Outlook: Injuries have struck Gilbert the last couple games and are adding up. That’s not good news for the Tigers as they enter Fiesta Region play tonight against Basha, with the likes of Hamilton and Chandler waiting in the weeks to come.
Two of the top three targets for quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero have been lost to injury the last two weeks — Canaan Holbrook and most recently Bryan McDaniel. Wideout David Sepulveda and Holbrook’s backup Anthony Duran still give Newhall-Caballero a pair of quality receivers. No one has been able to run against Basha thus far, so the passing game must prevail if the Tigers are to bounce back from last week’s loss at Mountain View.
Basha coach Tim McBurney saw Gilbert coach Jesse Parker last weekend at Skip Bryant’s funeral, and the former mentioned the labor involved to prepare for the latter. “It takes us forever to break down his film. With so many schemes on defense, they have a lot of blitz packages. You have to come up with a way to block all of them without confusing yourself,” McBurney said. “It’s a tough project.”
It’s also one Basha’s defense has had no problem undertaking. The offense, meanwhile, is slowly evolving, but there’s no getting around the need for the Bears to score points this week to have a chance.
Address: 1101 E. Elliot Road, Gilbert
Records: Basha 4-1; Gilbert 3-1
Last year’s meeting: Basha 14, Gilbert 7
