Friday, September 13, 1996

Area roundup: Sweetwater vs. Snyder not just another game
By BILL HART
Senior Staff Writer

Sweetwater and Snyder meet tonight in a non-district game, but it still means a lot to both teams. It's not "just another game."

The two rivals were in the same district the past two years, but Snyder is now in District 2-4A and Sweetwater 4-4A. This game could be a preview of things to come when the playoffs roll around.

"It's not as important as it was last year because had we won that one, we would have been district champions," said Snyder coach David Baugh. "But it'll still be a good neighborhood battle. Our players like to play Sweetwater and they like to play Snyder. We look forward to playing them and I'm sure they look forward to playing us."

"True, it's not as important this year, but they're trying to get ready for district in a few weeks and so are we," said Sweetwater coach Tom Ritchey. "Our focus right now is to improve each week and try to win games."

Snyder opened with a 22-21 win over Andrews, getting the victory on a last-minute field goal. Sweetwater stopped Brownwood, 34-22.

"We seem to have a lot of exciting games, we give our fans their money's worth," Baugh said. "But we have to hold on to the football better this week. We had five turnovers against Andrews, and they didn't have any."

The Tigers are crippled. Nose guard David Wagner underwent knee surgery, but hopefully will be back for district. His replacement, Heath Porter, twisted his ankle in workouts this week and may not play. Defensive end Eric Tovar suffered a separated shoulder against Andrews and is listed as doubtful.

Sweetwater threw the football only nine times against Brownwood, but quarterback Andrew Boatright probably will pass a lot more tonight.

"We fully intend to throw a lot more, but in the second half against Brownwood, we were able to move the ball on the ground and we tried to do things to win the game," Ritchey said. "We didn't want to stop the clock."

Ballinger goes against Big Spring in another interesting contest. The Bearcats, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A, rolled over Midland Greenwood, 48-14, last week, while Class 4A Big Spring lost to Monahans, 34-28.

The Bearcats played last week without quarterback Cody McLarty, who tore a ligament in his knee three weeks ago. He's doubtful for tonight. So is running back Ricky Guerrero, who played last week despite a separated shoulder and scored three touchdowns. The shoulder is better, but he has developed a bad case of athlete's feet. He had a reaction to the antibiotics he was taken and it has affected his walking.

"Lance Gallant did a real good job for us (at quarterback) considering it was the first time that he had been in a varsity game," said Ballinger coach Glen Jones. "I don't know if we can stop their speed or not, but we can't afford to be too aggressive. We must play good technique."

The Bearcats must stop Big Spring running back Antwoyne Edwards, who rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns against Monahans.

ther key games are Merkel-Winters, Albany-Cisco and Stamford-Colorado City. Merkel showed a lot of strength beating Early, 43-0, especially since Early had looked good in a pair of preseason scrimmages. Albany and Cisco, who were in the same district last year, both won last week, but had close calls.

Colorado City posted a narrow win over Stanton, while Stamford was blanked by Clyde.