Rio Vista will try to avoid 0-2 start in district vs. Axtell
Oct. 6—RIO VISTA — While it's still early in District 7-2A Division I play, there's a sense of urgency for the Rio Vista Eagles entering Friday's battle with the Axtell Longhorns.
Rio Vista (1-4, 0-1) opened district play last week with a hard-fought 29-22 loss to Italy, a game the Eagles held a 22-14 lead late in the third quarter only to see the Gladiators score 15 unanswered points, with the game-winning touchdown coming in the final 2 minutes.
With Axtell (3-2, 1-1) coming to town Friday, Rio Vista Coach Kasey Black didn't shy away from the magnitude of this game.
"Nothing's a playoff game yet but if we want to set ourselves up for a good season and a good run at the playoffs, we've got to win this week," he said. "To me, it is a must-win. We've got them at home. Especially coming off the way we played last week, we played with a ton of energy and a ton of effort, but a few mistakes kicked us in the butt."
At 1-4, Rio Vista is off to its worst start through five games since 2015, but Black intentionally scheduled a challenging non-district slate of opponents to help the Eagles be as prepared as possible for district play. Three of Rio Vista's four non-district opponents enter play this week with 5-0 records in Dawson, No. 3 Crawford and No. 7 Santo. The combined record of Rio Vista's first five opponents is 19-7.
Black said he liked how his team played overall last week, with the exception of a couple of mistakes. Unfortunately for Rio Vista, those mistakes proved to be the difference as Italy returned an interception on a screen pass for a touchdown in addition to a punt return for a touchdown to steal a win from the Eagles.
A week after Rio Vista's defense shut down Italy, the Eagles will face a run-first threat from Axtell.
"They're a run-heavy team and they're going to use different kind of motions," Black said. "You always got to have somebody on the quarterback. He's the coach's son and he's a good runner. They like to run him a bunch and then they hit you over the top when you're not paying attention. They're a spread team but they run it a lot and they run to set up the throw."
Black said he believes the key to success for the Eagles this week —in addition to avoiding turnovers — is the play of their defensive line.
"I think it's our D-line," he said. "They want to run counter a bunch of times out of a bunch of different formations. If we can stop the run up front without having to do a bunch of blitzes, that's key. Our defensive line has to win that battle."
Black said Daniel Miser, Tyler Hinds and Taylor Pritchett have led the way for the Eagles, especially on defense.
"Daniel miser, at defensive end right now, he's been really playing well," Black said. "Tyler Hinds plays safety and a little bit of receiver for us and he's played really well. And then Taylor Pritchett has been balling out at linebacker and playing really well."
Kickoff between the Longhorns and Eagles is set for 7 p.m. Friday from Eagle Field.
