Pirates hope to slow down Thomas, Bucs

[Bobcatfan4life]

Pirates hope to slow down Thomas, Bucs

Van Wade

The Orange Leader

DEWEYVILLE — Without a doubt, the Deweyville Pirates will have their mettle tested when the East Chambers Buccaneers roll into Pirate Stadium tonight in District 24-2A action.

The Pirates are coming off a tough 46-20 loss at the hands of the Hardin Hornets last week while the Bucs, picked by most to win the 24-2A crown again, had their bye week last week.

The Hornets piled up 491 yards of total offense last week in the win over the Pirates. Deweyville was allowing just 114 yards a game going into that game.

“The kids played hard against Hardin but we gave up a lot of big plays,†said Pirate head coach Dwight Bickham. “Just when we thought we had them stopped, they would make a big play. It wasn’t all the kids’ fault either, we could’ve done a lot better lining them up and we need to absorb some of the blame. We don’t like to make excuses though, Hazrdin has an excellent football team.â€

Bickham, who has led the Pirates to two striaght playoff berths, feel the Pirates will be ready for the stern challenge against East Chambers.

“We started the week off with a new focus and the kids have been working really hard at practice,†Bickham said. “I guess you can say that we’re re-tooling a little bit and we’re making a few changes. Football is all about making adjustments.â€

The Pirates and Bucs played in one of the most entertaining games last season in Winnie. East Chambers prevailed in that one 60-44 as more than 1,000 yards of total offense was put up.

Coach Tony Valastro returned seven starters on both side of the ball from last year’s 11-1 24-2A champion. He also has the luxury of having perhaps not only the best athlete in 24-2A but arguably the entire Southeast Texas area in quarterback Tremain Thomas.

Thomas rushed for 1,349 yards and 22 TDs as a junior and passed for 1,366 yards and 11 TDs and hasn’t missed a beat this year despite the fact that so many teams are honing in on him.

The Bucs, led by linebacker Paul Trammell, are stingy as well, limiting opponents to just 11 points a game.

“Thomas is one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of good ones in our area over the years,†said Bickham. “He’s so hard to contain. You may think you have him bottled up and all of a sudden he goes 80 (yards) on you.â€

The Pirates continue to be a well-oiled machine with their ground attack. Sophomore tailback Keeton Addison leads the way with 528 yards on 72 carries. Senior quarterback Brandon Powell has 397 yards on 33 touches and senior running back Stephen Gibson has rumbled for 255 yards on 28 carries.

Bickham feels that the Pirates will put it all on the line against the Bucs.

“East Chambers is still the favorite to win the district,†Bickham said. “They’ve had two weeks to prepare for this game, so you know they’ll be ready. Our kids are ready to battle them. They’ve been looking forward to this game. I expect a big crowd and the way the kids have been working this week, I really expect it to be a good battle.â€

[MelanieT]

Great article. 

[DP#1FAN]

Nice article, glad to see 2 teams respect each other as i believe these 2 teams do. No trash talking here just hard nose football. It is always a hard hitting game. The Pirates are a little undermaned for this one but they will play with all they have. The Pirates last year made this a great game to watch let's hope this game will be a good one also. The Pirates will have a different look tonight on offense. It will be up to the defense to keep this one close. Go Pirates!!

[BigWolf10]

Good Luck trying. He's a hoss.