Bobcats host Nixon-Smiley to open district play

The Comfort High football team struggled through the non-district portion of its schedule, but the Bobcats get a fresh start on Friday when the Bobcats host Nixon-Smiley to open district play.

Comfort welcomes the Mustangs to open league play Friday at Bobcat Field, 7:30 p.m. It’s also a homecoming week for Comfort. 

The Bobcats are 0-4 entering the contest but coach Brandon Easterly said it’s a new beginning for his team. It’s what happens in District 15-3A DII that determines if the Bobcats will make the playoffs this year.

“Everything starts over this week, everyone is 0-0,” he said. “We have to take it one day at a time to grow and get better.”

Even though his team went 0-4 through non-district and the record isn’t what they were hoping for, Easterly said he feels like his team has improved since the beginning of the season.

“We have faced four real quality teams. Three of them are 3-1 and Blanco is a really good team that is 2-2,” he said. “So it has definitely prepared us for district games that are about to start.”

After scoring 21 points in its season opener against Johnson City, the Bobcats were kept off the board for two straight games against Ingram and Blanco, but responded with 24 points in last week’s loss at Brackett (58-24).

Easterly said they’ve been tweaking the offense and added that it paid off on Friday.

“We made some adjustments and changes with the scheme and the guys fought hard and made some plays,” he said.

In last week’s game, Comfort QB Micah Nye threw for a season-best 206 yards and a touchdown and also ran for another score, while Topper Sterling rushed for 107 yards on the ground, Santos Hernandez caught a touchdown pass and Isaiah Ibarra hauled in three passes for a team-high 77 yards.

Nixon-Smiley went 1-3 through non-district and beat San Antonio Christian (48-27), but lost to Three Rivers (31-20), Flatonia (34-0) and Wallis Brazos (39-8).

Nixon-Smiley likes to keep the ball on the ground and is a run-heavy team.

“They are a Slot-T team that likes to shorten the game and run the football,” Easterly said. “They have a skill guys (Bradyn Martinez) that is very talented and they run multiple looks on defense.”

Martinez is a work horse for the Mustangs and has rushed for 95 yards per game and added 36 more yards per contest with his receiving ability to total 131 total yards per game.