San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Matadors’ new philosophy emerges
The about-face of Seguin football is beginning to take form. The Matadors, under first-year coach Craig Dailey, are building with strong defense and a ground-control offense.
“This is complementary football that we want to play,” Dailey said. “Defense gives us the lead in the second half, we’re gonna run the ball and eat up clock. It’s what we believe in — smashmouth football. I truly believe that at any level — high school, college for NFL — if you want to win championships, you’ve got to be able to run the ball when the game in on the line.”
Seguin (1-2) accomplished that Friday by holding off San Antonio Veterans Memorial 23-21 in its District 12-5A-I opener at Rutledge Stadium.
The victory marked the Matadors’ first in Dailey’s tenure. Dailey was hired in March to replace Travis Bush, who left for New Braunfels Canyon after five years at Seguin.
A year ago, the Matadors manufactured 455.1 yards and allowed 309.4 yards per game. Seguin outlasted Dripping Springs 70-63 in its regular-season closer by outgaining the Tigers 667-636 in total yardage. Pflugerville Hendrickson defeated Seguin 74-70 in the first round of the playoffs, thanks
to a 765-661 advantage in total yardage.
The 2021 Matadors are more pedestrian by design. Veterans Memorial outgained Seguin 311267 in total yardage Friday.
Although two of the Matadors’ three lost fumbles led to two touchdowns, Seguin played clutch defense when needed.
Junior defensive back Christian Soefje returned an interception 36 yards for a score to make it 23-7. On the Patriots’ previous series, Seguin tallied a safety when a snap sailed over the punter’s head and bounced 27 yards back into the end zone.
That turned out to be the difference in the game.
“Our kids are buying into the system of playing great defense,” Dailey said. “That’s what we really believe in — that if we play great defense, we’ll manufacture enough runs on offense to win the game.”
The Matadors’ biggest stand occurred in the closing minutes after the Patriots pulled to within 23-21, following a 60-yard touchdown reception by Weston Ross and a 3-yard scoring catch by Desmond Roberts.
The Patriots (2-2, 0-1) took over on their own 20 with 3:29 left in the fourth after a missed 36-yard field goal by Lenny Reyes.
Veterans Memorial drove to Seguin’s 2-yard-line on 11 plays with less than a minute left. The Patriots lost yardage to the 7 on the next two plays before calling timeout with 12 seconds left. The Patriots’ Elijah Lopez’s 24-yard field goal try to the game winner sailed wide left.
“We had our ups and downs,” Soefje said. “We fought together real hard, and we executed. They made big plays. We put the ball down, but we kept playing. I mean, that’s how our defense rolls. We keep it going even when it gets hard.”
Seguin scored on its first two drives utilizing a conventional IFormation offense with quarterback under center, fullback and tailback.
Quarterback Troy Falgout passed to Devin Matthews for a 15-yard score to cap the opening
series. Michael Martinez followed
with a 10-yard score that made it 14-0 at the 3:56 mark of the first quarter.
Sophomore tailback John Jackson spearheaded the Matadors’ clock-chewing efforts with 27 carries for 118 yards.
“I’m still getting the hang of it, and we’re all still progressing as a team,” Jackson said. “All of us on the field are getting the hang of it and getting going.”
Dailey is a 2000 Seguin graduate. He previously coached at Class 6A League City Clear Springs, where he was 37-18, won four district championships and made the playoffs in each of his five seasons there.
“The community has been awesome to my family and me,” Dailey said. “There are a bunch of great kids and great people in Seguin that made me who I am today. I’m just glad to have that opportunity to give back to that community.”