RANKIN – These two teams have been here before; No. 8 Garden City and No. 5 Rankin will meet for the District 6-1A Division I title on Friday at Red Devil Stadium.
High school experts picked these teams to contend for the district title before the season started and both have taken care of business. Garden City (7-2, 2-0) crushed Grady, 57-8, while Rankin blanked Midland TLCA, 72-0, last week setting up a title game for the age.
“It’s exactly what we wanted to start the year,” Garden City coach Jeff Jones said. “It’s the way it needs to be. I know both teams probably believe they’re playing their best heading into this game. I know we’re playing well and so are they.
“It’s one of those games you’re excited for. We’ve had football-type weather, so it’s been nice. It’s shaping up to be a really special game.”
Against Grady, the Wildcats scored first and took an early 8-0 lead before the Bearkats scored 57 straight points.
“Grady came down and scored on the first drive and it had been three weeks since we allowed anybody to score on us,” Jones said. “It made us lock it down and start playing good football. The defense didn’t hardly allow anything after that.”
Jones said key two-way player John Lopez rolled an ankle against Grady and is questionable for Friday.