The Mule Fan

Alamo Heights 38 Seguin 27

October 10, 2008


Mules run win streak to 4!

Photos courtesy of Dulce Design Photography-Get your favorite Mule photo (see web link below for details)

LOOKING BACK:

MULES MAUL MATADORS....NO BULL!! Heights 38, Seguin 27

On a beautiful night at Harry B. Orem Stadium, the Mules looked for their third consecutive District win. Having defeated Clemens and Boerne, the Mules faced a Seguin Matador ball club that was 0-2 in District play and was looking to pull off the upset. With no recent game experience against Seguin, the Mules could only rely on film as they prepared for the Friday game. The Matadors were to be lead by Senior WR D'Shawn Singletary, who also played a bit on defense. The home crowd cheered loudly and, for some reason, appeared to articulate much better as the Heights band played The Fight Song just before kickoff.

The Mules won the toss and deferred to the second half. Therefore, the Mules kicked off to Seguin to start the game. The Mule defense held Seguin to three and out. Once again, an opponent tried to go deep on the first series and once again, they were unsuccessful, thanks in large part to a nice defensive play by Mitchell Dan. After the Seguin punt, the Mules first possession started at their own 23. Drew Allen quickly hit Tyler Marshall for a 30 yard reception and Justin Rosenthal rumbled for some nice yardage on the ground before a turnover gave the ball back to the Matadors at their own 6. The Mules offense moved the ball well which was an indication of things to come. However, on its next drive, the Matadors let the crowd know that they were still in the ring and ready to counter. The Matadors converted on a 3rd and 8 and then D'Shawn ran or caught passes for 3 consecutive first downs. Running back Wayne Clemons ran the ball well and a 4 yard pass capped a 94 yard drive and a stunned crowd watched the scoreboard indicate a 7-0 Matador lead with 3:30 left in the first quarter. The Mules took the kickoff and started to make some plays. A terrific one handed catch and run by Sergio Acosta and a catch by John Cabell followed up by a facemask took the ball deep in Seguin territory as the quarter ended.

The Mules started the second quarter with the ball but the drive stalled. Andrew Bailey's kick was good from 33 and Heights was finally on the board, down 7-3. The offense was only getting started as it would score all of its points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The Mules defense looked soft on the long Seguin first quarter drive, but all Mule fans know the capabilities of this speedy tough defense, as had been evidenced recently against both Clemens and Boerne. So the defense spent the 2nd and 3rd quarters reminding fans what they could do. The defense forced Seguin to a 3-and-out after the Mule field goal and the scoring attack would begin. Starting at their own 41, the drive was lead by the running of Drew Allen and after a lengthy run, Allen's pass to Kyle Flores from the 10 gave the Mules a lead they would not relinquish at 10-7 with 8:03 left in the 2nd quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the kick team, AS USUAL, pinned the Matadors around their 20. A big hit on the kickoff was made by Greg Rubiola. The Matadors converted a 3rd and 6 for 24 yards to Alexander (he finished with 10 catches for 125 yards but wasn't even the leading receiver). The Matador drive stalled and on the punt, a bad snap forced the punter to run around and throw the ball where he was called for intentional grounding, changing the field position for the Mules dramatically. Kudos on the play go to Ryan Murphy, Miguel Vasquez and Thomas McSween. The Mules struck quickly as Allen hit John Cabell who, after several terrific moves found the end zone for a 17-7 Mules lead with 4:50 left in the half. Down by 10, the Matadors looked to make something happen...and they did so FOR the Mules. Mitchell (I'm-not-Tyler-Tyler graduated-already-would-someone-ask-Rick-Shaw-to-stop-calling-me-Tyler-over-the-P.A.-system) Dan's great read of a Seguin pass allowed him to pick the ball and return the INT to the Seguin 1. Drew Allen took it over from the 1 for the 24-7 lead. A pick by Tyler Keller gave the ball back to the Mules. Both teams had stalled drives to end the half.

The Mules started the 3rd quarter with the same intensity as they ended the 2nd half. Taking the opening kickoff, the Mules put together a nice 65 yard drive after the Colin Bibb kickoff return set them up at the 35. Rosenthal ran for 10 and then for another 30 and after a Drew Allen keeper to the 4, Allen found Victor Givens for the 4 yard TD and a 31-7 lead. The Matadors problems continued as Stewart Korte made a tough stop before Collin Bibb stepped in front a pass giving the ball to the Mules at the Matador 23 following a 15 yard penalty. Drew Allen scrambled for 14 before Acosta took it in from the 2 for a 38-7 Mules lead with 5:48 left in the 3rd quarter.

It's too bad that the game this evening wasn't a 40 minute game instead of a 60 minute game. Or maybe it's just unfortunate that The Mule Fan's pen didn't run out of ink at this time. But we must report the story and from this point two things happened. First, it appeared that the Mules lost some intensity. Any good bull would know that the bullfight isn’t over until the Matador is down and out...the Mules realized in film session Saturday that they let up on the intensity. Though the Mules made several substitutions, this is a deep Mules team and possibly slight focus was lost with such a lead. Second, and to this Mule Fan, the more important rationale for the remainder of the game(this is a positive blog) was that it actually appeared that the Matadors stepped up their intensity a notch. Knowing the game was over for all practical purposes, the Seguin squad dug down a little deeper and fought a little harder, also changing their offensive scheme by throwing short passes and giving themselves better opportunities. [EDITORS NOTE: At the request of The Mule Fan, Brent Marshall, a celebrated Matador himself, consented to, and passed, a post-game polygraph test confirming that he was not forwarding the Mules offensive and/or defensive signals to the Matador coaching staff to help bring some respectability to the score on behalf of his former school]. The Matadors put together a drive capped by a 40 yard pass from sophomore (watch out next year) Brig Gerlich to Alexander for a 40 yard touchdown and a 38-14 Mules lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The Mules failed to move the ball to start the fourth quarter and their first punt of the game came with only 10 minutes left in the game. The Matadors again drove the field and a 3 yard pass from Gerlich to JR RB Jay Kolbe made the score 38-21 with 8 minutes left. The Mules recovered the onside kick but again failed to move the ball, again gave the ball back to the Matadors and again allowed the Matadors to put together a nice drive capped by a 27 yard touchdown pass to Dustin Read. The extra point failed and the Mules led 38-27. Terry Andersen recovered the onside kick and the Mules retained the ball for the rest of the game after a 4th down lengthy pass downfield to Andrew Richter, reminding this Mule Fan of an old P-for-K playground football play.

Highlights: The Mules run defense was terrific---holding the Matadors to 52 yards rushing. The Mules offense was balanced with good rushing and passing. Special teams, as usual, were terrific as the Mules ran their record to 4-2 and 3-0 in District play.

PLAY IT AGAIN, FAN: Hey Mule fans....Mike Murphy (The Murfman) videos all Mules games and has worked out a package for varsity parents to have each game on a DVD. Murf's video's are easy to view...limited to just the plays. These special video highlights on the Mule Fan are compliments of Murf. If you want a copy of games from this year or last year, or footage of your favorite Mule in action in a series of games, contact Murf at mike@murfman.net or on his cell at 210.216.1685.

A Few Words with the Head Coach of the Mules – Don Byrd
October 14, 2008

The Mule Fan: The Mules extended their win streak to 4 games with a victory over Seguin and sit in a tie atop the district at 3-0. This one probably won’t win a beauty contest but a district win is a district win. While the game never seemed in doubt, Seguin never gave up and breathed life back into it in the second half. What were your thoughts about this win?

Coach Byrd: Well the defense went in first and got a three and out. The first drive we went down and set a great tone but had a turnover. We were still playing great football at that time but just had a turnover on one play, they drove down and scored and we’re down 7-0. That’s going to happen in this district. There are a lot of good teams and I’m not taking anything away from Seguin. They made the plays to get down there. Our kids upped the ante and I think scored 38 straight and shut them down when we needed to. Later on we started to conserve a little bit, playing kids and things you do toward the end of a game. Good teams come back like that. My hat’s off to their team. They never gave up and made plays when they needed to and got some momentum and cut the lead. I don’t think it was ever in doubt. In a tough district, things like that are going to happen.

The Mule Fan: I guess it’s good for the guys to have seen a team that hung in there, never did give up, came back and re-entered the game. They had to really get re-focused to close it out.

Coach Byrd: Yeah they sure did. After they scored the last one we used up the clock on offense and they didn’t get the ball back again. That’s what you want to do. That’s what happens in those games and we finished up on a good note.

The Mule Fan: On offense it was a balanced attack again with the run and the pass with 7 different receivers catching passes. You seem to be on a pretty consistent run with the passing offense. What is driving that?

Coach Byrd: Well its Drew (Allen). He’s gotten where he spots the receivers open. The key to a spread is to spread the wealth. You’ve got four receivers, a running back and a quarterback who can carry it like Drew has. You can’t let the defense think one thing is better than the other because defenses can take certain things away and do certain things. If you work it hard and do it right there’s got to be somebody to get the ball to and Drew has done a nice job of spreading the wealth. You hear all the coaches talk about spreading the wealth. That’s what we’re doing here and it’s really opened up the field and opened up a lot of lanes.

The Mule Fan: The Mules run defense was impressive holding Seguin to 52 yards rushing and that’s important to reflect on since you face a San Marcos team next that does nothing but run the football.

Coach Byrd: They did a nice job against Seguin but this week is going to be a totally different thing. Seguin never ran a tight end. They just had five down lineman, running back and quarterback. With San Marcos, all 11 guys are in there tight so there’s a lot more gaps you have to be responsible for. With them (San Marcos) being kind of “balanced” on offense where they have three man surfaces each way and a running back on each side, it’s harder to come up with stunts and things that you can do to overload certain areas. They do a lot of checking at the line of scrimmage. We’re just going to have to play basic hard-nosed aggressive football on defense and make sure we don’t fall asleep in the secondary because they come up and make so many running plays that it’s easy to slip a pass in on you.

The Mule Fan: You’ve seen a lot of passing teams already but this will be the first time that your defense has seen a team that rolls up over 300 yards rushing each game. And they’re doing it from somewhat of an older style “throw-back” offensive set. How do you defend that and how do you prepare for that sort of attack since you really haven’t seen anything like it this year?

Coach Byrd: Well the first thing we did was that we took our scout teams out while we were watching film with the varsity and taught them the offense because our guys have to have such a great picture. The kids aren’t used to doing the things like angle blocking, backs leading and things that we’re going to see. So we had to teach the scout team in order to give us a good picture. Then it’s just old-fashioned physical football. The defensive line has to come off the ball and hold their ground. The linebackers have to read their keys and be there as the play develops instead of the play developing and then getting there. Again, the secondary has to come up on great angles on the run but they have to check their tight ends and the different inside receivers to make sure that they’re not slipping out on a pass. It is a very physical but a very disciplined way you have to play this to have success.

The Mule Fan: This San Marcos offense chews up such big chunks of time on the clock, what sort of pressure does that put on your possessions?

Coach Byrd: The offense has got to make sure they execute well when they have it because if they make a mistake, they won’t get the ball back for a while. So it’s going to be a unique game with two different styles. And they’re playing great. They were ahead of Kerrville late in the third quarter. They’ve played a lot of teams tough. They just haven’t found a way to win because of some turnovers in the kicking game and a couple of execution problems but they’re knocking on the door to becoming a good team. Their backs are getting to the wall and they’re going to have to knock off some people to stay in the playoff hunt. Alamo Heights is the one that has the target on their back right now.

The Mule Fan REALLY goes behind the scenes!

You’ve come to expect that the Mule Fan can wiggle you readers exclusively into places and subjects never visited, uttered or considered by the other media outlets. This is a result of a combination of things. First and foremost, a very supportive coaching staff that knows there is a lot of interest in AH football and appreciates it. Second, a good set of AAA batteries and clever little recording devices that help your editors get in and out without much fuss and third, reasonable grooming and a balanced fiber-rich diet.

This week, we go inside the Mules locker room before the Seguin game to hear Coach Byrd fire up his troops before kickoff. These are not actors playing our young lads. They are our boys. You may even recognize a few of them.

LOOKING AHEAD—SAN MARCOS

The Mules travel up IH-35 to face the San Marcos Rattlers in Game 4 of their march through the tough District 27-4A. Friday's game will be played at Texas State's Bobcat Stadium (Exit is clearly marked as you drive through San Marcos--#206), which should be fun for the Mules and their fans. The Rattlers return 8 starters from last years squad that made it to the D-II bi-district finals. Last year, San Marcos was a 5A school but they've dropped down to Class 4A this year. For those of you Mule moms (ya'll are as easy to pick on as Rick Shaw) not used to traveling outside Loop 410, much less outside Loop 1604, the following might jog your memory: San Marcos is the town located adjacent to the IH-35 Outlet Malls (Bingo--now you've got it...Centerpoint, Exit 200... where you can get all the discounts on the high priced goods which means that you only pay slightly more than a normal price instead of outrageously more than normal while you insist that the selection is not nearly as good as in the real stores back home as you plan for your next trip back to the outlet malls with your girl friends so you can complain that there are too many stores to take in one day though you swear you are not going back because the parking is horrible but you can't see out of the rear of your Suburban because there are too many packages of clothes stacked up high in the back even with the rear seat folded down...this Dennis Miller-ish rant clearly will result in an upcoming trip to the marriage counselor). Hey guys...Bobcat Stadium is just a few exits this side of Cabela's.

But this is about the Rattlers...not the stores. This game will be worth the drive up 35 as the Rattlers run a very entertaining offense. The Rattlers average OVER 320 yards on the ground and they have played some very talented teams with very solid defenses. The Rattlers offense features 3 backs and 2 tight ends and razzle dazzle on every play as the quarterback fakes the handoff to the crossing players and the defense must play "Where's Waldo" with the football. This Slot-T offense is extremely difficult to defend and can be exhausting on a defense--so much so that the Rattlers are 5th in the City in Rushing Offense with 2000 yards after 6 games. A tandem of Junior running backs, who both run a 4.6 40 and a returning Senior, Yzaguirre, must be stopped. One recent Rattler drive churned off over 11 minutes of game clock. But for a combined 8 fumbles against Canyon and Steele, the Rattlers very well could've upset either team. The Mules must not let their guard down against this Rattlers team that will be hungry for a victory at home. The Rattlers defense is coming together as the season wears on so the offense will need to take advantage of every opportunity it gets when it has the ball.

TICKETS FOR SAN MARCOS

Patty Juarez, "the knower of all things Mule" or "The Mule Whisperer" as she is known among the equine set, informs that tickets for the San Marcos game are on sale at the Alamo Heights Athletic office during these very special and accomodating hours:

Wed. - 8:30a - noon and 1:30p - 3:00p
Thurs. - 8:30a - noon and 1:30p - 3:30p & 4:00p - 7:00p
Fri. - 8:30a - 3:00p

General Admission Prices - Adults - $6 and Students $3 (pre-sale)
All tickets at the gate at Bobcat Stadium - $7.

DISTRICT DOINGS:Week Three is in the books (District records after 3nd week):
Heights(3-0) 38, Seguin(0-3) 27
Steele(3-0) 28, N.B Canyon(2-1) 21
Tivy(3-0) 42, San Marcos(0-3) 28
Clemens(1-2) 35, Boerne Champion(0-3) 21


Week Two Results(FYI):Steele(2-0) 45, Clemens(0-2) 35…Kerrville Tivy(2-0) 40, Seguin(0-2) 17….Heights(2-0) 17,Boerne Champion(0-2) 10…N.B. Canyon(2-0)48, San Marcos(0-2) 14

Week One Results(FYI): Steele(1-0) 49, San Marcos(0-1) 17…Kerrville(1-0) 50, Boerne Champion(0-1) 20…HEIGHTS(1-0) 35, Clemens(0-1) 3…N.B. Canyon 45, Seguin(0-1) 27

MULE FOR A DAY: The annual Mule for a Day is on October 26,2008. This is a fun punt, pass and kick event for kids grades 1-8 and is the Mules only football fundraiser. Meet all the varsity players on this fun-filled day. Your young up-and-coming Mule won't want to miss this. See the flyer below and get more details by contacting Carissa Rullo at cmrullo@yahoo.com

OTHER MULE ACTION:The JV will play at home on Thursday and the Freshmen will travel to San Marcos on Thursday. From the Junior School, next Tuesday the 7th grade faces Harris at Home and the 8th grade goes to Harris. Good luck to all of the Mules squads.

MULES ON THE RADIO: The Mules radio home for the rest of the year (unless advised otherwise) is KKYX-680AM. Follow the action there with Ed Suarez and Dave Parker. Airtime will be 7:00 p.m. Don’t forget to patronize and thank the sponsors for their commitment to Alamo Heights.

MULES PHOTOS: View all the photos from Mules games and save those memories forever with Dulce Designs (Mary Candee) http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=23252

PERSONAL NOTE: The Mule Fan would like to express our condolences to Chris Troilo on the recent passing of his brother, Tom, also an A.H. graduate. All Mules fans thoughts and prayers are with Chris and his family at this difficult time.

Go Mules! BEAT THE RATTLERS...FRIDAY AT TEXAS STATE'S BOBCAT STADIUM....7:30pm. SEE YOU THERE.

To be added to a blast advising of new postings, e-mail brosenthal@trpsalaw.com. NEXT POSTING will be Wednesday morning, October 22nd.