68° F
25 4A D1 Region IV semifinal
Alice Coyotes in 2007: 6-5, bi-district finalist (lost 18-17 to Edcouch Elsa)
This year’s team: The Coyotes (12-0) have dominated South Texas, and are coming off a 27-17 win over Corpus Christi Ray. Quarterback A.J. Benavides leads Alice, with over 2,000 yards passing this season, completing 56-percent of his passes. Running back Deon Hill provides a steady alternative option with 870 rushing yards on 105 attempts. The Coyotes have four receivers with over 20 receptions, and eight with over 10.
Game: Friday, Nov. 28 @ 7:30 p.m., Alamodome, San Antonio
Scouting Report:
Alice (12-0) has put up 4,548 total offensive yards this season.
Believe it or not, that was a collective sigh of relief you just heard coming from Lake Travis.
It’s not that the Cavaliers take the Coyotes’ attack lightly, it’s just that they’re better suited for a spread style attack than the power running game that carved them up in the first half of last week’s area win over Cibolo Steele.
“We’ve played a lot of spread teams this year, where we haven’t played a lot of teams that line up and run at us,” Lake Travis head coach Chad Morris said.
And the Cavaliers are familiar with the Coyotes’ style of play. Really familiar. As in, it’s in many ways the same offense Lake Travis runs.
“They run a spread, hurry-up, no huddle offense just like us,” Morris said. “They’re very quick and aggressive defensively.”
The familiarity with the Alice attack doesn’t make the job any easier, either. Especially when the Cavaliers already have some issues they’d like to clean up.
“You have to be careful how you attack them because they’re so balanced. If you drop everybody in pass coverage, they’re going to run the football and vice versa,” Morris said. “We’ve got to improve on some of our mistakes. We’re getting to the ball, but we need to be better tacklers.”
Alice isn’t exactly a newcomer to the playoffs, either.
“They’re one of the more storied programs in South Texas,” Morris said. “Very tradition rich and have won 35 district championships, been to the semifinals four times and they know what they’re doing.”
As is the case with any successful spread attack, one needs to look no further than Coyote starting quarterback A.J. Benavides as a key to the team’s success. Benavides has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season, has completed 56-percent of his passes and run for 400 yards for good measure. He’s got the perfect sidekick in running back Deon Hill, who has 870 yards rushing this season, but doesn’t catch many balls out of the backfield. That task is left to receivers John Gonzalez, Justin Guerrero, Mikey Lopez and Mark Garcia – all with over 20 receptions this season. Gonzalez leads the way with 31 catches for 318 yards.
They’re stingy on defense, allowing just 12 points per game.
With both teams undefeated coming in, Morris expects a crowd at the Alamodome Friday night.
“I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere. I know Alice brings a lot of people,” he said. “They could bring 8,000 fans. We need our fans to really come out in full force.”
The Cavalier coaching staff continues to monitor running back Chris Aydam’s hand injury, and Morris said he felt like the senior leader would be closer to 100-percent this week. The status of defensive lineman Nick Whitehair is still up in the air, a week after a game in which he was sorely missed up the middle. He was scheduled to work out midweek and a decision would be made from there.
Try over 10,000 fans of the Alice Coyotes going to the game!!
And who could blame them? How often do you get to see Lake Travis’ prolific offense destroy your playoff hopes?
Or..how often do you get to see 10,000 fans get on your nerves because you cannot hear yourself? mmmhmmmm.
Just like to respond to Jim, Heard this last time Alice played an Austin team. I beleive it was Dec. ‘95 when Westlake came to Alice with Drew Brees and Co. and got smacked in the mouth 21-7 by halftime. An ejection of Alice’s starting LB/RB that shouldnt have been was the reason Alice lost. Alice may be small, but they are fast and determined. Lake Travis will be hit harder than they have been hit before. Look for a different outcome this time.
Uh. No. Westlake defeated Alice 37-13. 326 yards of offense with Jay Rodgers (Indiana) at QB. Only had to throw eight times.
Alice ended up with only 180 yards of offense. Fumbled the ball 5 times and lost 3 of them. This one won’t be close.
And, why oh why, would you want to play LT in the dome?
some people need to stop living in the past…ya alice lost to westlake big freaking deal that was 13 years ago…don’t know where lake travis got there info but deon hill has over 1000 yards rushing and not 870 and AJ has over 2200 yards passing..lake travis don’t take alice lightly when you think you got them down they will run on you like no other team has..friday’s game you will see more than 10,000 alice fans there supporting alice and alot more are going to stay to see too great teams go at it…
BTW…the game is at 8:00 pm not 7:30pm. Dont underestimate the Coyotes. Belton did in 98 and the Coyotes beat them in the Alamodome.
In the regional finals btw…and fell 3 points short from making the state finals that year!
It’s nice to be excited about the playoffs, and I’m sure LT fans are just as excited as Alice fans. LT should be a little more humble, however, considering they have seen little success since its 1984 inception of the program. A couple of recent above .500 years does not a storied, tradition-rich school make. Alice certainly has more tradition, and no matter what the outcome, that cannot be taken away.
For the record, JJ, the reference to Alice-Westlake was not the same game you referenced. Alice has played Westlake more than once but you failed to pick up on that. Good luck to both teams this Friday.
Mikey:
You are right, sorry about that, but 42-20 was the score in 1995. Brees blew out his knee in that game, and the second team QB lead them to the victory.
Didn’t fail to pick up on that. Pretty much the same game both years.
Being a longtime Austin football fan, I believe Westlake beat Alice in back-2-back years in 94 +95. Neither game was close.
How did y’all end up playing Scotts Valley, Calif.?
Dripping Springs is the only good team in the same district as Lake Travis, and Alice is way better than them. Don’t count your chickens, because the eggs haven’t even been layed yet.
Hey JJ: Yes, similar results, different experiences (games). Both teams lost key players that time, and Alice did have a nice halftime lead in one game. Scores don’t necessarily indicate how easy or difficult a game was, but I recall Westlake saying of all south Texas teams, Alice game them the most competitive games. I guess that counts for something. T-Cav, what exactly was your question?
T-Cav,
Alice defeated California 42-27 . It was a great game! I’m from Alice and a football player parent. Like all parent(s) who have sons playing, my wife and I cheer for our team and always wish them the best. Our players are well mannered and well coached on and off the field. Our kids play hard and fair. Nobody predicted us to be this far in the playoffs. But, our boys worked hard to get here. Congradulations to all the Cavalier parents, players and coaches. You should be proud of your Program. Wish both teams good luck…….
I am not the same Rick who gave the first article listed above at 1136hrs…..
Hey lths all yall have is a QB with a arm from highlights that I have seen.. small running game and for defense all we have to do is get rid of yalls nose guard and yall are through.. forget all this stupid stuff bout history (thats why they call it history) plus i have seen they ppl yall have played during the season were easy… just get ready lths
I honestly do not understand why you people continue to live in the past as said before. Alice has strong ties not only as a team but also as a community! no matter who comes out on top friday night we will be there for our boys because that’s how it works here in alice. all i have to say is good luck guys because LT has something coming to them
DO NOT think they will go & walk all over our boys because our boys are NOT afraid to take a hit, remember that!
they will do GREAT because they have the support of their friends family & community!
by the way we ended up playing california because they wanted the “Alice Experience” they choose teams from out of state every season to play & this year they chose the COYOTES!
talk about a GREAT experience for our guys
we might be playing another cali team next year
Alice had one the their worst games this season last week against CC ray and still managed to beat them by 2 scores(barely any passing yrds and over 100 yards in penalties). both alice and lake travis can come back from being down at halftime. and both teams are 12-0(no matter if the teams theyve played were easy or not). its gonna be a good game but Alice is gonna win and thats that.(and btw its just plain stupid to talk about games that happend over a decade ago and have no affect on friday) Alice 41 Lake Travis 38
Hey GDCM, I have two questions: Firstly, we play a four-man front, so which DT are you talking about? Secondly, when you say “get rid of yalls nose guard and yall are through”, are you recommending injuring a player as a means of winning a game? If you were just spouting off, that’s OK, because “Yall” sound like you don’t know what “Yall” are talking about. To other Alice parents, I hope your team plays hard, fair and are safe from injury.
Lt Fan I do not mean to hurt anyone on either team.. if you read it like that I’m sorry we are not one of those teams we play fair… I ment all we have to do is block yalls nose gurad when yall are in yalls 3 2 and yes i know yall do run a 4 front but what yall usualy show is the 3 front and jumping up and down.. we know what we are talking about..
I think that Alice gives LT the respect they deserve. Alice supports there team win or lose in Alice there is no such thing as a fair weather fan. Let the teams decide. It will be a better game than LT fans are expecting and there fans will be treated with respect unlike the way they were treated by Steele. See you in San Antonio.
LT FAN,
Thank you for your statement. I hope and pray no player will recieve injury. This game will be one to remember. Who ever wins will deserve it because of fine playing…I am glad your QB is playing with TEXAS next season. It would be nice to have our RB (4.3 sec. 40) be his teammate. It would be something exciting to watch next season!!!Again, Good luck for both teams…..
Oh by the way, our running back runs the 40 in 4.3 seconds and he only averages 9 carries a game. Thats all we needed out of him all year cuz all our games were blowouts and he starts at defensive back also. Whats my point? hes fresh and will run all over that weak lake travis defense.