BRIDGE CITY – After notching their first win of the season last Friday night on the road against the Anahuac Panthers, the Bridge City Cardinals look to keep the momentum going as they turn their focus on the Silsbee Tigers, who they will take on at Tiger Stadium on a rare Thursday night game.

The Cardinals (1-2) glided past Anahuac 35-21 behind a stout running game while the Tigers (1-2) also nabbed their first win of the season with an impressive 43-27 road win against the Nederland Bulldogs.

Bridge City showed some grit against Anahuac, scoring the game’s last 14 points after the Panthers had rally to tie the game at 21-21.

Sophomore quarterback Ethan Oceguera torched the Anahuac defense as he dashed around for 150 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. Cardinal senior fullback Andy Lara had a huge game as well behind a hard-blocking Cardinal front wall as he zipped to 137 yards and a touchdown.

The Cardinals, who dropped their first two games to Diboll (27-7) and to Jasper (65-14), played excellent on defense against Anahuac, limiting the Panthers to just 256 total yards.

The Tigers have struggled somewhat on the defensive side of the ball through their first three weeks but have still put up huge offensive numbers.

Silsbee, which returns seven offensive starters from last year’s 4A Division II Region III finalist team, is loaded at the skill positions for Coach Randy Smith with the return of quarterback Raymond Foster, who passed for 1,270 yards and 18 TDs along with the trio of backs Dralyn Taylor, Chris Martin and Antonius Arline, who teamed up for 3,382 yards on the ground and 36 TDs.

The Tigers piled up 537 total yards in their win over Nederland.

Taylor rushed for 200 yards on 12 carries while Martin had 103 yards on just 10 totes. Foster completed 8-of-12 passes for 211 yards with Arline catching two passes for 146 yards.

Linebacker Dillon Tarver and defensive lineman Samuel Roundtree look to spearhead a young Tiger defense.

Both the Cardinals and Tigers will remain in non-district action next week as the Cardinals will play host to WO-S while the Tigers head to Lumberton to face the Raiders.