The hand-off to keep the Mule Fan website up-to-date for the 2007 Alamo Heights High School (AHHS) football season has been made from Chuck Bridgman to yours truly. Erik Andersen here now serving as your roving Mule Fan football reporter.
Speaking for all habitual Mule-loving visitors to this site, it is with great thanks that we salute Chuck and his family for undertaking care of the Mule Fan website during last year's football season. A marathon it was too! Chuck began at the start of 7-on-7 Football in late May 2006 and took us all with our beloved Mules through the team's run to the 4A Texas High School Division I Football State Championship in mid-December. A job well done Chuck!
First, some former Mule high school to college football transitions to report on...
I got an update from proud papa, Brad Dibrell, that two of last year's star Offensive Unit players have already begun their college Division I careers. Last season's starting Quarterback, Giovanni Vizza, and favorite Wide Receiver passing target, Sam Dibrell, are already in place at University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton to begin their college careers with the "Mean Green." Word from UNT player, Sam Dibrell, through the grapevine is that he and Gio are going through conditioning work-outs "that are very hard." New UNT Head Football Coach, Todd Dodge, is bringing his pass-oriented spread offense from his former tenure at three-time 5A Texas High School Football Division I State Champion, Southlake Carroll High School, which is located in the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth Area, to the university to replace the run-oriented program of his predecessor. As y'all are probably aware, AHHS Head Football Coach, Don Byrd, runs a passing-oriented spread offense, which Gio and Sam executed to regular perfection last season. Todd Dodge's program should be an EXCELLENT fit for Gio and Sam to make full use of their Mule football skills!
As this reporter understands it, former Mule star Running Back and speedster, Colton Haverda, will similarly begin summer conditioning workouts with Texas A&M University in the first week of July. For those who missed it, Colton concluded his Alamo Heights High School Varsity Track career by achieving his personal goal to run the 100 Meter Dash in the sub-11.0 second range… Colton hit 10.9 seconds in the UIL Texas High School Regional Meet! Congratulations Colton, and we wish you well heading into your Aggie collegiate efforts!
In addition, a couple of former Mule Defensive Unit stars are heading to the college gridiron in Tennessee. Outstanding former Mule Defensive End, Adam Duncan, and our superb "hard hitting" Linebacker, Charles Thaddeus, will be heading to begin their college football careers at Division III Sewanee - The University of the South. To Adam and Charles, we say, "May you place the same smack-down tackling fear into the hearts of your Sewanee 'Tiger' opponents that you injected into the hearts of Mule challengers!" Good luck you guys!
Onward and forward into the Mules' 2007 season… so, here we go!
Have y'all seen Dave Campbell's Texas Football website recently? If not, I recommend stopping by for a visit to check on the 4A Coaches Top 20 Pre-Season Rankings. The Mules have achieved their highest pre-season ranking ever in this poll!
See: http://texasfootball.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=1249.
Now, you may recall that last-season's Mules were a pretty darn good high school football team… uuuhum… uuuhum, perhaps a mild understatement with a State Championship in tow and all. So, as you can imagine, the football dad's quiet discussions amongst themselves over the spring into the early summer has predominately centered on this key issue… "How good are we going to be this year after losing so many incredibly talented senior players?" Let me recount a few key historical indicators for you to illuminate:
- The Rising Senior Class was District Champions of 9th and 10th Grade, as well as State Champions during their 11th Grade years of football play;
- The Rising Senior Class has only lost three (3) games during the last three-years of high school play, twice to Fredericksburg and once to Georgetown, accumulating an enviable 32 wins and 3 loss record to date;
- The Rising Senior Class is returning fourteen (14) Varsity Letter winners from last year:
- All Region IV First Team & All District First Team Wide Receiver Bobby Broadnax;
- All District First Team & Academic All District Kicker/Wide Receiver Ben Pilgrim;
- All District First Team & Academic All District Defensive Lineman Chris Layne;
- All District Second Team & Academic All District Defensive Back Craig Thompson;
- All District Second Team Wide Receiver and Quarterback Cody Courtney;
- All District Honorable Mention Outside Backer Jacob Aguirre;
- Academic All District Defensive Back Sean O'Brien;
- Academic All District Offensive Lineman Dennis Stanley;
- Academic All District Defensive Lineman Colin Campbell;
- Academic All District Offensive Lineman Dylan Sharp;
- Academic All District Outside Backer Trent Kingman;
- Wide Receiver Thomas King;
- Wide Receiver Stephen West; and,
- Defensive Back Nico Romo.
- The Rising Junior Class was the first ever back-to-back Alamo Heights Junior School District Champions of 7thand 8th Grades, and were 9th Grade Co-District Champions;
- All District Second Team Running Back Sergio Acosta;
- All District Honorable Mention & Academic All District Defensive Back Colin Bibb;
- Academic All District Defensive Back Terry Andersen;
- Academic All District Quarterback Drew Allen;
- Academic All District Tight End Austin Amaro;
- Academic All District Outside Backer Ryan Murphy; and,
- Line Backer Beau Wilson;
- Offensively, we have four (4) returning players who started last year:
- "One-Hand-Catch Specialist & Speedster" Wide Receiver Bobby Broadnax;
- "Powerhouse" Offensive Lineman Dylan Sharp; and,
- Wide Receiver and "Up-Right-Splitting" Kicker Ben Pilgrim.
- Defensively, we have three (3) returning players who started last year:
- "Mr. Fearless" Defensive Back Craig Thompson;
- "The Professor" Defensive Back Colin Bibb; and,
- "Big Stick" Defensive Lineman Chris Layne.
Taking into account the impressive performance resume above, I believe there is every indication that the upcoming 2007 football season should include another deep run into the 4A Football State Playoffs! Our players are SMART (just look at all those Academic All District players), TALENTED (a host of returning Mules on last season's All District First, Second and Honorable Mention rosters), and KNOW HOW TO WIN (see litany of championship seasons)! GO MULES!
THE 7-ON-7 CLUB FOOTBALL REPORT…
O.K., with that said here are some other early fall season performance indicators from this summer's 7-on-7 Football Club. Under the tutelage of Alamo Heights 7-on-7 Head Coach Rip Lowe, our young men are off to a smashing good start!
Report on Houston Texans 7-on-7 Tournament - Saturday, 2 June
The 7-on-7 season started with an enjoyable and successful trip to Houston on Saturday, 2 June, to play in the 7-on-7 Houston Texans Tournament hosted by Baytown Lee in the shadow of Reliant Stadium (see team photo below).
The way a 7-on-7 tournament works is that sixteen (16) teams are broken down into four pools of four teams each. Within that pool of four teams, all the teams play each other over three games in the morning. The winner of all three games from each pool qualifies to play in the two afternoon semi-final championship games. If there are two teams that achieve two wins and one loss during the AM pool round, then the team that beats its competition by the most points qualifies for the PM championship games. The 1st and 2nd place teams from each sanctioned 7-on-7 tournament qualify for the State Tournament held at Texas A&M over 13 and 14 July.
Hence, the Mules began morning play in Houston with three games in succession. The first game was a tough competitive loss to Baytown Lee by 12 points. A past two-time 7-on-7 State Champion program, and once again an obviously good 5A 7-on-7 football program this year, Baytown Lee qualified for the 7-on-7 State Tournament two weeks prior at another 7-on-7 tournament. As such, Baytown Lee was not eligible to play in the two afternoon championship games be
cause 7-on-7 rules stipulate that those teams that have previously qualified for the State Tournament are to leave afternoon championship game slots open for other teams that have not yet qualified for the State Tournament. So, even with this loss, our Alamo Heights 7-on-7'ers recognized the door was still open to move forward to the championship round by winning their next two games… and our Mules took advantage of it.
Photo Courtesy of Randy West
Standing Back Row from L to R: John Cabell, Jorge Acosta, Austin Amaro, Harrison Park, Rust Oliver, Drew Allen, Thomas King, Stephen West, Cody Courtney, Trevor Lovelady, Colin Bibb, Sean O'Brien, Terry Andersen.
Kneeling Middle Row from L to R: Sergio Acosta, Jake Carr, Victor Givens, Gregory Rubiola, Beau Wilson.
Sitting Front Row from L to R: Craig Thompson, Jonathan Schneider.
In the second and third games of the morning, we won going away against 5A Houston Bellaire by over 20 points and then went on to defeat 5A Houston Chavez by 10 points, qualifying our beloved Mules for the afternoon championship games.
During our first championship game of the afternoon, our Mules lost to the eventual 1st place winner of the tournament, 5A Houston Channelview. Channelview had an incredibly athletic team that we should all be sure to watch for during the fall season of high school football. Note, during a side visit to Rice University later in the month, one of the Rice coaches reported to yours truly that they "have their eyes on" two Wide Receiver prospects at Houston Channelview. After watching that team play I certainly believe it.
In summary of the Houston Texans Tournament, our 7-on-7'ers equaled the achievements of last years 7-on-7 team (that ultimately went on to win the State Championship in the Fall) by placing 3rd at this event. A wonderful job by the players that saw steadily improving performance across this event. Playing five games within a six-hour time span, I personally witnessed "a host of Mules" sleeping during their three-hour car rides home to Alamo Heights. I think we left this tournament having proved to ourselves that we should not be afraid of anyone… a solid confidence-building event.
Report on 7-on-7 Local League Play – Tuesday, 5 June, Tuesday, 12 June and Tuesday, 19 June
That Houston Texan 7-on-7 Tournament confidence has most recently translated into strong performances during our 7-on-7 local league play, which occurs each Tuesday evening at Orem Stadium during the month of June. Each team attending plays two games (roughly one-hour each) at each Tuesday meeting. Play starts at 6:00 PM each week and finishes around 8:00 PM, so come on out and enjoy some summer touch football with our Mules!
On Tuesday, 12 June, our 7-on-7'ers began by beating 5A Madison by over 20 points. The highlight of the game was an interception by Linebacker Beau Wilson that was returned roughly 35 yards for a touchdown. Beau "out-jinked" two Madison players to return his interception for the TD, showing nice agility and the same speed that Beau used to run the 300 Meter Hurdles during Varsity Track this past spring.
During the second game of 12 June our Mules then found themselves in a tough battle against the 4A Unicorns of New Braunfels. As y'all might remember, our team met the Unicorns in the State Football Playoff Region IV Semi-Finals game last fall. This is a good team with an outstanding returning All State Quarterback in the form of Ryan Perez.
So here was the situation… with time running out, our Mules found themselves down by 5 points and 45-yards to go for a score. Quarterback Cody Courtney connected on a 42-yard bomb to Bobby Broadnax that brought us to the 3-yard-line. Our gang sprinted down the field, quickly set themselves (it is a running clock for 7-on-7 games) and got off the play… Cody Courtney then found Bobby Broadnax once again on a short L-route onto the flats of the end zone, with our Mules taking a 2-point come-from-behind lead onto the win!
On Tuesday June 19th, the Team A Mules played the Team B Mules with the Team A Mules winning 35-6. The second game saw our Team A Mules defeat a very good Clemens 7-0n-7 Team by a couple of touchdowns. SIGNIFICANTLY, our Team B Mules BEAT the Varsity Marshall High School 7-on-7 Team during their second game, with Jake Everhart and Cullen Mills leading the way on the offense at Quarterback.
Thus far in 7-on-7 local league play our Team is a perfect 6-0.
Report on Alamo Heights 7-on-7 Tournament - Saturday, 16 June
Our Mules woke up on the morning of Saturday, 16 June, to near perfect football playing weather, despite the forecast of rain showers throughout the day. An early morning rain shower led to morning play overcast skies in the mid- to upper-70 degrees… darn near perfect for mid-June in South Texas. "The Plan" was for our Mules to qualify for the State 7-on-7 Tournament at their own AH Tournament (as they did last year)… However, "The Plan" did not unfold exactly according to "The Plan."
A factor that this year's Mules must factor-in to their on-field play is we are NOT going to sneak up on anyone this year! Last year's successes have left a sizeable target on this year's football squad.
Game 1 - Mules versus Temple
Thus, the Mules' first game opponent, 5A Temple, came psyched-up and ready to play from the 1st down of competition against our reigning 4A Division I State Champs. The young men of Temple, who predominately come from military families serving at Fort Hood, played from the start KNOWING their Mule Team opponent was going to be tough to beat, and being from military families, have been grown with attitude to never give in (one might remember a certain Copperas Cove team also stocked full of military family boys that our Mules met in the State Championship game that similarly "never gave up," and took us down to the wire in that game).
So, by the time our players woke-up during the 1st half of play, they found themselves in a serious and unexpected "Tussle with Temple." The Mules' highlight of the first half was an outstanding perfectly timed run-in-front of the receiver interception by Colin Bibb on the first play of the game. Thereafter, during the 1st half the scoring went back-and-forth, ultimately taking us into halftime trailing, with AH 20 points and Temple 21 points.
The second half saw two key interceptions to keep our Mules in the game, one by Sean O'Brien (his first of three during the day) and one by Jake Carr (his first of two on the day).
Sean O'Brien played DB throughout the day like a man possessed! So much so, that his father, Scott O'Brien refused to move from his "lucky spot" at the back corner of the end-zone so as to not effect his son's playing "chi"… I think we are going to have to dress Proud Papa Scott in some kind of AH Mascot outfit so he can keep that position throughout the Mules' football season!
Again, offensively, the second-half saw the scoring going back-and-forth as to who held the lead.
The offensive play of this game came on a late-in-the-game TD score via a beautifully executed out-and-up streak route run by Wide Receiver Thomas King, bringing the score to AH 39 and Temple 38 with roughly 3 minutes remaining in the game.
Temple was not to be cowed by the Mules' offensive fireworks through. They promptly marched down the field to score and make the extra point, bringing the score to Temple 45 and AH 39 with 30-seconds remaining (remember that 7-on-7 uses a running clock).
So, with time running out, out Mules needed a quick score. Quarterback Cody Courtney found Wide Receiver Bobby Broadnax for a 42-yard bomb to the 3-yard line. After which, Bobby quickly sprang up with the ball and ran with the rest of the offensive unit to set up for one last play from the 3-yard line with the clock ticking down through 10-seconds left! Quarterback Cody Courtney then gave it his all with a quick out pass attempt back to Bobby Broadnax in the corner of the end-zone…. But, the Mules' luck had run out…. as Cody's pass was intercepted in the end-zone by #38 of Temple. Game over. A heartbreaking loss for our wonderful Mules. Here is Mule Dad, Scott Courtney, holding the final score for Game 1.
Game 2 - Mules versus Corpus Christi Calallen
The second game of the morning saw the Mules take on perennial Corpus Christi powerhouse 4A Calallen, a program that finished its 31-4A District and non-district play last fall at a perfect 10-0. This fine football team lived up to its reputation by giving Alamo Heights an admirable foe to challenge on the gridiron with our Mules nursing a halftime lead of 7 points, with the score AH 21 and Calallen 12 points. However, the second half saw our Mules pull away to a 40-26 win.
Game 3 - Mules versus Laredo Alexander
Our Mules then took on 5A Laredo Alexander, a team that finished its District 29-5A schedule last fall at 6 wins and 2 losses. The first half included two scoring drives for our Mules. The first was a TD pass from Quarterback Drew Allen to Ben Pilgrim. Reminiscent of the closing plays against Temple, the second TD drive benefited from a long Allen pass to Bobby Broadnax down to the 3-yard line, shown below, that brought our team into halftime trailing, Alexander 14 points to AH 13 points.
During the second half, the Mules defense was the first to take the field and began the first series of play by keeping Alexander out of the end-zone. After our defense stopped Alexander our Mules offensive unit took to the field and exploded into numerous scoring blitzes. Under the mantle of our energized second-half offense and robust defense our Mules beat Laredo Alexander 47-32.
Although our Mules won their final two games of the morning, so did Temple. Thus, Temple advanced to the championship round of the afternoon to go on to win the Alamo Heights 7-on-7 Tournament by handily beating 5A Seguin in its first game and 5A Mac Arthur during the Championship game.
In summary, our Mules woke up to an unexpected buzz saw in the form of Temple, almost coming from behind to beat them once we figured out we were in a serious tussle… but "almost" means that our Mules are still seeking to qualify for the State Tournament. We hope they will do so at their final regular season 7-on-7 Tournament of the year in Corpus Christi on 30 June. Good luck to our Mules in Corpus!!!!
CLOSING THOUGHTS….
Note, for those that were in the local Alamo Heights area, on Saturday, 16 June, Texas Football icon Dave Campbell was at Orem Stadium during the morning of the AHHS 7-on-7 Football Tournament during the morning hours autograph the first 2007 season issue of Texas Football Magazine. The magazine includes coverage of AHHS football and individual coverage of Mule football players listed as "Players to Watch." Dave is a gentle humble grandfatherly man whom that has a PASSION for Texas Football that we all enjoyed meeting!
Note, this Mule Fan reporter is pleased to report the return of "Mule Dad" Jim Hamilton to the sidelines of Alamo Heights Football.
If you get a chance to be in the close-orbit of Alamo Heights 7-on-7 Head Coach Rip Lowe, please be sure to thank him for his service to our young men… he is a volunteer, and does this out of Love for your Mule-players.
Until our next report… GO MULES!!!
