Another week, another showdown for Vidor Pirates

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Another week, another showdown for Vidor Pirates

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

VIDOR — Another week and another showdown for the Vidor Pirates in District 21-3A play.

Last week the Pirates went down to the Central Jaguars in double overtime 57-56 after Vidor went for a two-point conversion and came up short by inches.

This week the Pirates (3-1, 0-1) play another critical District 20-4A game against the 4-0 Lumberton Raiders.

The Raiders are coming off a 35-42 victory over the Livingston Lions.

“This is now our biggest game of the year,†Vidor coach Jeff Mathews said. “It is like back-to-back district championship games. We get all the tough ones right off the bat but no game in 20-4A is easy. I’ll never count Nederland out and LC-M played well against Port Neches-Groves. I really don’t know if anybody is that much better than anyone else. All most every game down to the wire last week in our district and it drives you crazy as a coach.â€

The Pirates will have to be ready for a Raiders team which knows how to throw the ball and play some tough defense.

Lumberton quarterback Ryan Hughes is one of the best in the area with 678 yards passing with seven touchdowns on 35-for-62 passing.

Ryan Asher leads the Raiders with 210 yards and five scores while Jesse Sparks has a team-high eight catches for 124 yards. Kyler Keith has seven receptions for 258 yards and three touchdowns.

Plus Vidor has to deal with Anthony Beard on defense.

“Coach “Alvin†Creadur is an unreal coach,†Mathews said. “Everything talked like they might be a little down this year and here they are at 4-0. They just find ways to win. They don’t jump offsides, don’t miss tackles and they are well coached.

“Beard we call him ‘Superman’ around here. He is all over the field and in on every tackle. He has been there for four years and I won’t miss him too much when he graduates. Their quarterback is accurate and that team just always makes positive yards.â€

The Pirates are making their living on the ground this season as quarterback Nick Dozier has only thrown the ball 12 times for 231 yards. Two of his nine completions have gone for touchdowns.

Shayne Pitman leads Vidor with 523 yards with six touchdowns while Kevin Tate has 474 yards and eight scores. Jacob Peevey is now slouch as the third running back for Vidor with 384 yards and three trips to the endzone.

“We are just going to keep doing what we do,†Mathews said. “We must improve on tackling this week. We didn’t play too well on defensive against Central. It is not going to take motivation again this week to get our kids ready. I knew they would be upset a bit on Saturday after the loss but come Monday they were already asking questions about Lumberton. They were focused and fired up.â€

The Pirates will play host to Beaumont Ozen after facing Lumberton and then hit the road for a trip to the Reservation to square off against Port Neches-Groves.

[LTrain]

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