The Button football team has a huge task this week as in only week 3 of the high school football season do they play the Mules of Alamo Heights. It is also one of the featured games this week in the Greater San Antonio area, and there’s no doubt why.

Both teams are 2-0 to start their respective seasons, and even bigger for the Buttons who just came off a huge win against Boerne Geneva in Geneva’s backyard last Friday. The statistics of Quarterback and Army Commit Sylas Gomez have been absolutely amazing to start the season. Gomez had 249 passing yards in the game against Geneva (according to MaxPreps), and has been successful in the pocket with a really successful start to the season in terms of offense. One would think this should be an instant confidence booster, right?

Staff Member James Peterson sits down with Head Coach Mike Santiago and Lead Editor Esteban Serrano contacted Sylas Gomez to break some things down, including, their mindsets heading into the big game on Friday.

“I am always confident, we have a good football team,” Santiago starts. “I always get nervous about how we play,” he continues. Santiago is certain his team will perform well, but also expresses that only what Central does is under his control.

Film has been traded with Alamo Heights, and those games received have been very beneficial to understanding the game and style of Alamo Heights football. “We try to get some tendencies (with the film) so we are feeling good going in,” Santiago assures.

MaxPreps and CBS Sports have some positive signs for Central in Comparison to Alamo Heights. The Buttons have averaged 175 passing yards per game, average total yards is 400 a game, and they lead in rushing yards. “Every week is just another step in the climb,” Santiago says. He then completely ignores the statistics and explains, “Stats don’t mean anything to me, stats can be skewed. The biggest stat I look at is how are they doing with turnovers? Are they turning the ball over, are we turning the ball over?” That will be a huge deal-breaker for both teams on both sides of the field when it comes to how the squads play.

Securing a win last Friday as compared to this Friday Santiago agrees, will be tough, however, he does maintain optimism as the pressure rolls on. “We just have to keep doing the things we do,” he says. “The goal this week is to be better than we were last week… and Alamo Heights has to be better than they were last week- so who can make the improvement from week two to week three?”

One other thing Santiago brought up that will be different for Central is the step up lower classmen who are being put on the spot and even brought up from junior varsity to help the varsity team. This especially goes for special teams, and names like Noah Sommer for the kicking squad. Santiago this is so that these junior varsity players can “ready for Friday nights at some point.”

Quarterback Sylas Gomez was also willing to share some insight. He talks about his biggest challenge in this week’s game, saying, “I think the biggest challenge is probably going to be just staying locked in the whole game and not entertaining all of the talking they do.” He continues, “We’ve been really stressing it all week so I’m sure the team is going to do pretty good on staying focused, but anything can happen so we’re really just coming in focused and composed.”

Gomez also talks about the confidence he has in his team. “I’m very confident in my guys and all of them are as well. We respect every opponent we face, but we back down to none. That’s the mindset we’ve been bringing and will be continuing to bring throughout the season, We had a pretty good week of practice, and I always feel good about going into a game knowing we practiced well during the week.”

Kickoff for the big game is Friday night at Harry B. Orem Stadium and is set for 7:00pm.