BRIDGE CITY — A big game looms Friday night between the two teams that battled for the District 10-4A Division I title last season when the Bridge City Cardinals travel to Silsbee to take on the Tigers.

Last season it was the Cardinals that pulled out a dramatic 42-41 home win at Ward Stadium as the Redbirds went on to go a perfect 5-0 in 10-4A play and three rounds deep in the playoffs.

This year, the two teams are once again battling for playoff positioning as they both are trying to stay within reach of Little Cypress-Mauriceville in the standings.

Both the Cardinals (1-4, 1-1) and Tigers (2-4, 1-1) have losses to LC-M. The Cardinals fell to the Bears 47-41 last week while the Tigers fell to the Bears 58-38 in the district opener.

The Tigers rebounded nicely last week by getting a huge 39-34 road win at Navasota. Bridge City’s 10-4A win came at Cleveland, 34-22.

The Cardinals certainly had their chances against the Bears and rolled up 471 total yards, including 426 yards on the ground.

Bridge City has battled the injury bug throughout the season but the Cardinals look to finish strong down the homestretch despite being so banged up in the backfield.

The Cardinals lost speedster Hunter Denton to a broken leg a few weeks back. Tailback Max Baker received a concussion against LC-M last week and fullback Any Lara also got hurt against the Bears.

Bridge City received one of its best performances from a young offensive line against the Bears.

The Cardinals still have nice weapons in the backfield, including leader Caleb DuBois at quarterback. Rylan Ply had his best game ever in a Cardinal uniform as he rumbled for 129 yards on 16 carries. Logan Hamm had 82 yards on 17 carries. Lara and Baker combined for 178 yards on 16 carries before the injuries.

Both teams will look to continue to shore things up on defense.

The Cardinals allowed LC-M 391 yards last week. In their lost to LC-M, Silsbee allowed 580 yards to the Bears.

Silsbee has allowed 37.8 yards per game thus far while Bridge City has given up 41.8.

The Tigers have been explosive throughout the season on offense.

Quarterback Jacob Collins has been impressive and has two incredible speedsters at receiver including Class 4A 100-meter and 200-meter state champion Kalon Barnes along with Tre’darius Lowe.

The Tigers also feature two solid backs in Adonis Thomas and Dralyn Taylor.

This game will mark the first of two straight road trips for the Cardinals as they will visit Navasota next week while Silsbee will head to Huffman to face the Falcons.