four games and is yielding only 208 yards per game, tops in the district. "They are getting better each week," said Roark. "What's helping us is our ball control and our defense is getting a lot of rest and we haven't punted in 10 quarters." The Jay's offense is averaging 31 yards per game and led by senior running back Thadeus Wilkerson who has scored 25 touchdowns and rushed for 1,197 yards. Look for sophomore Kobie Hajdik to also carry the ball. He has scored two touchdowns and rushed for 297 yards. Quarterback Brian Buzek has completed 24 of 42 passes for 364 yards. He has four TD passes and two interceptions. Trey Poras has caught 16 passes for 266 yards. They are very big and run the football very well," said Van Sant. "You just have to control the line of scrimmage and it's hard to do that. Whoever does it , wins the football game. "We have to try give them some schemes, looks and keep them off balance." The Series 2006 - Wharton #....29-21 (OT) 2005 - Wharton #..............47-7 2004 - Wharton #..............51-3 2003 - Wharton #..............30-7 2002 - Wharton #............35-14 2001 - Wharton #............47-30 2000 - Wharton #............41-14 1999 - Wharton #............27-10 1998 - Needville #............ 16-6 1997 - Needville #.......... 55-21 1996 - Needville ............42-6 1995 - Needville............ 35-32 1994 - Needville............ 24-0 1993 - Needville............. 14-0 1992 - Needville............ 20-14 1989 - Needville........... 37-14 1988 - Needville.............14-13 1959 - Wharton #..............20-6 1958 - Wharton #.............12-0 # Denotes district games |
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