La Junta football looking to win sixth straight game
The La Junta High School football team will look to win its sixth straight game on Friday as the Tigers will travel to Colorado Springs to face St. Mary's.
The Pirates come into the game with an 0-5 record. Their losses have come at the hands of Colorado Springs Christian (38-12), Bishop Machebeuf (28-6), The Academy (30-14), University (42-15) and last week to eighth-ranked Lamar (49-14).
"We got to go see them a couple of weeks ago on our bye week," said LJ coach Clint Buderus. "They have some good kids in there. They're well-coached and they do things right. They've just been on the wrong side of things. It's their Homecoming and it's kind of a dangerous game. We're going to have to go play."
The Pirates showed two different offenses in the game La Junta watched in person and in games the Tigers saw of film.
"The week that we watched them, they were all doubles and spread," Buderus said. "But then the last five or six quarters, they have been pro, twins, iso, inside iso and a little bit of counter trey. It's pretty simple and they just do things right."
On defense, St. Mary's lines up in a 3-4 formation.
"They're a 3-4 team," Buderus said. "They don't change very often and they pick up two all the time. They're pretty sound and solid in the things that they do."
Kickoff at Grace Center is at 7 p.m.
Last week
Last Friday, the Tigers defeated Manitou Springs 46-0 in the annual Homecoming game to improve to 5-0 on the season.
"It was a good win for us," Buderus said. "We got to go watch the film and learn from it. Hopefully, we continue to get better and fix the little things, because the meat of the schedule is coming up and we have to keep getting better."
Last week was the first time La Junta defeated Manitou Springs in consecutive years and also the first time the Tigers blanked the Mustangs in two straight seasons.
The series
The teams have played 15 times since 1988 with La Junta holding a 10-5 edge. That includes the last three seasons and six of the last seven meetings.
"That's a tough place to go play," Buderus said. "It's usually cold and windy and there's no lockers rooms. There's a lot of things out of the ordinary and we just have to go and play."
The Tigers won last year's meeting 14-6.
Injury report
Buderus reports no injuries this week.
"We're good," Buderus said. "We're healthy and we're ready to go."
Next week
La Junta will host Florence in the final home game of the regular season next Friday. St. Mary's will host Trinidad also next Friday.