AUBREY CHAPARRALS
Football season is here for the Aubrey Chaparrals as they prepare to host the Sunnyvale Raiders at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Chaparral Memorial Stadium.
This is the fourth meeting in as many years between the two teams, with Aubrey holding the edge in the series 3-1 after a close 33-31 road win in last year’s season opener.
“Sunnyvale is an outstanding football team,” said Keith Ivy, Aubrey athletic director and head football coach. “They’re ranked in the Top 10 of 4A Division II again this year and have quite a few returning starters from last year. We had a great ballgame with them a year ago that went down to the wire, and that was the third year in a row that the game was decided in the last minute or two, so we’re going to have to play exceptionally well.”
Both teams made deep playoff runs last season, but the Raiders have an edge in experience with 14 starters back from last season, including starting QB Cayson Maupin, who totaled over 3,000 yards of offense and 46 touchdowns.
“As a sophomore last year he gave us a lot of fits,” Ivy said. 'He threw a lot of great passes, and he's very poised in the pocket. Our key is going to be to try to get him off his spot. … He likes to sit in there, and he'll wait to the last minute to throw, so hopefully we’re able to get a little pressure, utilizing our speed and quickness on the defensive line and be able to get back there, make him move a little bit and help out our secondary.”
With Aubrey only returning five starters from last season, Ivy said the Chaps’ best strategy may be to keep the more experienced Raiders’ offense on the sidelines.
“We don't want to get on a track meet with them, which is what we've done the last three years,” he said. “They're very good at those styles of games, so hopefully we can be physical, slow the game down a little bit and win the time of possession. The turnover battle is also going to be huge. We've got to hold on to the ball and create some turnovers. If we can do that and make a few big plays on special teams, we can give ourselves a chance to have some success.”
Ivy added the week of practice leading up to the game will prove key for the Chaps.
“We've got to put four solid days together,” he said. “We told the team this morning. We can't have a lull, and everything that we do, the entire process, from the scouting report to the weight workouts to conditioning, all of it is very important to the end goal and end product on Friday night for us to be successful.”
