Bowie vs Hays: In-Depth Look at Both Teams

One of the district rivalry games to watch for this week is Bowie vs Hays, as both teams look to shine at the end of the regular season at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hays currently sits at 5-3 while Bowie sits at 3-4 this season. For Hays, senior quarterback <strong>Durand Hill</strong> is the leader with 993 passing yards and 12 touchdowns with three interceptions. Hill also leads the team in rushing yards with 492 yards and eight touchdowns this season. It is safe to say Hill puts the Rebels on his back, for the most part. While football is always a team sport, the majority of the Rebel offense goes through Hays. So, stopping Hill is Bowie’s number one priority because if the Bulldogs can not stop Hill, then the Bulldogs will likely lose this district contest. On the opposite team, it is junior quarterback <strong>Diego Tello</strong> who runs the show. Tello is much more of a passer than a rusher, throwing for 1,969 yards and 22 touchdowns with eight interceptions in the games recorded on MaxPreps. Rushing-wise, Tello just has 121 yards and two touchdowns. Although Tello is a main part of the offense, Bowie has more diversity in having a few other pieces as well to give the Bulldog offense a boost in the gaps Tello can not fill. Plus, he is also coming off of one of his better performances against San Marcos when he threw for 241 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. However, Tello has thrown three interceptions in the past two games against San Marcos and Westlake. For the rushing game, Bowie leans on junior running back <strong>Noah Camacho</strong> most often as he has rushed for 558 yards and three touchdowns. Although Bowie likes to throw the ball, Camacho is not a player to slack on as he could quickly expose defenses that are weak to the run. Hays might be focusing a lot of its attention on Tello, but the Rebels can not sleep on Camacho, who could make the difference if Tello is having an off day, and when Tello was struggling against an elite Westlake defense, Bowie did just that as the Bulldogs tried to turn to Camacho for support even though Westlake’s defense simply would not allow Bowie to score. For Hays, senior wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="60525" first="Bryant" last="Lewis"] is the favorite target by a long shot. He has 539 yards and five touchdowns this season so far, having almost half of the touchdowns Hill has thrown this season. What’s more, is Lewis seems nearly impossible to stop as even Westlake struggled, giving up 91 yards in four receptions against him. Even though he is clearly the favorite target, stopping him is a whole other story as he scored in nearly every game so far with Westlake being an exception. This includes his performance against Lake Travis when he had five receptions for 143 yards and two touchdowns. The Bulldogs have their own favorite target in senior wide receiver <strong>Jason Gaines</strong>. He has 815 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He is one of few this season to find the endzone against Westlake and is coming off of a game against San Marcos when he had 140 yards and two touchdowns. Gaines is a hard one to stop with only Akins and Lake Travis being the teams to do so completely. Hays is a tough team but whether they can stop Gaines remains to be seen. Although Bowie has other talents such as junior wide receiver <strong>Adrian Rodriguez</strong> and junior wide receiver <strong>Cash Peters</strong>, stopping Gaines from getting the ball should be the top priority. The main player for the job would be Hays senior defensive back <strong>Tyson Hatnnot</strong> who leads the Rebels defense with two interceptions. Not far from him is sophomore defensive back <strong>Chris Bruce</strong>, senior defensive lineman <strong>Sean McSorley</strong> and junior defensive back <strong>Marcus Taylor</strong>, who each have one interception. Although not getting an interception, there are plenty of secondary players who have defended the pass this season that could help swat away the ball that is going towards Gaines or any of the Bulldog receiving corps. Alongside the secondary, senior linebacker <strong>Aiden Hunt</strong> leads the Rebels in sacks with five and also has 13 hurries. Hunt will be the main driving force in creating disruption against the Bulldogs, but there is still plenty of talent on the Rebels defensive line if Hunt is being blocked too well which a shoutout is warranted to McSorley once more as he has just one sack but 12 quarterback hurries on the season. Defense has been the lacking quality of Bowie this season as, as recorded by MaxPreps, there are not any standout players that have recorded a lot of interceptions or sacks this season thus far. The leading tacklers of the Bulldogs defense include junior defensive back <strong>Saul Garcia</strong>, junior defensive back <strong>Jack Kimbrough</strong> and senior defensive back <strong>Thanio Bright</strong>. Garcia has 45 total tackles this season while Kimbrough has 42 and Bright has 40. Garcia averages 7.5 tackles per game so these three players are always around the ball but have yet to create a lot of turnovers this season. Collectively, Bowie has caused two interceptions and two fumbles, according to MaxPreps. If Bowie hopes to defeat Hays this season, the Bulldogs will have to look to create some turnovers in the game.