Snyder ready for clash against Monahans

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It’s only the third week of the District 1-4A Division II football season, but Friday’s matchup between Snyder and Monahans may determine which team qualifies for the playoffs.
Monahans (4-2, 2-0), which is tied with Midland Greenwood (4-2, 2-0) for the district lead, will host Snyder (4-1, 1-0) at Estes Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. Snyder opened its district schedule with a 27-13 win over Fort Stockton last week while Monahans routed Pecos, 61-0.
Head coach Cory Mandrell said the rivalry between the two schools goes unnoticed.
“Everybody talks about the Snyder-Sweetwater rivalry, but not about the Snyder-Monahans rivalry,” he said. “It is a good one. The rivalry gets lost because of the distance between the schools and we don’t play every year. In the past, it usually determined the district championship or was a playoff game.”
Mandrell said Friday’s winner will have an advantage going into the second half of the district schedule.
“The winner will be in the driver’s seat,” he said. “We want to control our destiny as far as the district championship and playoffs. We can’t look ahead. Our focus is on Monahans this week.”
Despite Micky Owens retiring as Monahans’ head coach, Mandrell said the Loboes are still a threat.
“It’s always a physical game against Monahans,” Mandrell said. “Coach Owens retired after last year, but the program didn’t lose a beat with coach (Mel) Maxfield. The offense remains similar. Monahans is very big on the line and prefers the run, but it can throw the ball. Our defensive line is our strength and the game will be a good test.”
Cason Roark became Monahans’ starting quarterback during the Midland Christian game when starter J.T. Pittman broke his hand. Lewis Wesley and Kyle Noyola are the leading rushers and Peyton Adams is the leading receiver.
“We want to wear them down like we did Fort Stockton,” Mandrell said. “You can’t concentrate on stopping one runner. The defense must respect all of them. The game will come down to execution.”
Mandrell said one of the keys for the his offense is recognizing Monahans’ defense, which plays multiple fronts.
“The biggest challenge for our scout team was to give our offense those different looks,” Mandrell said. “We wore down Fort Stockton with our run game. The line wore down Fort Stockton. I expect Monahans to try and do the same thing to us.”
Mandrell said his team will need to get off to a quick start, control the line of scrimmage and force Monahans to play from behind.
“We need to score touchdowns, not settle for field goals,” he said. “Monahans’ offense is not built to play catch-up. If we can score early, it will force Monahans to do things that are not comfortable to them. We want them to be chasing us.”