L-K looks to rebound with key win

JOAQUIN, Texas—Linden-Kildare is going into hostile territory.

The Tigers (5-1, 1-1) travel to Joaquin to take on the Rams (4-1, 0-1) in a District 11-2A matchup.

After falling to Garrison, 49-35 last Friday, Linden-Kildare looks to outperform Joaquin and improve to 2-1 in district.

“Joaquin is solid,” Tiger head coach Derek Simmons said. “They aren’t quite as physical as Garrison, but they will be more physical than us. We hope that we are faster than them; they have some kids that run really well.

“They run a version of the Slot-T, and the guys really come off the football hard. We are going to have to play sound defense and limited their opportunities. When we have the ball on offense, we want to

make sure we get points on every drive.”

The Slot-T is an old school offensive scheme that is not widely used. Despite this, Coach Simmons and the staff have worked in preparing the team to the best of their ability.

“The hard part for us is trying to simulate what Joaquin does,” Simmons said. “We don’t see their offensive scheme very much, and it is hard for our junior varsity to match it in practice. We have to play sound, assignment football. We will have to get as many bodies to the football as we can. Our secondary can’t go to sleep, because the Rams will lull you to sleep with run after run and then hit you with a big pass.”

Linden-Kildare started off the season with five consecutive wins. The Tigers defeated Hooks, Clarksville, DeKalb, Hawkins and Harleton before falling to Garrison. L-K has kept up the momentum, despite its loss.

“We’ve had a good week of practice,” Simmons said. “We felt really good coming out of the Garrison game, even though we lost. I thought the kids showed a lot of heart and determination. The kids fought tooth-and-nail with Garrison, and it came down to three or four plays. We are going to give Joaquin everything we’ve got.”