They hope to overcome the odds when they take on the Corpus Christi Hammerheads at 6:05 p.m. today at Central Pavilion Arena in an Intense Football League semifinal matchup.
“The reality is it’s playoff time,” Barracudas head coach Chris Duliban said. “This is why everybody has come to play in these respective cities. Guys went to Corpus to be in these games. Guys came here to be in this kind of game. It’s going to be who wants it the most the longest.”
But the Barracudas (9-6) have history working against them. In the four-year history of the league, no team has ever won a playoff game on the road. Additionally, the Hammerheads (10-4) are nearly unstoppable at home - losing only twice in the last two years - and have never lost to the Barracudas at home.
Part of that has to do with the smaller arena in Robstown that puts the crowd right on top of the action.
“It feels like a more enclosed atmosphere,” Barracudas defensive back Greg Brown said. “The field feels smaller. It messes with your perception of the field.”
But the Corpus Christi crowd also does its part, taking full advantage by constantly yelling and jeering opponents. That was a big factor in the Barracudas’ 70-54 loss on June 21 that prevented CenTex from finishing in second place.
“We let them aggravate us,” Brown added. “We let their fans aggravate us. We let the refs aggravate us, and we just let a lot of things get to us. We just lost our composure and they took advantage of that.”
In that game, Hammerheads running back Fred Wallace scored four touchdowns and quarterback Dustin Almond completed 17 of 33 passes for 209 yards and four scores.
On the season, Almond has thrown 57 touchdown passes, second best in the league. But the Barracudas may be able to take advantage of Corpus’ passing game as Almond also has thrown a league-high 22 interceptions.
Barracudas quarterback James Brown has only 41 touchdowns but just 10 interceptions. He leads the league in pass efficiency with a 104.2 rating.
“The whole key is to get (Almond) off rhythm,” Duliban said. “He’s a rhythm passer and once he gets in it, he’s hard to stop because they do a lot of one-step drop and pre-read stuff on offense. The key is to not let them get the yards they are looking for on first down and get them into a second-and-long or third-and-long, and that’s when he has to improvise or go to deep drops. And that’s where we can pressure him.”
And if that works, then defensive backs Roderick Knight, Rolandus Johnson and Brown could have a field day. The trio intercepted five passes against Alaska last week to help propel the Barracudas to a 71-18 win, the first playoff win in CenTex history.
But to do so, Duliban said his team can’t get trapped by Wallace and the running game.
“Wallace is a big factor for them,” Duliban said. “We have to counter their jumbo package with some changes on defense. We feel that their pass comes off the run. If they have success running the ball, then the defensive backs start worrying about stopping the run and that’s when they hit you with the pass. We have put in some new stuff they haven’t seen to stop them and slow down Wallace.”
The Barracudas are similar in many aspects, relying on QB Brown for quick hit passes, and fullback David Banks for a solid rushing attack. The Hammerheads average 43 rushing yards per game to the Barracudas’ 41, but Corpus’ 211 passing yards are well above CenTex’s 170.
A good reason for that is starting field position due to special teams play. CenTex kick returner Olan Coleman averages more than 20 yards per return and the Barracudas have a league-high seven kick returns for touchdowns. Corpus averages only 15.2 yards per return and has returned only one for a score.
“It’s going to be kind of like a staring match,” Duliban added. “We are going to stare at each other for three and a half quarters and see which one blinks first.”
The Barracudas may blink first if they aren’t able to overcome the history that is against them.
They believe they can overcome it, but they know it won’t be easy and acknowledge the first thing they have to do is understand what they are getting into.
“It’s going to be tough,” Knight said. “It’s a hostile crowd, the fans are tough and it’s a tough match every time we go down there. We know we have we a great team and if we play to the best of our ability, we should beat them.”
Duliban said knowing that is one thing, and having experienced the atmosphere in the close loss already, they should be fine.
“A lot of times you don’t learn anything by seeing or hearing other people,” he said. “You have to go through the fire. Last time we played down there was a really good learning experience for some of these younger guys. Now they know what the arena is going to be like. They are going to get to that point in the game, at some point Saturday night (where emotions run high). They key is to be aware of it and be in control of your emotions and your actions.”
The second step is believing that they are the team to change history.
“The reality is we never beat Odessa either,” Duliban said. “We never had a home playoff game. We never won a playoff game. Those kind of things fuel your fire. You have to look at everything in a positive light. We look at it as, ‘Hey you know what, we’ve had a lot of firsts this year and we are not ready to stop.’ Everybody is excited about this game, looking forward to it. Looking forward to that challenge.”
The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the championship game July 28 to face the winner of Monday’s game between Odessa and Louisiana.
