The Mule Fan

Mules Roll San Marcos 42-6

Remain unbeaten in district play.

Win streak at 5!

New Braunfels Canyon next.

SNAKES RATTLED: Heights 42, San Marcos 6

‘Twas the night of the 17th….and all through the night,
Not a football-game-program….was anywhere in sight.

Your Mule Fan writers…searched-for-help-that-would-tell,
Which Rattlers did poorly…and which ones did well.

But the programs were missing!…there were none to be found!
There were NO printed programs…not any-where-around!

So the names of Rattler players???....this week, WE may seem dumber...
Because this night-we-had-NO-names... just a jersey and a number.

First off---way to travel Mules fans!!! A large crowd made it through Friday afternoon traffic up IH-35 and headed 45 minutes north of town. Not looking ahead, BUT the ease of traveling to San Marcos should lead to a HUGE crowd traveling in two weeks to Kerrville. Those who attended know they helped make a difference on this night.

It was an absolutely beautiful football night as the Mules traveled north to San Marcos to play the San Marcos High School Rattlers. A full moon over Bobcat Stadium added to the excitement of playing in a college stadium. For those of you who did not attend, the only distraction of the evening seemed to be the constant stream of trains passing on the railroad track that runs adjacent to the stadium. No kidding, imagine playing a game on the crossing gates at Jones Maltsberger by 281, being stuck in the typical bottleneck traffic, your windows are jammed down and a train passes every 5 minutes. In San Marcos, one could not tell whether each train passing Bobcat Stadium blared its horn constantly to either (A) cheer on the Rattlers, (B) distract the Mules or (C) keep cars out of the railroad crossing. Now you have the background, lets talk football.

Prior to the game, the Mules and their coaching staff were most concerned about one thing---could the Mules slow the Rattler offense that runs on 90% of its plays, manages the game clock and churns up yardage. The Rattlers took the opening kickoff and went to work. As they had done in previous games, the Rattler offense was efficient on its first drive---really efficient. The Rattlers managed to run left, right and center, while the Mules defense learned the San Marcos running scheme. The Rattlers converted several 3rd downs on the drive including a run by Scooter somebody (missed his last name because of---you guessed it---the roar of a passing train and, of course, we had no program). Rattler #33 had a big run to the 9 and then #33 took it in from the 7 a play later. The extra point was blocked by Terry “Jello” Andersen (ask the Mule players about the nickname) and the Rattlers were up 6-0. {Note: Mule fan spotter, Charlie Wernette, advised the Mule Fan that goalposts at a college stadium are one foot narrower on each side than high school field goalposts--another needless fact from Mr. Wernette that did not impact Mule kicker, Andrew Bailey, on this night.}. However, the initial Rattler drive churned up OVER 9 minutes of the first quarter!!! Key tackles on the drive were made by, among others, Beau Wilson, Collin Bibb and Mitchell Dan. Now, the defense may have struggled on this opening drive but the MVP of the game??? According to this Mule Fan, the ENTIRE DEFENSE!! During the year, the Rattlers often scored on their first drive, so there was not a major concern as this smart coaching staff and defense would make the adjustments. And boy did they---holding the Rattlers offense scoreless for the rest of the game.

From that point, the Mules offense, defense and special teams went to work. A.J. Lewis picked up the short kick and took it to the Mules 40. Drew Allen, looking extremely efficient on the night (15 for 20), went to work hitting Trevor Lovelady and John Cabell (with yet another new twist on his last name this evening) and the quarter ended with the Mules facing a 3rd and 1 at the Rattlers 21. End of the quarter….Rattlers 6, Mules 0.

The Mules converted the 3rd and 1 and then later faced a 4th and 3. Sensing the momentum and a need for something big, the Mules went for it on 4th down. On an option keeper, Allen carried for 3.1 yards. This was an important statement by Coach Byrd and his staff---reflecting their confidence in the offense while realizing a score was important. On the next play, Justin Rosenthal carried it in from the 2 and Bailey converted easily through the "narrower" goalposts. This was a big drive as the offense allowed the defense to rest with its own 6:30 drive. The Rattlers looked to get back on track and after a 20 yard gain on first down, the Rattlers attempted to pass (what were they thinking??), when Mike Warren sacked the QB for a 15 yard loss. The Rattlers punted and the Mules started their next drive from their own 13. Allen found Sergio Acosta for 12, Tyler Marshall for 23, Cabell for 22 and then Marshall again for 14 to the 2. On a roll right, Allen dumped the ball to Acosta in the end zone for a 14-6 halftime lead. Incredibly, the half lasted only fifty minutes, but the Mules converted on their only two possessions and held the Rattlers scoreless on their last two possessions.

The Mules took the field in the 3rd quarter having done everything right in the first half, yet clinging to a 14-6 lead. What the Mules needed was to take the kickoff, score and pull away. And the Mules did just that. Starting on the 35, Allen found Tyler Marshall for 30, Rosenthal ran wide for 15 and Allen found Lovelady for 20 and a quick score. The drive---3 plays, 65 yards, 49 seconds and it was 21-6 before the crossing gates on the railroad track could get into the upright position (okay, now I'm even tired of the train comments). On the kickoff, Ryan Murphy made a nice tackle which was followed by stops by Collin Bibb and Forrest Hagar. Again, for some reason, the Rattlers attempted to pass but Mike Warren--exhibiting his baseball skills---moved left and reached back to his right to snag the hard hit line drive---I mean, the pass. The defense had held AGAIN and the offense went back to work. The offensive play of the night had to be Drew Allen's 60 yard pass to Andrew Richter, hitting him in stride for 40 yards with a 20 yard post-catch run. The offensive line continued its great work--giving Allen plenty of time to find Richter down field. A pass to Victor Givens to the two set up an Acosta burst for a 28-6 Mules lead with 1:18 left in the 3rd. On the following kickoff, Greg Rubiola's nice hit forced the Rattlers to start from their own 22.

The fourth quarter saw San Marcos complete its first pass of the night. Facing a fourth down and needing some offense, the Rattlers attempted a fake punt but were stopped by a swarming defense, including, among others, Tyler Keller. Mules ball at their own 48. On the first play, Rosenthal got outside and racked up 35 yards to the Rattler 17. Allen soon found Cabell for an 11 yard score and a 35-6 lead. The Rattlers next drive was stopped by a Collin Bibb pick and 40 yard return. Right away, Jr. QB Cullen Mills went to work. On third down, he hit Andrew Richter on the numbers in the back corner of the end zone for the 42-6 Mules lead. The biggest Rattlers play of the night was a 35 yard run by QB __?__ Canady who was stopped by Harrison Park. The Mules defense held the Rattlers out of the end zone on the last drive as time expired.

Final score....Mules 42, Rattlers 6 in a game that featured an outstanding effort by the defense and a solid well balanced offense. How good was the defense? The Rattlers had averaged over 330 yards on the ground this season--if you take away the opening drive and the big play at the end of the game, the Rattlers gained only 88 yards on the ground.

A Few Words with the Head Coach of the Mules – Don Byrd
October 21, 2008

The Mule Fan: The Mules get a blowout win to stay unbeaten in district play with a valuable road win at San Marcos, stay unbeaten in district play and extend the win streak. Obviously, you prepared the guys well for the unusual offense that San Marcos would run. At one point the Mule Fan editors were checking their sidelines to see if they had face masks on their helmets. After the Rattler’s first long drive which resulted in a score, the defense seemed to figure it out and shut them down holding San Marcos way under their average rushing output. I guess you really had to see it run a few times in a game situation to really get the feel for it. Were you expecting the defense to clamp down on them as quickly as they did?

Coach Byrd: It’s hard for what we do on offense to take our kids, teach them that offense and try to execute as well as San Marcos (in practice). Our kids did the best job they could and I was proud of them. You never know how it’s going to turn out because it’s such an unknown factor. We knew we were probably going to have to gamble some so we went for it on that fourth down early and were fortunate enough to make it and get us ahead 7-6. Then the offense built the lead and the defense held. Once they get a little bit behind that offense is a little bit easier to defend.

The Mule Fan: How big were the two defensive plays by Mike Warren to get the sack in the second quarter and the interception in the third quarter in terms of breaking any momentum they were attempting to build?

Coach Byrd: Well those were drive stoppers. You’ve got to get them out of sync. Their goal is to get 2½ to 3 yards per play is all they’re worried about. With those two plays, one of them was for a large loss which got them, which got them out of sync and made them half to gamble more. That offense is not suited well to do that. Then you have the interception which stopped their drive. We were ahead at that time 21-6. They could’ve made it within a touchdown and put a lot more pressure on us. When we got the turnover, of course it got our side of the field excited and our kids went down and scored.

The Mule Fan: Have you been in a game where you scored on every possession like this one?

Coach Byrd: It seemed like we did in Fredericksburg a couple of years ago. I can’t tell you for sure. But it doesn’t happen often. It’s hard to execute. When you’re talking about 11 guys having precise assignments and they have to take care of it. For them to do it throughout the game and never having three bad plays in a row was a tribute to the kids and how well they prepared.

The Mule Fan: Drew Allen was superb throwing only five incomplete passes. Two of them might have been throwaways and possibly one busted route. What about his performance and were you able to execute the game plan as well as you had hoped throughout the week of preparation?

Coach Byrd: Yes. It really fell in place nicely. Drew was mentally ready to play and did a great job. We talked about it before the game and felt we would have success on offense. The number one goal was don’t put the ball up for grabs. If it isn’t there, let’s either eat it or throw it away, re-group and try and get a first down on the next play. Drew understood and saw their offense. I told him if you do (throw an interception) you might not see the ball for another eight to ten minutes so I think that helped motivate him.

The Mule Fan: Would you say that this was the team’s most complete performance of the year thus far?

Coach Byrd: Yeah, it’s what we went in to accomplish. The kids did a nice job and played smart. No penalties or turnovers. They executed on both sides of the ball. You can see that by scoring every possession and holding them to six points. So yes there were a lot of plusses and things the kids really did well. It’s just so hard to get too excited about one game in this district because you come home and turn on the film on Saturday morning of New Braunfels Canyon and you just see a quality, well-coached football team. Its like forget about that. Let’s figure out how we’re going to put our kids into a position to have some success against them. It’s been a grind, it really has.

The Mule Fan: You mentioned the film and New Braunfels Canyon. What did you see there and what are you expecting out of them as we prepare for another important district game?

Coach Byrd: I saw a very athletic team. I saw a team that has an established program. They do a nice job up there. They’re fundamentally sound. They’re not a big frills team. They’re not going to come out and double-triple reverse you, or blitz a bunch or all kinds of exciting things in the kickoff game. They’re just going to be a well-coached team and try to put their kids in a position to make plays. So we’re going to have to come out and play. For any of these games, if you come out and don’t execute well for a little bit or turn the ball over, or get some penalties, its going to be hard to win. There’s a lot of pressure each and every game for the kids to go out and perform well. But they have confidence now. They’re excited about it and feel like they can continue to improve and continue to do things it takes to win big games. They’re going to be put in that situation here. Looking back to the beginning of the season and having all of this come together to this point has been a lot fun. The kids have really worked hard and are taking pride to do all the little things right so big things can happen in a game.


LOOKING AHEAD:

Next up for the Mules is New Braunfels Canyon AT HOME at 7:29 p.m. this Friday. One game at a time, but a win would propel the Mules into the playoffs. Other scenarios could back-door the Mules into the post season play, but a victory is what we are looking for. However, this will be no easy feat as the Mules face the three top teams--besides themselves--in the district (N.B. is actually tied with Clemens) to finish out district play. Dave Campbell's Texas Football projected the Canyon Cougars to be in the mix of the district playoff hunt, as they are. Every game is critical to Canyon as they look to improve on their 2-2 district record. Canyon's only two district losses are to district power houses Steele and Tivy. The Cougars return 9 starters from a team that was a D-II bi-district finalist last season. The Cougars are led by RB Robert Clay and QB Tyler Denson, as well as a solid group of defensive backs and highly touted linebackers. Last season, Clay rushed for 1267 yards and 14 TD's. The Cougars (4-3) are coming off a disappointing loss at home against Kerrville Tivy (see below).

The Mule Fan must be on the lookout at all times on game night and this particular Mule Fan was accused of focusing on Mule Fan football matters so much that he was unable, on the drive back to S.A, to engage in meaningful gossip about who was wearing what or who was sitting next to whom at Bobcat Stadium…..though this Mule Fan was able to recall that Liza Lewis had a nice sweater, Stan Studer had his traditional starched khaki pants and starched white shirt, while Bill Maloy wore his navy blue North Face sweatshirt hoping an unexpected cold front would blow south through San Marcos and possibly to his Poco Bueno Ranch…all so noted only because they were sitting on the immediate vicinity of this Mule Fan. Back to the issue at hand--- For those of you OTHER observant fans who attended the Mules/San Marcos game, what appeared to be a huge parking lot on the east side of IH-35 in the New Braunfels area was actually parking for approximately 5000 fans attending the Tivy/Canyon game. Tivy's powerful offense racked up a lot of yardage against Canyon. But don't be fooled. Canyon was actually tied with Tivy at 14 late in the 2nd quarter and the two were knotted at 21 until Tivy kicked a field goal at the end of the half. As the projected leaders, Clay ran for 135 yards and Denson(the QB) ran for 121 and passed for another 65. The Mules will have to watch Denson on the keeper as he ran 20 times. To realize how good Canyon can be, the Cougars led top ranked Steele by 7 at halftime AND were tied with Steele with 1:14 left in the 4th quarter before losing by 7. Canyon easily defeated Seguin and San Marcos. Canyon had some big wins early in the season, including a win against Austin LBJ.



DISTRICT DOINGS:Week Four is in the books (District records after 4th week):
Steele(4-0) 49, Boerne Champion(0-4) 28
Heights(4-0) 42, San Marcos(0-4) 6
Kerrville Tivy(4-0) 40, N.B. Canyon(2-2) 28
Clemens(2-2) 28, Seguin(0-4) 14


Week THREE Results(FYI):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: Make sure you sign up your kids, grandkids, cousins, and anyone who wants to hang around with the varsity players and learn some football skills from the "big kids" THIS WEEKEND! In fact, here are a couple of those big kids now to tell you more about what will surely be a memorable day for your young Mules!



(For a behind the scenes report about the making of the Mule for a Day Video - please see the excruciating details below.)

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. See the flyer below or contact Carissa Rullo at cmrullo@yahoo.com

The filming of Mule For A Day promo: What you see in the Mule Fan promo, slick as it is, was one of the more difficult shoots this Mule Fan editor has ever been associated with. Allow the director this little space to vent as this Mule Fan editor feels compelled to share the details of the arduous journey that resulted in this little video message. In the end, all we really want you to do is get your young Mules to the event. But in our efforts to be creative, we were saddled with the realities of working with "stars." Just so you know, you are looking at take #73. Yep, 72 very special attempts before this one, the "keeper", and seven hours later at the end of the blue and gold rainbow, we have two minutes of senior level pitchman perfection. Oh sure, we set it all up the way they wanted it. A 46 foot Prevost tour bus rented from George Strait (we had to customize it with the image painted on the side of a large shrimp boat captained by a muscular Egret with a sailor hat and Red Sox batting gloves-we couldn't understand why either), a masseuse, paisley colored M & M's, pizza with pepperonis assembled to look like a Big 12 Conference logo, and on and on it goes. Here's just a sample of what we heard during the day..."Sergio's jersey is cleaner than mine, I've forgotten all my lines until they get me another one", "Oh snap, I think Drew just swallowed a June bug," "Can we break? Where's the snack mom?" "Could we have the red light off please?" "Drew keeps talking over my lines" "I don't like your tie", "Is XBox the only game system you've got in this tub? What are we supposed to do on break?" "This doesn't fit with my idiom." "How am I supposed to work with these stinkin' airplanes going over." A special day indeed. But the guys grinded it out and got it done. So thanks Sergio and Drew. And even though this little tale is not the slightest bit factual, it is certain that the Mule for a Day Punt, Pass and Kick event is for real and an important day for Alamo Heights Football and to be sure, one your little Mules will remember for a long time. So please sign up and come on out. (And the guys really got it in one take with 2 minutes notice and completely ad-libbed! Thanks Sergio and Drew!)

BIG HEIGHTS QB WEEKEND:

As noted above, Senior Drew Allen went 15 for 20 for 269 yards. He wasn't the only Mule QB having a great weekend. Chase Clement through for 444 yards and six touchdowns while Gio Vizza completed 37-61 passes for 362 yards and two touchdowns. That was not a typo--Gio actually passed 61 times (to keep in perspective, the Mules had only 42 total offensive plays Friday night).

LET'S LEARN THE SCHOOL SONG:

Okay, a couple of weeks ago, we learned or perfected, as the case may be, the Fight Song...a bunch of “fights” and a few other words. This week, Mule Fan 101, takes us inside the School Song. Here we go:

School Song (Blue and Gold):

Here's to our BLUE and GOLD
Long may it wave
Over our dear old school
Colors never fade, rah, rah, rah.

BLUE and GOLD for loyalty
And for faithfulness
here's to our colors true
A.H.H.S.!

This song is much easier to learn and has much more meaning to a new Mule fan. A bit confusing at the start though--is "(Blue and Gold)" in parenthesis actually a part of the title or is that to remind us of the school colors should we forget?

First stanza-- Accent on the BLUE and GOLD...don't forget it when you belt it out. But do colors wave? I've never seen a waving color but I guess if you look skyward, those colors might reflect off of the inside of the bubble surrounding ‘09. Then "Colors never fade?" Are you kidding me? If that's the case, will someone please explain the new home jerseys—a “faded” version of the old color. Last year, we spent a hundred bucks on navy blue chair backs, shirts, caps, boxers and other merchandise all of which were very dark navy blue. Then, this year…”Oh, we can’t use that stuff—give it to Goodwill” we had to buy a bunch of new chair backs and caps and shirts because the old ones aren't the "right" color anymore. Now we're royal blue--something has faded in the off season and it wasn't my old chair backs--it was the school color. And "rah,rah,rah?"...nice filler to make the beat work right.

Second stanza- This one is much better. BLUE and GOLD for loyalty and faithfulness---can't really argue with this except WE weren't very loyal to the old dark navy blue now, were we? A nice ending with A.H.H.S. brings it on home. Much shorter than the Fight Song and much more meaningful to this Mule Fan. So, let's all stand together and sing our School Song this Friday night as the Mules take on Canyon at Harry B. Orem Stadium!! And be sure to wear you new royal blue attire…or bleach your old stuff.

OTHER MULE ACTION: The JV will play at New Braunfels Canyon and the Freshmen will play at home on Thursday. From the Junior School, next Tuesday the 7th grade faces Krueger at Home and the 8th grade goes to Krueger. 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.

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.

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

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS: Recent losses have saddened many in the A.H. community. We ask all Mules fans to keep the families and friends in their thoughts and prayers.