Matt DeWalt
MILLSAP — The Millsap Bulldogs open district play with the Godley Wildcats in Millsap tonight.
Both teams come into the game after having a bye last week.
“I don’t know how much healing we let them do,” said Millsap head coach Ronnie Shelby. “We beat on them pretty good for a couple of weeks. A lot of people approach the off week a little differently. The way we approach it, we’re trying to get better and because of that, we turned up the fire even a little more than normal.
“We changed our practice. I wouldn’t say it was any tougher, but we changed it a little bit and did some things differently. It’s an opportunity to be able to experiment. Sometimes kids get a little bit board doing the same old thing every day, so we changed the procedure a little bit.
“We had some good practices, but we need to play a game,” Shelby said. “There’s no question. It’s time to play a game. Two weeks is too long to practice.”
Shelby and the Bulldogs (1-4) will have to get on track early against the Wildcats (4-1) who have not lost a game since the opening week of the season.
Shelby said the Godley defense, which has allowed just 46 points and recorded two shutouts in five games, likes to force opposing offenses to make mistakes by keeping them off balance and shifting personnel. He added the key to stopping that is getting some big plays early.
“Offensively, we’re going to have to keep the ball a little bit,” Shelby said. “Defensively, they’re pretty aggressive and they play a lot of games with you. They send a lot of stunts and I think you’ve got to catch them a couple of times in things and you’ve got to burn them to get them to quit being so aggressive. We’ll have a chance then.”
Shelby said the Godley offense likes to take advantage of over aggressive defenses. Shelby stressed the importance of his defensive players trusting each other and staying in position despite the fact that a play may look to be stopped or over.
“They run the inside veer out of a gun set, which is a little different from what most people do,” Shelby said. “Your defense is going to have to be very disciplined, real disciplined.
“Their backs are good, not necessarily running to a certain spot, but they’re good at finding a hole. They may start out on the right side and bend it all the way back to the left side and it’s the same exact play. The defensive guys have to stay at home. We are a gap control defense. They are going to have to control their gaps and if we get caught out of a gap, they’re the kind of team that can find it and make you look bad.”
Millsap and Godley kickoff at Bulldog Stadium at 7:30 p.m. today.
