Bye week allows Buna to focus on district race ahead
'Battle of Cats' looms Friday in Kountze
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

When Buna Head Football Coach Bradley Morgan headed to his office Monday, Oct. 8, he felt something was missing.

Instead of tabulating Buna's offensive statistics from Friday's game, Morgan found himself reading the UIL rule book instead.

Such is the week for a 5- 0 team on a bye week.

"I thought we wanted the week off but it seems like something has been missing the past couple of days," Morgan said.

Buna will head back into action Friday, Oct. 12 when the Cougars travel to Kountze to take on the Lions in what is being called "The Battle of the Cats."

"I think Coach (Stan) Hodges has them playing as well as I have seen them play," Morgan said. "They get in a lot of formations and run a lot of plays and that makes you have to work a lot defensively. The main thing is that they seem to be playing with more confidence than I have ever seen them play with before."

Buna had the week off before getting back to the District 24-2A battles and Morgan said he would see this week how the bye week affected his squad.

"This week we will be more physical and I think we will be alright," Morgan said.

After three straight home contests, Buna will have to venture back to the road this week when they travel to Kountze. Morgan knows the trappings of being a favorite in the contest.

"I would think we will be just as good as we are at home but you never know," Morgan said. "You see favorite teams lose and that scares you to death. You saw college teams this weekend that were 21 and 41-point favorites and they were beat and that brings you back to reality that anything can happen even though you believe you have the best football team.

"We had some games in the past when we weren't the best football team on the field but we won some big games," Morgan said.

And add in that Kountze will enter the contest 5-1 and looking to avenge last year's 49-0 pasting by Buna.

"I think we will be fired up for the game," Morgan said. "I think the kids know this is not the Kountze team that we beat last year. They will want some revenge and they are believing in themselves this year."

For Morgan, this year's matchup with Kountze comes down to one issue - which team will be more physical will win Friday night.

"I might sound arrogant, but if we don't turn the ball over and suffer penalties, our offense is going to be hard to stop by anybody," Morgan said. "I'm not saying there isn't somebody out there that can't stop us, but I haven't seen anybody on film that can stop our offense."

And so far this year, the Coogs have backed up their coach's words by racking up large numbers in five games.

"Kountze is playing good but I think we have the better football team," Morgan said.