This Friday begins District 4-1A DI competition which includes Terry County’s own Meadow and Wellman-Union. The other three teams in district is perennial powerhouse Borden County, O’Donnell and Whiteface. Of the five teams in district only one as a winning record thus far and it’s Whiteface with a 4-2 record. Meadow is the only other team in district that has won a game which was their homecoming night against Grady 52-46 and after a loss to Happy they sit at 1-5. Borden County who began the season at the #2 spot in the state is 0-5 and they possibly could be 0-6 except their last game was canceled due to weather. The same goes for O’Donnell as they also sit at 0-5 and could’ve been 0-6 if their last game wasn’t canceled due to weather. Then there is the team in southern Terry County, Wellman-Union who is 0-4 and might could’ve won against an 0-5 DII Hart Longhorns, but as luck would have it that game was also canceled due to weather. Fast forward to this Friday night as the Meadow Broncos will travel south to take on their cross county rival the Wellman-Union Wildcats in their first district game of the season.
Both squads are looking for some new energy but only one can come out 1-0 in district play. The Broncos tend to look much better on paper and have more experience than the Wildcats. Meadow has been able to play two more games than Wellman-Union, they have played three games all the way through the fourth and four of their losses came from top 20 opponents. Meadow also boasts a heavy upper class and an arsenal of young men like 2020 All-District Sr. Niko Castaneda (6’4, 305 lb) who is really quick on both sides of the ball and can boot the ball through the uprights when needed. Then there is last weeks TownTalk Athlete of the Week running back and defensive end Jr. Jimmy German. Meadow’s German had a slow start to the season, however he has become a major play maker in the past four games.
It doesn’t stop there. The other running back and defensive end Jr. Kaleb Sanchez has been racking up yards each week and is not easy to take down. The Broncos also have a good quarterback in Jr. Tate McBee. He has become scary for others defenses when the ball is snapped to him because he has been great at connecting with So. Paul Franco.
Broncos Coach Conner has his team ready. “ We are looking forward to this weeks game vs. Wellman-Union and the start of District play. Although the Wildcats has had a rough year we know they’ll bring their “A” game when we meet up with them.” said Coach Conner. We are looking forward to a good game and want to start District 1-0. We are and will be ready for Friday night game.” Said Coach Conner
Like Coach Conner said, the Wellman-Union Wildcats has had a tough season thus far. With only two seniors, one sophomore, and eight freshmen, this team has had some major growing pains. In their four losses the 45 point mercy rule was applied to them and came from three non-top 20 DII teams like old rival Loop 48-0, Amherst 62-14, and Grandfalls-Royalty 49-0, also the other loss came from TAPPS DIII Lubbock Christ The King 46-0. The Wildcats also went through a coaching change after the third game of the season and assistant football coach Cody Bell has taken the reigns.
Coach Bell is going into this cross county rivalry game with some encouragement. Coach Bell said, “With the cancellation of last Friday’s game we have been able to get everyone healthy and rested for the start of district play. We have had a focused week of practice and I think the whole team is ready to turn our 0-4 record into a 1-0 start to district.” The Wildcats will rely heavily on their two seniors Christian Rios and Julius Alaniz to help Wellman-Union in this weeks game. Unlike the freshmen on the team, these two athletes knows what it means to go up against Meadow as both seniors have beat the Broncos twice in their high school careers. Last season they helped the Wildcats shock the Broncos with a 64-52 win and in the 2018 season Wellman-Union would place the 45 point mercy rule on Meadow. Both Alaniz and Rios were on that team. Another player that Coach Bell and the Wildcats will look to is freshman Levi DePoyster. Although the Wildcats have had some tough losses, DePoyster has become the number one running back, possibly in all of the district. DePoyster is very quick and can make a fast change for the teams advantage.
This game might be a high scoring game as both defenses have allowed a combined 518 points. The big difference between the Broncos and Wildcats is scoring. Meadow has averaged 26 points a game and Wellman-Union only 3 points a game. In fact of the six games the Broncos have played they have scored in all but one. The Wildcats have only scored in one game and it was against Amherst with 14 points. However with both defenses allowing so much, this game could become a shootout real quick.
Wellman-Union (0-4) will host Meadow (1-5) tomorrow night Oct. 8, 2021 with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
