WATER VALLEY, Texas — Summarizing the game of football includes blocking and tackling and so far the Water Valley Wildcats have excelled this season. Led by head coach Nathan Hayes, the Wildcats are currently 4-0 and ranked in the top five in the state for class 1A Division 1 teams. This powerhouse has averaged 55 points per game and only gave up a total of 42 points the past four games including two shutouts.
"I'm impressed with the offense, but I think on the flip side that the defense is holding some opponents to low scores,” Hayes said. “For six-man teams, this doesn't happen very often. For the most part we only had one score up on us until last week and Westbrook was a great team, they put a few more points on us. I think our defense has been playing lights out and when our defense played good, the kids got confident in the offense and got rolling. In all, I'm pretty proud of the effort."
Hayes said there's plenty of returners from last season and new faces in the mix. Senior running back Canon Wiese is a natural leader who believes they can dominate in each game, but first, it reverts back to taking it one practice and one game at a time.
"We've been playing football since junior high,” Wiese said. “It depends on the people you ask, but me myself, I've been playing football since I was a little kid. Everything's built up to this moment because you might not ever get to play football again. Six-man football specific, you're never going to get to play again after high school."
The Wildcats lost in the second round of the playoffs last season and Hayes said the team has improved a lot since then. As they prepare for Borden County this Friday, they'll have to execute early in the game in order to maintain a healthy lead.
"Borden County is a great team and program and they will be ready for us,” Hayes said. “We moved up in some polls: some included us at number two while others placed us fifth or sixth, but we have a target on our back now. Everybody's going to play their best game against us and I know Borden County is. Last year they beat us and we sure will have to go up there and get a win."
The Wildcats will travel to Gail to face the Borden County Coyotes this Friday at 7:30 p.m. Borden County has yet to win their first game this season.