MX Football brings big sense of unknown

for Homecoming festivities Friday

The Sandcrabs will face a little bit of an unknown this week when they host MX Football, a team from Mexico.

The game will serve as Homecoming for Calhoun as well.

Head Coach Richard Whitaker has one piece of game film to go by in scouting MX, a 58-20 loss to undefeated Flour Bluff (4-0) to open the season.

Flour Bluff jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead and MX scored a pair of fourth quarter TDs against reserves. The Hornets rolled up 562 yards of total offense in that game, including 300 passing.

“It can be kind of a scary deal, because you don’t know much about them,” Whitaker said. “They played Flour Bluff, who has a really good team. Flour Bluff had their way with them, but they’ve done that with everybody. You look at MX’s roster and they have like 70 kids on there, but only 40 kids went to the Flour Bluff game. So we’re not even sure who’s gonna show up. They played Calallen last year, and you look at that film and it’s a totally different group of kids. So there’s definitely some mystery there.”

It’s not even known if MX Football has a mascot, but they may be known as the Dragons.

There is also the possibility that some of the MX players are a bit older than high schoolers.

“It’s always a possibility,” Whitaker chuckled. “We played a team from Nuevo Leon a few years back and one of our players had a cousin on that team. Well, after they played us on Friday, about seven of those kids played in a college game the next day against Mary Hardin Baylor, I believe it was. So you never really know when you face a team from another country that has a different set of rules.”

The big focus this week will be for the Sandcrabs will be on themselves: getting healthy, playing more mechanically sound and with better technique.

“Judging from the teams from Mexico that we’ve played in the past, you know that they’re going to be very respectful, very excited to be in the United States and play a football game,” Whitaker said. “It’s a homecoming game, so we want to have fun and perform well in front of all our fans.”

Homecoming is an exciting time for students, fans and alumni. But it can also be a bit of a distraction when it comes to the game itself.

Whitaker said his approach to Homecoming is simple: schedule it during the pre-district slate.

“People have asked over the years why we have Homecoming early,” he said. “Well, it’s just best not to have the festivities interfere with district games that are so meaningful. We want our kids and everyone else to enjoy Homecoming and have fun with it. It’s neat to experience all the traditions and all that. This is a big game for us. The kids heads’ may be down a little bit after some of our losses. They need a win and a boost heading into our first district game. Maybe this game will provide that.”

Following a bye week Oct. 4, the Crabs will face district rival La Vernia, a team Calhoun has been pointing to all season.

Whitaker also hopes to get returning All-District starters Darrik Salinas, Cesar Aguilar and Ricky Martinez back to full health in time for La Vernia.

“Ricky we expect to get cleared to practice some in shorts this week, but he will not play” Whitaker said. “Cesar will practice some this week too, but also we will not play him unless he’s 100%. Darrik went and had some tests on his hamstring and it looks like it’s healed, there’s just a nerve issue that’s causing pain. Hopefully with a little more rest and some meds, that will take care of the soreness and we can get him back for La Vernia. You’re looking at two of our top three tacklers from last season and the heart of the back of our defense. Then Ricky was the district lineman of the year and also helps a bunch on defense. We’ve got kids stepping up in their absence, but it will make a big difference if we can get back to full strength.”

Whitaker said the UIL “frowns upon” high school teams playing teams from other countries, but it also doesn’t like for public schools to play private schools.

“We understand that, but we also understand it’s a struggle to find pre-district opponents sometimes without getting on a bus for four hours,” he said. “You gotta do what you gotta do to fill your schedule sometimes.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.