In a battle of Bulldogs Corrigan-Camden and Garrison will meet in the bi-district playoff round at Palestine Thursday.
After coming up short of the district title versus Centerville last week, the Corrigan Bulldogs hope to regain momentum from their previous two-game win streak that helped seal their ticket to a favorable postseason rematch against Garrison.
“There are sometimes problems along the way and mentally tough teams seem to rise to the occasion when it matters. We still played hard, physical ball last week and we want to capitalize on that,” said Bulldogs head coach Brett Ratliff. “Everyone is excited for the playoffs. We now have the opportunity to ‘win or go home,’ and that is all you can ask for this time of year.”
In their last playoff matchup in 2022, Corrigan had a dominant 28-7 victory over Garrison in the bi-district round. That win came right after Corrigan’s single loss of the 2022 regular season against Centerville.
Ratliff is looking for a repeat performance from this year’s varsity team on Thursday.
“We had a senior-heavy team at that time. The previous week, we had the chance to win the district title, but we took it on the chin against Centerville,” Ratliff said. “We took that out, personally, on Garrison and probably played our best game of the year. We will try to do the same thing on Thursday.”
The Garrison Bulldogs, led by head coach Brandon Alvarez, finished their district schedule this season with a 4-1 record and are coming off a 34-8 road win against the Joaquin Rams.
In those five district matchups, Garrison scored an average of 33 points and allowed just 14. That included a similar two-game win streak against Normangee and Leon.
By comparison, Corrigan scored nearly 27 points on average and allowed nearly the same average amount versus district opponents during that time.
In this match, Corrigan’s defense will be tested by another power run attack similar to Centerville last week. Garrison’s ground game features starting rushers Antonio Yarbrough and Christian Clark.
“Garrison has a great backfield with strong offensive linemen that will try to put you in a hundred different formations a lot like we have seen the past couple of weeks,” said Ratliff. “[Yarbrough] and [Clark] are really talented athletes for them.”
Kickoff for Thursday’s bi-district playoff match is set for 7 p.m. at Palestine’s Wildcat Stadium.
