LOOKING BACK:
CHAMPIONS OF THIS NIGHT: Heights 17, Boerne Champion 10
The Mules hit the road for their first meeting ever against Boerne Champion. More controversy in Boerne over the name of the new school than whether Sarah Palin or Joe Biden won the Vice Presidential debate. Is it Champion, Boerne Champion or Boerne-Samuel V. Champion as the game program indicates? Whatever---it’s still Boerne. It’s the same students, coaches and fans from Boerne High last year and will be the same next year until Boerne High (now that’s a non controversial name) reopens and causes a realignment of the students. The touted traffic problems did not appear to be such a problem. For those of you who took the shuttle from Boerne Champion to the Stadium, the only consolation was that the shuttle bus ride back must’ve been pretty sweet! The Boerne fans were extremely cordial to the Heights crowd both entering and exiting the stadium. One Heights defensive starter (name not mentioned here) actually said he couldn’t get angry at the Boerne players, as much as he wanted to do so to fire himself up, because after every tackle, someone from Boerne’s offense would say “Nice Tackle” or “Nice Hit” (That’s a true story—the bit about Rick Shaw in jail last week was not!).
The Mules kicked to start the game, giving the ball to Champion at the 20---great kickoff coverage again this week. The Chargers—no Greyhounds this year- were led by their 6’1, 215 pound senior running back Josh Wray. Wray entered the game as one of the leading rushers in the area. Much of the Champion offense is basic Hill Country smash football with Wray going up the middle to get as much as he can. The first drive included a long pass from Junior QB Taylor Davis to Senior receiver Chuck Thornally. Thornally is normally Boerne’s starting QB but with a cast on his broken hand he could only play receiver in this game. The Mules may have dodged a bullet with Thornally unable to take the snaps and will have to be prepared for his return if both teams make the playoffs and somehow meet each other again. Terry Andersen put big pressure on a key third down and Champion settled for a 32 yard field goal and a 3-0 lead. The Mules took the ball and stalled quickly giving the ball back to the Chargers near midfield. After a big hit by Terry Andersen (who had his typical perfect game), Mike Warren picked up a Wray fumble and the Mules were back in business. This was a huge play as the Charger offense was gaining confidence and was pounding the ball at the Mules. A nice drive by the Mules, including receptions from Drew Allen by Trever Lovelady. Justin Rosenthal, Tyler Marshall and Victor Givens was capped by a 2 yard Rosenthal touchdown run, made possible by a great line surge and a terrific block by Cullen Wernette. 7-3 Mules, end of the first quarter.
The Chargers opening drive of the second quarter stalled after Ryan Murphy made a big stop. Murphy, by the way, appeared to be in on stops on almost every play of the night. The Mules drove the ball well on the next drive with Allen tucking and running for 25 and passing to Trevor Lovelady for 17. Andrew Bailey just missed on a field goal attempt and the score remained 7-3. The defense continued to have big stops in the second quarter. While Wray ran the ball well on handoffs, Murphy had another nice stop on a 3rd and 8. Other key defensive plays in the second quarter were made by Stewart Korte and Colin Bibb, causing the half to end with the Mules holding a suspect 7-3 lead. To be fair reporters, it appeared that the Mules were not crisp in the first half. The offense was not 100% in sync---with a few false starts, holding calls and missed assignments…timing seemed just a bit off. On defense, it seemed as though the Charger surge was pushing the line but, fortunately, the defense came up with key stops at the right time considering they were on the field the vast majority of the first half (the offense ran only 17 plays). Special teams were pretty good during the first half. Apparently, halftime in the Mules locker room was not finger sandwiches, lemonade and old story telling time for our Mules. BUT, good teams find a way to do things even when they are not at their best. The Mules were still up 7-3 and could certainly make the adjustments to revert back to the team they were the last few games. “WE” was the key to coming together in the second half. The coaches and players looked ready to get back to work after a halftime that seemed longer than the first half itself.
In the 3rd quarter, the Mules took the ball and the line looked more solid as did Allen and his gang of receivers. Allen’s timing was on track with passes to John Cabell (pronounced again this week as Ka—BELL) and Lovelady. The teams exchanged punts with A.J. Lewis making a nice downfield tackle on one of Allen’s punts. The defense again was solid with notable plays by Murphy, Korte and Miguel Vasquez. However, it appeared to the Mule Fan that Wray and the Chargers were starting to wear down the Mules---understandably so as the defense remained on the field quite a bit. On the last play of the 3rd quarter, the snap went over the Charger punter’s head but a smart play by the punter allowed him to elude the oncoming Mule rush and bounce the ball down to the Mule 23. This was potentially a 70 yard difference in field position!!Between that play and the pounding Champion offense, it looked like the momentum was swinging in favor of the Chargers. End of 3rd quarter-still Mules 7, Champion 3.
But Friday Nights in Texas are all about high school football and no part of football is more entertaining than the Fourth Quarter---at least on this night in this game.
CHAMPIONS OF THIS NIGHT: Heights 17, Boerne Champion 10
The Mules hit the road for their first meeting ever against Boerne Champion. More controversy in Boerne over the name of the new school than whether Sarah Palin or Joe Biden won the Vice Presidential debate. Is it Champion, Boerne Champion or Boerne-Samuel V. Champion as the game program indicates? Whatever---it’s still Boerne. It’s the same students, coaches and fans from Boerne High last year and will be the same next year until Boerne High (now that’s a non controversial name) reopens and causes a realignment of the students. The touted traffic problems did not appear to be such a problem. For those of you who took the shuttle from Boerne Champion to the Stadium, the only consolation was that the shuttle bus ride back must’ve been pretty sweet! The Boerne fans were extremely cordial to the Heights crowd both entering and exiting the stadium. One Heights defensive starter (name not mentioned here) actually said he couldn’t get angry at the Boerne players, as much as he wanted to do so to fire himself up, because after every tackle, someone from Boerne’s offense would say “Nice Tackle” or “Nice Hit” (That’s a true story—the bit about Rick Shaw in jail last week was not!).
The Mules kicked to start the game, giving the ball to Champion at the 20---great kickoff coverage again this week. The Chargers—no Greyhounds this year- were led by their 6’1, 215 pound senior running back Josh Wray. Wray entered the game as one of the leading rushers in the area. Much of the Champion offense is basic Hill Country smash football with Wray going up the middle to get as much as he can. The first drive included a long pass from Junior QB Taylor Davis to Senior receiver Chuck Thornally. Thornally is normally Boerne’s starting QB but with a cast on his broken hand he could only play receiver in this game. The Mules may have dodged a bullet with Thornally unable to take the snaps and will have to be prepared for his return if both teams make the playoffs and somehow meet each other again. Terry Andersen put big pressure on a key third down and Champion settled for a 32 yard field goal and a 3-0 lead. The Mules took the ball and stalled quickly giving the ball back to the Chargers near midfield. After a big hit by Terry Andersen (who had his typical perfect game), Mike Warren picked up a Wray fumble and the Mules were back in business. This was a huge play as the Charger offense was gaining confidence and was pounding the ball at the Mules. A nice drive by the Mules, including receptions from Drew Allen by Trever Lovelady. Justin Rosenthal, Tyler Marshall and Victor Givens was capped by a 2 yard Rosenthal touchdown run, made possible by a great line surge and a terrific block by Cullen Wernette. 7-3 Mules, end of the first quarter.
The Chargers opening drive of the second quarter stalled after Ryan Murphy made a big stop. Murphy, by the way, appeared to be in on stops on almost every play of the night. The Mules drove the ball well on the next drive with Allen tucking and running for 25 and passing to Trevor Lovelady for 17. Andrew Bailey just missed on a field goal attempt and the score remained 7-3. The defense continued to have big stops in the second quarter. While Wray ran the ball well on handoffs, Murphy had another nice stop on a 3rd and 8. Other key defensive plays in the second quarter were made by Stewart Korte and Colin Bibb, causing the half to end with the Mules holding a suspect 7-3 lead. To be fair reporters, it appeared that the Mules were not crisp in the first half. The offense was not 100% in sync---with a few false starts, holding calls and missed assignments…timing seemed just a bit off. On defense, it seemed as though the Charger surge was pushing the line but, fortunately, the defense came up with key stops at the right time considering they were on the field the vast majority of the first half (the offense ran only 17 plays). Special teams were pretty good during the first half. Apparently, halftime in the Mules locker room was not finger sandwiches, lemonade and old story telling time for our Mules. BUT, good teams find a way to do things even when they are not at their best. The Mules were still up 7-3 and could certainly make the adjustments to revert back to the team they were the last few games. “WE” was the key to coming together in the second half. The coaches and players looked ready to get back to work after a halftime that seemed longer than the first half itself.
In the 3rd quarter, the Mules took the ball and the line looked more solid as did Allen and his gang of receivers. Allen’s timing was on track with passes to John Cabell (pronounced again this week as Ka—BELL) and Lovelady. The teams exchanged punts with A.J. Lewis making a nice downfield tackle on one of Allen’s punts. The defense again was solid with notable plays by Murphy, Korte and Miguel Vasquez. However, it appeared to the Mule Fan that Wray and the Chargers were starting to wear down the Mules---understandably so as the defense remained on the field quite a bit. On the last play of the 3rd quarter, the snap went over the Charger punter’s head but a smart play by the punter allowed him to elude the oncoming Mule rush and bounce the ball down to the Mule 23. This was potentially a 70 yard difference in field position!!Between that play and the pounding Champion offense, it looked like the momentum was swinging in favor of the Chargers. End of 3rd quarter-still Mules 7, Champion 3.
But Friday Nights in Texas are all about high school football and no part of football is more entertaining than the Fourth Quarter---at least on this night in this game.
A holding call on the first play forced the Mules to start deep in their own territory at the 13 with a 1st and 20. Be careful, be smart. Time for Champion to get a dose of Drew Allen. Allen completed passes of 13 and 30 to Rosenthal, Lovelady for 12, Givens for 8 and Flores for a few more. The drive stalled but Andrew Bailey was good from 32 and the Mules led 10-3 with 7 minutes left in the game. The Chargers received the kickoff and went to work from there. The big play on the drive was a 30 yard pass to the Mules 28. The Chargers continued to pound the ball inside and on first and goal from the one, Kody Beach snuck it into the end zone for the score. With the extra point, we were knotted at 10 with 3:35 left in the game. Overtime anyone?
Here we go! The Boerne kickoff was a pooch, clearly trying to avoid the speed of Andersen and Bibb, the quick Mule deep backs. The kick to the up-back set the ball at the Mules 33. The Mules first two plays gained only 1 yard and the Mules faced a 3rd and 9 from their own 34. This was a critical time for a key play. If the Mules failed to get a first down and had to punt at that point, the Chargers would get the ball back with the game tied, the time clock in their favor, decent field position and presumably a very, very tired defense again having to take the field. Mules come to the line and EVERYONE rolls right, including Allen , while Rosenthal runs a wheel out of the backfield towards the Mule bench along the left sideline. Allen hits him in stride and Rosenthal scampers 41 yards to the Charger 25. {Editorial Note: Since this particular Mule fan is writing and my kid was involved, you have to read what I write. You got a problem with that and you’ll be appointed one of the Mule Fan writers—there’s not a lot of upside to this gig. A few observations on the play:
1. It seemed like the ball was in the air for 10 minutes in slow motion (parental anxiety??)…This Mule Fan nervously went to the restroom and back to his seat 6 times waiting for the ball to come down and prayed for a catch each time.
2. Can you believe how quiet Jill was during the entire play? First time she’s ever been that quiet.
3. Drew and Justin simply did what they get paid to do (We're joking here-please don't send UIL investigators. Nobody is really getting paid). Credit on that play goes 99.99% to the coaches for a TERRIFIC call, to the entire offensive line (Matt Cohen, Nick Morton, Cullen Wernette, Austin Amaro and Rhett McSween) for selling the right side pass and to the receivers for clearing out to the right (especially Trevor Lovelady, who’s man appeared to follow him across the field and into the Chargers-side concession stand for some popcorn.}
Back to the game. Mules at the 25. A great scramble and run by Allen for an apparent touchdown is called back for holding so the Mules retreat to the 35. Allen passes to Lovelady for 12 then to Rosenthal who is dragged down by his facemask at the 10. Mules ball at the 5. Another scramble by Allen gave him time to complete a pass to Cabell, setting the Mules up at 1 where Rosenthal punched it in…17-10 Mules with 38 seconds left. A pick by Phillip Massari sealed the deal with 20 seconds left.
What a night and what a victory as the Mules go 2-0 in District play. Thanks to all for coming out. The huge crowd, including the large student section, definitely motivated the Mules all night long. The Express News Saturday called this victory the Game of the Week. Check out the "Wheel Play" below.
Editor's Note: This is where the other Mule Fan writer (the one that did know the words to the AH fight song-see feature below) must step in and absolve his co-writer of guilt for all the mentions of his son and dazzling feature-length video which you'll see below. This reporter's son is a junior offensive lineman so it's easy to go about one's business and write about public address announcers, rock bands, talk to coaches, and other stuff and rarely feel the vice-like grip of conflict about whether to mention or ask about this particular lineman. (However, to be fair, it must be said that during one recent interview with Coach Byrd, your faithful scribe here wore a Mike Singletary (he wore #50) jersey, showed Coach pictures from my parent's 50th anniversary, asked if he had change for a $50, asked Coach to confirm that the Yankees did sweep the Phillies 4 games to 0 in the 1950 World Series, mentioned that I saw former Spur David Robinson buying laundry detergent at HEB once, wished Coach happy birthday and asked "how old did you say you were again?......Nothing.) So, there was much agonizing by the running back writer dad about whether to make everyone play "hangman" or a good "connect the dots" game to figure out which back scored all the points or just go ahead and write his name. "It's a disservice to make the readers go through all that!" pleaded lineman dad. "We make the rules on this deal. Just do it. They'll understand. It's not like you're trying to sell a commemorative coin!" So here it is in guilt-free living color for your viewing pleasure!
A Few Words with the Head Coach of the Mules – Don Byrd
October 7, 2008
The Mule Fan: The Mules are 3-2, winners of three straight and 2-0 in district after pulling out an exciting win over Boerne Champion last Friday. Generally most playoff teams can look back and find a game or two on their schedule where they had to pull their own “fat out of the fire.” The Mules survived their first real “gut check” of the season with a dramatic three minute, 68 yard drive, complete with a couple of big plays, had to overcome two big penalties and produced a go-ahead TD that won the game. What does a game winning drive like that do for a team’s confidence?
Coach Byrd: Well it showed a lot of character on that last drive. We needed to score. It’s a tie ball game with three minutes left. They (the offense) weren’t going to get another opportunity probably so they had to make something happen. We found a way to get the ball in the end zone and I was proud of them. It’s a great sign of a team that when it’s on the line they’re confident and they can make plays. Hopefully that’ll give us confidence. Hopefully we’ll take care of business earlier in the game like that and we won’t be in that situation. But it’s nice to know that when you get in that situation you have proven that you can get it done.
The Mule Fan: Talk about that last drive a little bit because it really did have a lot of elements to it. You had to do a lot of things to get the ball down the field in three minutes. The ball club did a pretty good job of executing and there were a couple of miscues.
Coach Byrd: Well we were close to 70 yards away. First down we kind of run a draw and don’t execute it well and then we throw a pass over the middle that we don’t execute well. So we end up with third and ten. We went to what we call our “boot throw back”, hit Justin (Rosenthal) in the left flat and he chewed up a lot of the yardage. It was really great. It generated a lot of excitement and got the momentum going. We went down and a couple of plays Drew (Allen) scrambled and got in the end zone but we had a holding call. The we run another play, get a little bit more yardage and get another holding call. So we had to overcome that. We started to execute and hit the play over the middle, hit Justin again on the sideline, made some plays and got down there. Then Justin made a nice run at the end. We used up a lot of the clock. It was a great drive but it showed a lot of the problems that we had in the full game. We had some penalties on it. We had some “busts” in execution. So there are some things that we’ve got to clean up and hopefully we’ll take care of the little things this week in practice so we can make things happen this week versus a good Seguin team.
The Mule Fan: The defense probably had its best game of the season and when you consider how long they were on the field it was even more impressive. Ryan Murphy (defensive end #48) in particular was all over the place. They made some big stops. How did they grade out in your view?
Coach Byrd: I thought all-in-all we did have a good game defensively. Boerne played well in the first half. They got into a ball control mode with their offense and they did a nice job of executing it. We were sputtering on offense so those two combinations left our defense on the field a lot. I thought when they spread it out and we got into our stunting package, we started making some plays. They made some plays on us but we got them for some big losses and that was hard for them to overcome that. We’re getting better at playing together as a defensive unit. We have a lot of players that can run. This is one of the faster defenses that we’ve had. I’m excited about them and I’m looking forward to how they’re going to do throughout the season.
The Mule Fan: This was another week where you had to rely primarily on the passing game. What did Boerne do to successfully stop the running attack that had seemed to find firmer footing the week before?
Coach Byrd: Right. Well the penalties added to our need to pass. When you’re looking at three offside penalties and some holding calls you get out of sync and you’re looking at first and 15 and first and 20. You’re going to have to throw the ball down the field a little bit more. We had to run Drew a little bit. They were a pretty physical group up front. They were very talented at linebacker and had a decent front wall. We had to become more of a two back set to utilize Drew to get some yards rushing and ended up with 66 yards and Drew had 62 of them I think. They way they were playing us, they didn’t cover the back well and Justin had 104 yards receiving so that offset it a little bit.
The Mule Fan: Are you looking for more opportunities for Drew to run the ball? It does give the defense one more thing to worry about in addition to his ability to throw the ball.
Coach Byrd: It’s something that we do but we don’t like to do it a whole lot. I’m a believer that the quarterback has to make decisions throwing the ball to win. If he’s running around with it and getting banged up, knocked down and sore then it’s harder for him to make the plays. So we don’t like to do it a lot but if we’re in a game and need some yards rushing, there are some things we can do to get him the ball and hopefully they are some things that the defense doesn’t see us do a whole lot so we can make the plays successful.
The Mule Fan: Seguin comes in this week 1-4 but they’ve had some tough opposition. They played Georgetown early in the season. They’ve already faced Kerrville. This is one of the new teams to our district down from 5A. What are their strengths?
Coach Byrd: They’re a talented group. They’re getting much better on defense each and every week. They play a 3-3 stack but they blitz a lot out of it. Their front three guys are very, very talented. They make a lot of plays. On offense they have a sophomore quarterback. When they started out they were sputtering with nine turnovers their first game. Then he settled down and has gotten better. They’ve got two very talented receivers. It’s going to be a team that’s very hungry for a victory that knows that they’re getting better. They’re going to knock some people off sooner or later and they’re hoping that it starts this week. So the Mules are going to have to come out and execute and play well.
The key for us is to cut the penalties out and execute. Those are the main things we’re looking for this week. If we can go back and get an edge on that a little bit then we’ll take a huge step forward.
October 7, 2008
The Mule Fan: The Mules are 3-2, winners of three straight and 2-0 in district after pulling out an exciting win over Boerne Champion last Friday. Generally most playoff teams can look back and find a game or two on their schedule where they had to pull their own “fat out of the fire.” The Mules survived their first real “gut check” of the season with a dramatic three minute, 68 yard drive, complete with a couple of big plays, had to overcome two big penalties and produced a go-ahead TD that won the game. What does a game winning drive like that do for a team’s confidence?
Coach Byrd: Well it showed a lot of character on that last drive. We needed to score. It’s a tie ball game with three minutes left. They (the offense) weren’t going to get another opportunity probably so they had to make something happen. We found a way to get the ball in the end zone and I was proud of them. It’s a great sign of a team that when it’s on the line they’re confident and they can make plays. Hopefully that’ll give us confidence. Hopefully we’ll take care of business earlier in the game like that and we won’t be in that situation. But it’s nice to know that when you get in that situation you have proven that you can get it done.
The Mule Fan: Talk about that last drive a little bit because it really did have a lot of elements to it. You had to do a lot of things to get the ball down the field in three minutes. The ball club did a pretty good job of executing and there were a couple of miscues.
Coach Byrd: Well we were close to 70 yards away. First down we kind of run a draw and don’t execute it well and then we throw a pass over the middle that we don’t execute well. So we end up with third and ten. We went to what we call our “boot throw back”, hit Justin (Rosenthal) in the left flat and he chewed up a lot of the yardage. It was really great. It generated a lot of excitement and got the momentum going. We went down and a couple of plays Drew (Allen) scrambled and got in the end zone but we had a holding call. The we run another play, get a little bit more yardage and get another holding call. So we had to overcome that. We started to execute and hit the play over the middle, hit Justin again on the sideline, made some plays and got down there. Then Justin made a nice run at the end. We used up a lot of the clock. It was a great drive but it showed a lot of the problems that we had in the full game. We had some penalties on it. We had some “busts” in execution. So there are some things that we’ve got to clean up and hopefully we’ll take care of the little things this week in practice so we can make things happen this week versus a good Seguin team.
The Mule Fan: The defense probably had its best game of the season and when you consider how long they were on the field it was even more impressive. Ryan Murphy (defensive end #48) in particular was all over the place. They made some big stops. How did they grade out in your view?
Coach Byrd: I thought all-in-all we did have a good game defensively. Boerne played well in the first half. They got into a ball control mode with their offense and they did a nice job of executing it. We were sputtering on offense so those two combinations left our defense on the field a lot. I thought when they spread it out and we got into our stunting package, we started making some plays. They made some plays on us but we got them for some big losses and that was hard for them to overcome that. We’re getting better at playing together as a defensive unit. We have a lot of players that can run. This is one of the faster defenses that we’ve had. I’m excited about them and I’m looking forward to how they’re going to do throughout the season.
The Mule Fan: This was another week where you had to rely primarily on the passing game. What did Boerne do to successfully stop the running attack that had seemed to find firmer footing the week before?
Coach Byrd: Right. Well the penalties added to our need to pass. When you’re looking at three offside penalties and some holding calls you get out of sync and you’re looking at first and 15 and first and 20. You’re going to have to throw the ball down the field a little bit more. We had to run Drew a little bit. They were a pretty physical group up front. They were very talented at linebacker and had a decent front wall. We had to become more of a two back set to utilize Drew to get some yards rushing and ended up with 66 yards and Drew had 62 of them I think. They way they were playing us, they didn’t cover the back well and Justin had 104 yards receiving so that offset it a little bit.
The Mule Fan: Are you looking for more opportunities for Drew to run the ball? It does give the defense one more thing to worry about in addition to his ability to throw the ball.
Coach Byrd: It’s something that we do but we don’t like to do it a whole lot. I’m a believer that the quarterback has to make decisions throwing the ball to win. If he’s running around with it and getting banged up, knocked down and sore then it’s harder for him to make the plays. So we don’t like to do it a lot but if we’re in a game and need some yards rushing, there are some things we can do to get him the ball and hopefully they are some things that the defense doesn’t see us do a whole lot so we can make the plays successful.
The Mule Fan: Seguin comes in this week 1-4 but they’ve had some tough opposition. They played Georgetown early in the season. They’ve already faced Kerrville. This is one of the new teams to our district down from 5A. What are their strengths?
Coach Byrd: They’re a talented group. They’re getting much better on defense each and every week. They play a 3-3 stack but they blitz a lot out of it. Their front three guys are very, very talented. They make a lot of plays. On offense they have a sophomore quarterback. When they started out they were sputtering with nine turnovers their first game. Then he settled down and has gotten better. They’ve got two very talented receivers. It’s going to be a team that’s very hungry for a victory that knows that they’re getting better. They’re going to knock some people off sooner or later and they’re hoping that it starts this week. So the Mules are going to have to come out and execute and play well.
The key for us is to cut the penalties out and execute. Those are the main things we’re looking for this week. If we can go back and get an edge on that a little bit then we’ll take a huge step forward.
Get to Know the Mules Coaching Staff with AH Coach’s Corner
This week-Luke Moody
Name (how many years at Alamo Heights): Luke Moody 1st year at Heights Spouse’s Name: NA
Hometown: Castroville College Attended: Angelo State University
Coaching responsibilities this season: Inside Linebackers
Career path that got you to Alamo Heights: 2 years at Baird HS (special teams coordinator); 3 Years at Junction HS (2 as the defensive coordinator, one as Athletic Director/Head Coach
Subjects you also teach at AHHS: Environmental Science, Biology
Hobbies: Hunting, Fishing, Reading
The thing you had the most fun doing this past summer: Kayaking
High School or College Athletics you played (position): HS- Football; basketball, baseball, and track College: Football (Middle Linebacker)
What was your best subject in school: Math
What teams do you follow as a fan: Texas Tech
Most well known athlete(s) you’ve competed with or against in your playing career (who, what team or game, what level, where, those kinds of details): Robert Garza (center for the Chicago Bears), Texas A&M Kingsville vs. Angelo State 00 football season
Outside of Coach Byrd (of course), what coach at any level of any sport do you admire most: Bobby Knight
First car: 94’ Chevy Pickup
Favorite type of music or favorite artist(s): Country
Musical instruments played?: Guitar
If you were doing one song in an “air guitar” concert, which one you tear ‘em up with?: Back in Black AC/DC
Four people alive or dead you’d most like to have dinner with: Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert, Mike Singletary, Kevin Greene
Favorite food: fajitas Most recent book read: The Davinci Code
If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three items would you want with you after your survival gear was covered: Guitar, Books, Journal
Favorite TV show from your youth (not a cartoon): Knight Rider
Favorite Saturday morning cartoon show from your youth: Transformers
Favorite movie ever: Dead Poets Society
What’s the best thing that you cook: Fettuccini Alfredo
Favorite breakfast cereal from your youth (or now if it still applies): Wheaties
At what kind of trivia contest would you be invincible? none
You don’t want to play me at (game/sport/board game/video game/card game, etc.): 42
If Alamo Heights Offensive and Defensive coaches squared off in a game of flag football, who would you most fear and why? Jeff Hooks, many, many, many years experience.
What do you like most about coaching at Alamo Heights: Quality of Student Athletes
What advice do you have for your players at this point in their lives: Realize that you cannot play this game forever, so make sure you give it what it deserves and take as many lessons from it as possible.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Mules return home to play Seguin at Harry B. Orem Stadium. With hurricane season behind us, we can safely anticipate a 7:30 kickoff this Friday. This is the first time the Mules play Seguin in District play, the largest school in the district with 2034 students. Seguin has dropped its first two district games which is not surprising since they played Kerrville Tivy and N.B. Canyon. But for turnovers, Seguin played very well, especially in the Tivy game and should not be taken lightly. Seguin is averaging about 250 yards passing and without 11 penalties for 100 yards, very likely would've hung closer with Tivy, or possibly beat them.
Don’t underestimate Seguin by it’s record either. Seguin lost its opener to one of the best 5A schools in the area, New Braunfels (remember them??) 20-14. They also lost to the Georgetown powerhouse 42-21 before defeating East Central 37-30. Seguin is a large school and has dropped from 5A to 4A this year as they joined District 27-4A. Seguin returns 11 starters from last years squad include a group of linebackers led by LB Jacob Amescua. Seguin's defense has given up a lot of points so look for the Mules to try to crank the offense back into gear. Though the Seguin offense has not put up a lot of points, any team in this district can beat another on any given night. Seguin enters the game 1-4 but will certainly be focused on stopping the Mules. BE SURE TO ARRIVE TIMELY AS CASTANO WORK STILL CONTINUES. Having a large crowd, and having them arrive before kickoff (don’t be socially late folks) sure helped the Mules in the last two games. We know a large group of Jr School boys will be at the McSween/Lewis ranch for a scout campout (listening to the game...see below camping dads), so the Mules need extra support from anyone who can make it to the game.
FIGHT SONG-MULE FAN LESSON 101:
A few weeks ago, the Mule Fan made on off-hand comment about the Fight Song and the Mule Fan was then dissed back in a personal comment by a true Mule fan indicating that any Mule fan should know the Fight Song. The intentional use of the word "fan" in the previous sentence was only to get you used to repeating a word, in case you are interested in learning the Fight Song {Note: Not all of us grew up in this bubble where the first words learned, not in any particular order, were"MaMa", "DaDa", "Naples", "50/50" and "My Ranch"---some of us had to fight (get it?) our way into '09}. So here we go---feel free to cut this out and bring it with you Friday:
Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight.....(THAT'S ORIGINAL)
Fight, brave Mules, fight.
For the school, for the team, for the game.
Loyal and true, we will always be shouting your name.
Fight teams of GLORY. It's the same old story.
MULES will lead the way, so fight, Fight, FIGHT.
Soooooooooooo, obviously this was written by a very, very angry person. Possibly, some student who flunked out of an English class?? Let's analyze.
First Stanza: Are you kidding me? This is some kind of a joke, right? Is this The Truman Show??? The first line appears to be classic writer's block, which block begins to fade a little bit in the second line when two words other than "Fight" sneak in there---one of which happens to be the team name. Ten of the twelve words are "Fight"...that means over 83% of the words in this stanza are the same word--that is ridiculous, though at least the writer was consistent. Since fighting carries a 15 yards "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty, that is a total of 150 yards in penalties in this stanza alone--enough to make the entire coaching staff cringe. So stand up and scream "Fight" during the first part of this song and folks will think you are from here.
Second Stanza: With that first line...now we're talking Fight Song....nice beat, nice pattern, nice melody. Yes! We're on the way to something big here. But the second sentence? You had us and dropped us in Rick's hot sauce. So here, all of us should learn the first line easily and maybe just hum along to the second line if it's too much work to learn.
Third Stanza: The anger has returned---we're back in the fighting mood! Out of nowhere, we get a really nice rhyme on the first line...maybe this will finish strong, right? Nope, not so lucky. This time the Mules are leading the way in the fighting and fighting harder as we go (check out the growing emphasis on fighting in the last three words)..such a nice example, isn't it?
So c'mon fans...let's learn our Fight Song so we can all stand up and cheer with every score...or fight someone if we don't.
SPECIAL THANKS TO COACH BOND:
The Mule Fan is now circulated to more e-mail addresses than ever before. Special thanks to Mark Bond for forwarding the weekly blast on to his Alamo Heights Junior School athletics families. Due to Mark’s assistance, The Mule Fan is spread throughout the Mule community. Most of the Varsity players went through Coach Bond’s program, including this year’s senior class, which was District Champion in both 7th and 8th grade. Thanks again Mark for all you, and your AHJS staff, do for the Mules program.
DISTRICT DOINGS:Week Two is in the books (District records after 2nd week):
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
FIGHT SONG-MULE FAN LESSON 101:
A few weeks ago, the Mule Fan made on off-hand comment about the Fight Song and the Mule Fan was then dissed back in a personal comment by a true Mule fan indicating that any Mule fan should know the Fight Song. The intentional use of the word "fan" in the previous sentence was only to get you used to repeating a word, in case you are interested in learning the Fight Song {Note: Not all of us grew up in this bubble where the first words learned, not in any particular order, were"MaMa", "DaDa", "Naples", "50/50" and "My Ranch"---some of us had to fight (get it?) our way into '09}. So here we go---feel free to cut this out and bring it with you Friday:
Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight.....(THAT'S ORIGINAL)
Fight, brave Mules, fight.
For the school, for the team, for the game.
Loyal and true, we will always be shouting your name.
Fight teams of GLORY. It's the same old story.
MULES will lead the way, so fight, Fight, FIGHT.
Soooooooooooo, obviously this was written by a very, very angry person. Possibly, some student who flunked out of an English class?? Let's analyze.
First Stanza: Are you kidding me? This is some kind of a joke, right? Is this The Truman Show??? The first line appears to be classic writer's block, which block begins to fade a little bit in the second line when two words other than "Fight" sneak in there---one of which happens to be the team name. Ten of the twelve words are "Fight"...that means over 83% of the words in this stanza are the same word--that is ridiculous, though at least the writer was consistent. Since fighting carries a 15 yards "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty, that is a total of 150 yards in penalties in this stanza alone--enough to make the entire coaching staff cringe. So stand up and scream "Fight" during the first part of this song and folks will think you are from here.
Second Stanza: With that first line...now we're talking Fight Song....nice beat, nice pattern, nice melody. Yes! We're on the way to something big here. But the second sentence? You had us and dropped us in Rick's hot sauce. So here, all of us should learn the first line easily and maybe just hum along to the second line if it's too much work to learn.
Third Stanza: The anger has returned---we're back in the fighting mood! Out of nowhere, we get a really nice rhyme on the first line...maybe this will finish strong, right? Nope, not so lucky. This time the Mules are leading the way in the fighting and fighting harder as we go (check out the growing emphasis on fighting in the last three words)..such a nice example, isn't it?
So c'mon fans...let's learn our Fight Song so we can all stand up and cheer with every score...or fight someone if we don't.
SPECIAL THANKS TO COACH BOND:
The Mule Fan is now circulated to more e-mail addresses than ever before. Special thanks to Mark Bond for forwarding the weekly blast on to his Alamo Heights Junior School athletics families. Due to Mark’s assistance, The Mule Fan is spread throughout the Mule community. Most of the Varsity players went through Coach Bond’s program, including this year’s senior class, which was District Champion in both 7th and 8th grade. Thanks again Mark for all you, and your AHJS staff, do for the Mules program.
DISTRICT DOINGS:Week Two is in the books (District records after 2nd week):
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
OTHER MULE ACTION:The Freshmen will play at home on Thursday and the JV will travel to Seguin on Thursday. From the Junior School, next Wednesday(not the normal Tuesday game) the 8th grade faces Garner at Home and the 7th grade goes to Garner. 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. By the way, it's a lot easier than trying to draw the pictures!
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.The Mule Fan's posting with last week's spectaular "Hail Mary" and this week's game changing "Wheel Play" 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.
GO MULES! BEAT THE MATADORS! SEE EVERYONE THERE BEFORE 7:30.
To be added to an e-mail blast advising of Mule Fan postings, e-mail brosenthal@trpsalaw.com
Excellent research my friend.
ReplyDeleteCaledonia '85