Published: November 13, 2009 01:21 pm      

Vidor looks to slow down tradition-rich Broncos

HUNTSVILLE — One team is fresh of a trip to the state championship in 2008 while the other is in the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

Vidor will start its first playoff run in nine years tonight against Dayton at 7:30 p.m. at Sam Houston State’s Bowers Stadium.

The Pirates (7-3) used a 28-14 victory over Livingston last week to set up the game against the Broncos (8-2) who advanced to the state championship game last year.

Vidor coach Jeff Mathews is excited about the opportunity standing in front of his Pirates.

“It is a great feeling to know it is Week 11 and instead of putting the pads up, we are still putting them on,” Mathews said. “I really think we still made some big strides this week. Our kids are not ready to say good-bye to football yet. Nothing surprises me with these kids and they are still improving this late in the season.”

The Broncos will have to deal with quite the three-headed monster rushing attack from the Pirates.

Shayne Pitman has rushed for 1,452 yards and 16 touchdowns for Vidor while Kevin Tate has 921 yards and 12 touchdowns. Jacob Peevey has 633 yards and six scores.

The Pirates average 385.9 yards a game, a whopping 343.6 of it coming via the ground.

The Broncos are no slackers on offense themselves.

The Broncos have used a two-quarterback system to rack up nearly 391.2 yards an outing.

Payton Ploch and Andres Herrera have split time as the signal-caller.

Ploch is definitely the “runner” of the two. He’s piled up 1,056 yards and a whopping 15 touchdowns on 147 carries. He has also completed 42-of-88 passes for 698 yards and 11 TDs with just three interceptions. He has also found time to haul in 19 pass receptions for 305 yards and four TDs.

Herrera has completed 63-of-108 passes for 822 yards and six TDs with just two interceptions.

Xavier Baldwin is the Broncos’ leading running back with his 431 yards and three TDs on 46 carries.

Receiver Gamal Fowler leads the Broncos with 27 catches for 379 yards and five TDs. Xavier Frank has 19 catches for 346 yards and six TDs.

The Broncos’ two losses came at the hands of Friendswood (36-33) in non-district and to Crosby (28-0) in 19-4A action.

Dayton has outscored their opponents 359-159 for the season.

“Our kids are impressed with Dayton but we are not intimidated,” Mathews said. “We want to prove we are just as capable of winning this game. Dayton always reminds me of the Nederland teams. They graduate a bunch of kids and still win. They are explosive on offense and defense.”

Mathews and the Pirates held Thursday’s practice at Bowers Stadium and hopes Vidor’s win against Livingston in Week 10 stays in the Pirates minds.

“Last week was a playoff week for our team,” Mathews said. “We had to win to keep going. We had a great practice Thursday and I expect it to carry over.”