LUBBOCK — Floydada split with the Trinity Christian Lions and Bovina Mustangs in a triangular scrimmage on Thursday evening at Archie Warwick Memorial Stadium on 144th Street and Quaker Avenue. The Lions edged the Whirlwinds 1-0 in their segment, and Floydada blanked Bovina by a 1-0 score.
“It was a good outing by the Whirlwinds. We showed improvement in numerous aspects of the game from the first scrimmages. The defense played especially well. At this stage of the season if your defense is not ahead of your offense, it could lead to problems later in the fall,” Coach J.R. Compton said.
Compton pointed out that 190-pound senior tackle Davian Ramos, plus inside linebackers Izaiah Alvarez and Aiden Trevino led the defensive effort. Alvarez is a junior, and Trevino is a sophomore.
“Despite not scoring against Trinity, we had some good drives,” Compton explained. “Floydada went against Bovina first, and on the opening drive senior Trace Glasscock led the team in half of the plays and got us in scoring range, then junior Izaiah Alvarado threw a seven yard touchdown pass to Johnny Phillip “Bugsy” Rodriguez. Junior running back Andres Mendoza made some good runs and did an excellent job on a screen pass to him. Sophomore Ilan Lopez contributed with some good runs. Another highlight against Bovina was a 25-yard pass from Alvarez to junior Saul Reyes. Offensively we had some bright moments, but we will be striving for more consistency,” he added.
“Honestly the session with Trinity should have been a scoreless tie. The Lions got away with a pretty obvious holding penalty that ended up being a no-call. Those things happen. Trinity was probably the best team we faced in this triangular. They are a good ballclub with some talented individual players,” Compton said.
The entire Floydada team played again with a lot of energy and intensity. We have got to be that way to succeed,” Compton said.
When asked if facing Farwell, Quanah, Trinity Christian and Bovina give the Whirlwinds some different looks and situations to learn from, Compton replied, “I think so. Farwell and Trinity both were strong running teams, while Quanah and Bovina challenged us with their spread offenses. Defensively, Farwell and Bovina ran 3-4 schemes, with Quanah and Trinity attacking you with a 3-3 stack. A three man defensive front is what we will face nearly all season as defenses need more linebackers and secondary to control the spread offenses. We did well against what we faced.”
Compton was very pleased with the conditioning improvement and there is room to get stronger.
“We sucked some bad gas at times in the first triangular, but overcame it. When the adrenaline starts flowing in the season opener, we may be sucking bad gas again. But, we have got to dig down and overcome it.”
Compton noted that the Whirlwinds have come out of the two scrimmages with minor bumps and bruises, but otherwise the team is healthy.
Compton was very proud of the junior varsity Whirlwinds as Floydada beat Trinity Christian and Bovina by identical 1-0 scores.
“The JV has played well during every scrimmage. It is very promising to see their effort. All of kids are playing hard,” Compton said.
Floydada will open the 2021 regular season at Charles Tyer Stadium against the Tulia Hornets on August 27. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. KFLP 106.1 Flip FM will have the broadcast with Randell Sims and Nick Long. The Floyd County Record will have a preview of the Whirlwinds vs. the Hornets during the week.
