Slaton football dealt tough loss against Post, 42-14

By Melissa McCaghren

Slatonite GM

The Slaton Tigers faced a tough opponent in rivals the Post Antelopes Friday evening (Sept. 27).

At the end of the football game, Slaton fell short, losing 42-14 during their game Friday (Sept. 27) at Antelope Field in Post.

Coach Jeff Caffey said even in the loss, the team had some highlights. “I thought we played a very good first half,” he said. “We had our moments as well as Post, but we had a few miscues in the first quarter and we came back in the second quarter and played great.”

Post struck first, scoring on a 33-yard, then 29-yard pass in the first quarter.

Slaton, however, answered back in the second when Kevondrick Gober caught a 58-yard touchdown pass from Laz Galindo.

Quevon McDaniel then scored on a 22-yard pass from Galindo.

Tae Thompson scored the extra point in both touchdowns.

But it wasn’t just the scoring players that helped in the  scores.

“(Matt) Vigil made some great catches in the second quarter to put us in some really good positions,” said Caffey.
“Laz Galindo threw the ball well to put us in those spots. In recent history, we hadn’t been able to throw the ball that well so we saw some good things right there. I thought they fought hard to tie it up.”

He also added players such as Josh Chavarin, Jacob Guerra and Edward Betancourt also played well, being “Physical at the point of attack.” Tae Thompson also was credited for playing well defensively.

Caffey felt, however, the team as a whole didn’t quite meet the standards of play they normally had in the second half. “When you play a power run team you’ve got to be to play Smash Mouth there every day and cover every base, and we didn’t cover all our gaps Friday, not well enough. That was evident,” he said.

Post later on scored four more times: a four-yard run in the second, then a 63-yard, 17-yard pass and 22-yard run in the third.

On the night, Slaton rushed the ball 27 times for 54 yards, and made 11 of 21 passes. They had 187 yards of receiving and punted six times for  an average of 33.6 yards.

This week, Slaton has a bye, and Caffey said they were going to change practice up.

“We’re going to scale back a little bit. We’re going to cut practice back, work lots of fundamentals and we’re going to get in the weight room and work on strength and conditioning,” he said.

“It’s been a rough five weeks on these guys, and it’s been a physical five weeks, so lots of study, lots of preparation, then I think we’ll be good going into next week (Oct. 11) when we play Bushland.”

Losing to Post may have been tough for the team, but they and Caffey are looking to the future.

“Win or lose, I’m always proud of our kids, but that doesn’t mean that we can take this loss lightly,” he said.

“We need to step up and present ourselves better for our community. I think the kids and I both were disappointed in that loss and we’re going to work hard to make that right.”