PREVIEW: Lake View Chiefs Look to Rebound in Tough District Game Against the Mustangs

SAN ANGELO – The Lake View Chiefs start district this week and have to travel to do battle with the Andrews Mustangs.

Lake View Chiefs (3-3) vs. Andrews Mustangs (4-2)

The “Kids on the Northside” are coming off of two straight losses, most recently at San Angelo Stadium to the Greenwood Rangers 31-6. Chief playmakers Ian Cortez and Davashtian Manely led the team in rushing (83 yards and one touchdown) and receiving (81 yards) respectively. Lake View has been putting up just under 23 points per game but have been giving up 24 points a game. The silver lining is up until the last two games, the Chiefs had been scoring 33 a game.

The Chiefs quarterback Bryce Medley went 11-29 for 134 yards and two interceptions. Cortez scored the lone touchdown of the game in the second quarter to go into halftime down eight points.

Injuries are still affecting the Chiefs running game as Ricky Ramirez has only played in four games this season and Cortez has been the guy for a couple of games. He has returned for Lake View with 520 yards and five scores. Between the one-two punch of Cortez and Ramirez, they have 935 yards and 10 scores. The rest of the running game has produced 106 yards and three touchdowns.

The passing attack has been a decent compliment to the ground game as the Chiefs have 642 yards and five touchdowns. Three receivers have been the main guys in Manely, Derrick Taylor, and Adrian Flores who have 530 yards on 31 catches.

Defensively, Taven White and Elijiah Stone lead in solo tackles (47 combined), but White and Eric Paez Jr. lead in total tackles (117 combined). While Lake View lacks in the sack department with five total, they have made plays behind the line with 18 tackles for loss. They also get the ball back for their offense as they have nine interceptions, thanks in big part to Michael Duran with four, and five fumble recoveries. They can thank White for two of those.

The Andrews Mustangs are coming off of their second loss of the season. Andrews lost to Seminole 36-15 and the Canyon Eagles 44-30. The Mustangs have put up 35 points a game this season and only given up 23 points a game. Andrews seems to have trouble at quarterback as two players, senior EJ Lopez and senior Ashton Galvan, have taken significant snaps at quarterback going for a combined 66-112 for 953 yards, 13 touchdowns and one interception.

Against Randell in Week 1, Lopez took the majority of snaps at passer and in Week 2, Galvan took over. Galvan took command at quarterback in Week 3 then both split snaps in Week 4. They did the same against Lubbock and last week against Canyon, Gavlan took snaps.

If you look at each player, Galvan has much better numbers then Lopez going 44-72 for 696 yards, 11 scores and one interception. The Mustangs have a pretty good running back to take the pressure off whoever is at quarterback in senior Noah Tellez. Tellez has 99 carries for 628 yards and four scores. Galvan runs the ball as well with 80 carries for 279 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Mustang receivers have several receivers who are putting up good numbers this season. Sophomore Adolfo Valles is a weapon and has 15 catches for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Two juniors, Jarod Cargill and Cooper Ivison, have 277 yards and five scores combined. Indiana Taylor has gone for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, Aaron Estrada, Hagen Tuck, and Shawn Parker lead the Mustangs in solo tackles with 16, 15, and 13 respectively. Tuck leads in total tackles with 37. Andrews defense lives in the backfield with 21 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and five quarterback hurries. Parker, Luis Cervantes, and Jaxon Lawdermilk get to the passer and have two sacks apiece.

Like the Chiefs, the Mustangs have nine interceptions and senior Manuel Rojo has three of those. They also get in the way as they have seven passes defended.

This is a small district and only one other game is being played as Lubbock Estacado has a bye week and that’s the Brownwood Lions against the Big Spring Steers. Both the Lions and Steers are coming off a loss. Brownwood lost to the top ranked Stephenville Yellow Jackets and the Steers lost to the Seminole Indians.

Brownwood is currently 4-2 and was ranked inside the top 10 for 4A. They’ve given up 132 total points, which worked out to 22 points a game, but they’ve scored just under 34 points a game.

The Steers are also 4-2 and have three points separating their points for and points against (170 for 167 against). That works out to 28.3 points scored and 27.8 points given up. Stats have not been updated but in two games, quarterback Gavin Padron threw for 583 yards and six touchdowns. Kavien Ford averaged 82.5 yards a game and the Donavyn Hilario, Derick Walleck, and Zeyire Franklin caught 29 passes for 394 yards and five scores.

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