Local high school football: Cards host Brentwood; Shiner at Bloomington

St. Paul takes on Austin Brentwood in Homecoming 2023 while the Comanches travel to Bloomington for their first district road game.

Brentwood Christian at SP
The Cardinals play just their second home game as they host Austin Brentwood.
Brentwood has had a hot start to the season by going undefeated in five games.
“Playing undefeated teams seems to be our theme lately,” St. Paul head coach Mike Jackson said. “It is going to be a tough test because Brentwood is big and physical up front.”
The Bears are scoring 40.6 points a game and defense is ceding 15.4 points per game.
Brentwood has pounded the rock so far this season with 1,325 yards, averaging 265 yards a contest. Brentwood is throwing the ball for just an average of 62.4 yards a game.
Conor Schehl leads the attack with 852 yards on 108 carries, 170.4 yards a game, 7.4 yards a carry and eight touchdowns. Brayden Jennings has ran for 363 yards and seven touchdowns.
Jennings has thrown for 200 yards and three touchdowns with Bryson Best catching eight passes for 186 yards, 23.3 a catch and four touchdowns.
“Our defense will need to maintain integrity and look to perform individual jobs well. We have playing better on the back end and that needs to continue,” Jackson said. “Brentwood could look at us and decide to pass more and take some shots.”
On the defensive side, Mark Caesar has 27 solo tackles, 15 assists and 4.0 tackles for loss; T. Cunningham has 2.0 sacks; Best has four interceptions and Schel had recovered three fumbles.
“We need to clean up mistakes and continue do what we are doing,” Jackson said. “Against Geneva, we had a chance on our last two drives to score and ice the game but did not do so. We need to close out games when we get the chance.”

Shiner at Bloomington
The Comanches play their second district game and are on the road for the first time district with a visit to Bloomington this week.
Shiner dropped its district opener to Ganado 28-6 and are looking for a quick rebound.
“This is going to be a big game for us especially after coming up short against Ganado,” Shiner head coach Daniel Boedeker said. “Bloomington has a lot of guys back from last year.”
The Bobcats are 3-2 (with one of those wins coming in a forfeit by Runge)and are scoring 26.5 points a game while giving up 23.5 points a game.
Bloomington gets it done through the air as they average just under 200 yards a game while running for just 88.4 a game.
“Their offense has not changed and they will run the spread,” Boedeker said.
Jesus Zuniga has completed 42-of-104 passes for 792 yards and nine touchdowns to four interceptions.
Bloomington’s biggest catching threats are Cebron Taylor (17-335, two touchdowns) and Sean Darby (11-306, two touchdowns).
“Taylor and Darby are athletic players and Zuniga runs the offense well,” Boedeker said. “We will need to play the run and the pass well.”
Amari Garner is the top rusher with 287 yards on 31 carries and five touchdowns while Zuniga has ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
On the defensive side, Jevon Galvan has 31 solo tackles, 12 assists,1.0 tackle for loss and 1.0 sacks. Taylor has 15 solo tackles, 12 assists, 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.
Gardner and Bryant Clay had two fumble recoveries.
“Our offense has been working on our pad level and staying on our blocks longer as well as improving our footwork,” Boedeker said. “All of those need to be improved come Friday night.”