West prepares for playoff journey in Corpus Christi
Published 5:15 am Thursday, November 13, 2025
The third-seeded Victoria West Warriors (8-2, 4-2) will hit the road Friday night for the bi-district round of the UIL 5A D2 Football Playoffs.
West will travel to Buccaneer Stadium in Corpus Christi for a meeting with the Miller Buccaneers (4-6, 4-1). It is a home game for Miller as they placed second in District 14.
West and Miller were district foes just two years ago. The two clubs last met in 2023 for a third-round playoff showdown. Miller won the game 51-48. West head coach Courtney Boyce said many players from this year’s senior class played in that game, so there is some familiarity with the Buccaneers.
“We are familiar with them, but that means they are familiar with us, too. The good thing about playing in Corpus is this is a shorter trip than most of our district games were this year,” coach Boyce said. “But it will be a lot tougher than playing at a neutral field.”
Though Miller had five straight non-district losses to start the year, coach Boyce believes the Buccaneers are still a formidable playoff opponent.
“They played a very hard non-district schedule and I think they got better by playing in those games. But I think our kids will be ready for the challenge. They will be excited to go out there and compete at a high level,” coach Boyce said.
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Boyce has great respect for Miller’s head coach Justen Evans who is the all-time winningest head coach in Buccaneers football history.
“He has really built up the program over the years. They were not very successful until he got there,” coach Boyce said. “They are very athletic and a very well coached program.”
The Buccaneers offense features two freshman quarterbacks, Jayden Herrera and David James. The passing duo has combined for 21 touchdown passes. On the ground, the Bucs have totaled 855 rushing yards and 12 scores.
By comparison, West has thrown for 20 touchdowns and amassed 2,177 rushing yards with 32 scores on the ground. West’s top four rushers for the season, Jenesis Jeffries (753), Andrew Henley (443), Nolan Boyce (423), and Brodie Flores (308) all have more rushing yards than Miller’s leading rusher Daryl Donaldson (280).
Despite a quiet night offensively in last week’s 13-7 victory at San Antonio-Veterans Memorial, head coach Courtney Boyce is not overly concerned about that carrying over into Friday night.
“I thought our defense played really well last week. Our offense kind of just piggybacked off of what the defense was able to do. I think everybody on the team will be ready for the moment this week,” coach Boyce said.
Robert Brewer is a sports reporter for the Victoria Advocate. He can be reached at robert.brewer@vicad.com.