REFUGIO, Texas — The London Pirates and Refugio Bobcats will square off for the third consecutive year in KRIS 6 News' Game of the Week for week two.
Refugio has controlled this matchup, beating London in 2022 and 2023 by scores of 39-6 and 55-10, respectively.
"I'm looking for it to be a battle," Refugio Head Coach Drew Cox said.
Cox, who has been with the program for 18 years, said they weren't easy games.
“The last two years the games we played, we’ve struggled to move the ball early. They’re good, they’ve got a good quick defensive front,” Cox said.
London Head Coach Robbie Moreno said his team didn't help themselves either.
"The first time we played them, we brought a kick-off, opening kick-off for a touchdown, got called back for a holding, so. We've expected more from our teams and they've handed it to us the last two years. So, this year we're hoping to stay stride for stride with them," he said.
Both teams handled their week one opponents convincingly. London beat Bishop 45-13 while Refugio went on the road to beat Cotulla 49-6.
Refugio has weapons back like Kelan Brown under center and Jordan King in the backfield with him. Cox was proud of his defense's performance but is looking for his receiving core to progress this week.
“We’ve got a really good group of receivers. They’re hungry and they’re talented, just don’t have quite the experience that the guys had before them. I look every week to get better and better at those positions,” Cox said.
Refugio's talent is there, but they're still trying to piece it together.
“We’re working on our focus, we’re making sure we’re paying attention, make sure there’s no mistakes, picking things up when we’re supposed to,” Refugio's senior tight end and full back Hunter Carroll said.
“It’s really all mental. We’re working on a lot of our pass reads on defense and all of that. We just got to get our defense right and I think we’ll be straight,” Refugio's junior wide receiver and safety Raydon Lewis said.
The Refugio defense knows what the London offense brings to the table with returning starting quarterback Alex Manning.
“I think I’ve improved on a little bit of everything. As a runner I've gotten faster and more accurate, better timing with receivers,” junior Manning said.
"Night and day and I thought he left off...He had a really good end of the year like the last four to five weeks. He had 300 yard games against quality opponents. The game we got knocked out against Blanco he threw for 220 (yards). It's like it jump-started him into the off-season," Moreno said.
The pirate offense returns six starters, five of them at the skill positions.
“We’ve got an experienced team so we picked up like ahead of schedule with our playbook and not a lot of teaching just kind of a review,” Moreno said.
Now London has a different mindset going into their third bout against the Bobcats.
“Our mentality going into the game, I feel like it was always kind of timid a little bit going in. But this year, I feel like our guys are tired of that. We’re seeing it," London senior cornerback Peyton Lawhon said.
The game is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jack Sportsman Bobcat Stadium in Refugio. Catch highlights from the game and the trophy presentation to the winner on the Friday Night Fever on KRIS 6 News at 10 p.m.
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