BRIDGE CITY — After nabbing the program’s first playoff victory since 2005, the Bridge City Cardinals will be looking for more fish to fry Friday night when they take on the Bay City Black Cats in the Class 4A Division I Region III area round of the playoffs at Galena Park North Shore Stadium.

The Cardinals (8-2), District 10-4A champions, fought off a gritty Center squad 35-28 in the bidistrict round where they rallied from a 28-21 deficit.

Meanwhile, the Black Cats (7-4), the third-place unit out of District 12-4A, strolled past Houston Yates 55-28.

The Cardinal win over Center was their first playoff win since defeating Jasper 23-0 in the regional semifinals.

“The kids were certainly ecstatic in getting that big win last week,” said Cardinal coach Dwayne Dubois. “They’re hungry for more and they’re looking for that second win. It was back to work at practice on Monday and they were focused. It’s always great when you know you’re playing in mid-November.”

The Redbirds, winners of six straight, will look to continue against a Bay City program with a storied history.

The Black Cats won state titles in 2000 and 1983. However, Bay City has had losing records dating back to 2007. Bay City went 4-2 to earn third in 12-4A play this season. Their two losses came to Stafford (29-6) and to district champ El Campo 35-28 in overtime.

“Bay City will present a stout challenge,” said Dubois. “Coach (Guadalupe) Flores and his staff have done a good job getting them on track. He had a good run while he was an assistant at Cameron Yoe, where they won a couple state championships.”

The Black Cats will check into the contest averaging 312.9 yards a game and have outscored opponents 284-221 as their defense has played exceptionally well throughout most of the season.

For the second week in a row, the Cardinals will face a dual threat quarterback in the form of sophomore Dylan Davidson. Center quarterback Kyle parks was dynamic for sure and he passed for 255 yards and ran for 91 against the Cardinals last week.

Davidson is the hub of the Bay City offense. He has completed 147-of-287 passes for 1,805 yards with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He has also rushed for 669 yards and seven TDs on 119 carries.

“Don’t let Davidson being a sophomore fool you, the kid makes their offense go,” said Dubois. “He is a little more elusive than Parks was but doesn’t like to throw it quite as much. He’s not afraid to tuck it and run. He reminds us a lot of Silsbee’s quarterback Willie Jones.”

His favorite target is receiver Mariah McGuire, who has 53 receptions for 844 yards and seven scores. He also looks towards Christian Sauceda 31-473-7) and Ladarian Florez (30-302-1).

Running back Hodari Williams has 504 yards and four TDs to his credit as the ılack Cats will look to move the ball against a Cardinal defense that has allowed 337.4 yards a game.

“They have a solid group of athletes to get the ball too,” said Dubois. “They haven’t turned the ball over much.”

The Cardinals relied on their potent running game to turn back Center as they piled up 439 yards, all on the ground.

Bridge City will face a Bay City defense that led 12-4A in total defense.

“They are very good on defense,” said Dubois. “They have an incredible linebacker in Elijah Ellis (6-0, 225) that flies to the ball. They have a guy up front in Jordan Gipson (6-2, 270) that is a force and another kid named Will Grumbles that is very good. Their secondary is also very athletic.”

Bridge City’s offense has been hot ever since the start of 10-4A play and is averaging 408.3 yards a game for the season.

Senior Cardinal fullback Cayce Draper sat out last week’s win due to a foot injury and could be back this week after he has rushed for 1,010 yards on 127 carries.

“We would love to have Cayce (Draper) back and he’s still pretty much day-to-day and we should know more by Thursday,” said Dubois. “We like our depth in the backfield and we’ve proved that a few times during the season. If our big guys up front keep on controlling things, we always like our chances of moving the ball. We’ve challenged those guys all year and they’ve been so big for us.”

Senior Patrick Morris certainly upped the ante last week though as be swept his way to 226 yards and three TDs on 31 carries to help down Center. He is closing in on the 1,000-yard mark with 980 yards on 112 carries.

Explosive tailback Max Baker certainly adds to the mix with 782 yards and has averaged over 11 yards per carry.

Cardinal quarterback Byron Trahan has ran a steady ship along with a powerful senior-oriented offensive line that has certainly paved the way led by the likes of Nick Menard, Joseph Adams, Zayne Trahan, Trace Moore, Alex Lara and tight end Chase Boneau.

The Bridge City-Bay City winner will face either Kilgore (7-4) or Stafford (8-3) in the 4A Region semifinals next week.

 

 

BRIDGE CITY

BC 56, Hamshire-Fannett 15

BC 56, North Forest 12

WO-S 55, BC 0

Newton 38, BC 16

BC 42, Cleveland 3

BC 54, LC-M 28

BC 42, Silsbee 41

BC 49, Navasota 31

BC 56, Huffman 14

BC 35, Center 28

 

BAY CITY

Bay City 12, Columbus 0

Bellville 14, Bay City 6

Bay City 27, Sweeny 8

Cameron Yoe 30, Bay City 27

Stafford 29, Bay City 6

Bay City 41, Columbia 22

Bay City 17, Needville 7

Bay City 35, Brazosport 28

Bay City 30, Sealy 20

El Campo 35, Bay City 28 (OT)

Bay City 55, Houston Yates 28