by Maria Garcia and Damaris Malave
Tonight at Farris stadium, the football team will take on the Marshall Rams at 7:30pm. Before attending the game, here’s what the coaches had to say:
Co-offensive coordinator Adrian Velasquez and head coach Juan Morales tell the fans what should be expected from their opponents defense and offense.
“We think they’re going to come out with a lot of tenacity. They’re pretty fast, pretty aggressive, but we have a good game plan to come out and execute our plays correctly, and do what we’re coached to do to be successful at the end of the night,” Velasquez said.
“They actually move quite a bit. They shift in motion to try and get you out of position, so it’s going to take us being very disciplined and making sure that we stay sound to everything that they line up to be able to make sure that we line up the right way and beat them,” Morales said.
Coach Morales discusses the tension between Marshall and Holmes.
“First of all, it’s their homecoming, so I’m sure they really want to win this game. At the same time, we really want to spoil it for them. Marshall and Holmes has been a rivalry for a very, very long time. In fact, the rivalry started way back when Marshall and Holmes first opened up because they were the only two schools in the district. It’s going to be fun to be part of that rivalry, so I’m pretty sure they understand that. I know we’ve done our best to make sure our players know that rivalry,” Morales said.
Coach Velasquez explains some of the difficulties the team is facing offensively and trying to overcome them.
“The team at this point is doing everything to improve on a weekly basis. We have some things to work on. A lot of times we’re not in sync offensively, and we need to work on that. Defensively, the kids are getting better. They’re understanding the concept a little more, so we’re hoping that we can put it all together at the end of the night and have a successful weekend,” Velasquez said.
Some young players will get a chance to perform due to unfortunate injuries to four starters on offense with DQ Haney, Jacob Longoria, Marquis Jones, and John Rey all out for this week’s game.
“It’s going to be kind of tough. We’re going to have four offensive starters that are out this week due to injury, so we’re already starting behind the ball, and it’s going to be a climb to try and get some of those players that haven’t been out there, that haven’t had a chance to really play under the lights, to be able to do that. We’ve got to make sure that we stay disciplined in what we’re doing, make sure we pay attention to the little details, stay focused on what we’re working on. As long as we can set and meet our goals, we should have a pretty good chance,” Morales said.
Join the student section’s theme tonight in wearing tye dye shirts. Go out and support your Huskies as they compete against the Marshall Rams at 7:30pm at Farris stadium.