After coming up short against rivals Seminole two weeks ago, the Andrews football team found a perfect response, defeating Lubbock High, 55-21, in the sweltering heat last Friday at Lowrey Field to improve to 3-2 for the season.
Andrews head coach Tom Harvey and his players have one more nondistrict contest on the calendar as they prepare to host Canyon at 7 p.m. Friday at Mustang Bowl.
“It was good to get back on the winning track and it was good to play well,” Harvey said. “I didn’t think we played very well against Seminole the week before. Defensively, we played really well against Seminole but we seem to be firing on all cylinders. It was a 4 p.m. game which meant it was really hot, but that’s good experience, too. Overall, it was good but we have a few injuries to deal with.”
The Mustangs had to deal with an earlier than usual kick off due to Lowrey Field having two games last Friday.
Because of that, Andrews had to play the 4 p.m. kickoff against Lubbock High.
“It had cooled off for a few days, but by Friday, it was hot again,” Harvey said. “It was in the high 90s.”
The end zones at the stadium also run from north to south which means the stands are on the east and west sides. The visiting side faces west at the stadium.
“The way that stadium sits, the sun goes down on the home side so it was pretty sweltering,” Harvey said. “I think our kids battled through it. It stayed hot on our side for the entire game. We didn’t make any excuses. They battled through it. I’m proud of them.”
Canyon (playing out of District 3-4A, Div. I) comes in at 4-1. The Eagles defeated Midland Greenwood last week 35-21.
“It’s a typical Canyon team,” Harvey said. “They’re really well-coached. They play hard. We’ve seen them on film. They’re pretty impressive. We’re going to have to play pretty well to win. You want to have games like that. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. We’re going to have to play well.”
>> LOOKING TO RECOVER: The Compass Academy football team is coming off a 28-21 loss to Alpine in last week’s District 1-3A, Div. II opener at Ratliff Stadium. The loss set the Cougars back at 2-3 overall, 0-1 in district.
After building a 21-point first half lead, the Bucks (2-3, 1-0) scored 28 unanswered points to make the comeback victory.
Compass Academy head coach Floyd White and his players are eager to put the loss behind them.
“We just went back and talked to our kids about fixing the small things and not doing the small things that ended up hurting us,” White said. “We have to understand that if you do the small things right, and we did some things right early in the game, but when it comes down to crunch time, that’s when they really count. So, we got back into the weight room and talking about squats and talking about how all the little things translate into doing it in the fourth quarter.”
Turnovers were the story in the first half as both teams coughed up the ball several times. Compass Academy was able to capitalize on Alpine’s miscues, but also left points off the board.
“That goes back to what we’re preaching,” White said. “We know we’re getting close. We knew that if we can just execute the way that we know how to execute, then we could turn some of those turnovers into points. We had to make sure we capitalized and that was a big point of emphasis. We also had a few turnovers and we can’t do that. We left 14 points off the board in the first half.”
The Cougars will be on the road this week when they face Crane (2-3, 1-0) in a 7:30 p.m. game Friday at El Ave Stadium in Crane.
“Crane’s always been the class of the district,” White said. “They’ve been the big brother of the district. They’re a very well-coached team. They’re starting to hit their stride. We have to execute and do our thing. We can’t worry about what they’re doing. We have to worry about what we’re doing and if we do that, we’ll be up there in the hunt for the district with them.”
